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PAGE 6A -- THE COMMERCE (GA) NEWS, WEDNESDAY. DECEMBER 12, 2007 Christmas Parade Winners Brad Johnson, left, and Stone Shirley, right, of the Commerce Area Business Association presented $125 checks to the four winning entries in the Commerce Christmas Parade held Dec. 2. Left to right are Johnson; Earl Wall, Larry Lord and Beth Wall of the Shakers Car Club, best non-profit or civic group float; Renee Moon of the First United Methodist Preschool, best school or academic entry; Mike Thompson, Unity Christian Church, best religious group entry; Scott “Tater” Hudson and Shawnmarie Budde, Jackson EMC, best business entry; and Shirley. Mayor Breaks Tie To Deny Variance For the second time in two months, Mayor Charles L. “Buzzie” Hardy had to break a tie vote of the Commerce City Council. He used it to support a motion denying a request for a variance in front setbacks for a man hop ing to build a dry cleaning pick-up and drop-off facility at the corner of Hospital Road and Ridgeway Street. Bhavyesh Trivedi had come before the Commerce Planning Commission seeking to have the setback from Hospital Road reduced from 30 feet to 12 and the setback from Ridgeway Street reduced from 25 feet to 20. The planning commission’s job is to make recommendations on such matters to the city council, but in this case, the planners chose to send it to the city without a rec ommendation, but had expressed concerns about safety at the inter section and the lack of parking on the site . Hardy had outlined the options to the council: deny the request, accept the request or send it back to the planning commission for a recommendation. Councilmen Bob Sosebee and Donald Wilson recused them selves from discussion because Sosebee was the listing agent when the lot was sold and Wilson formerly owned the property. Councilman Richard Massey made a motion to deny the request, which was seconded by Slater. Hardy opened the floor for dis cussion, and David Clough, speak ing for his mother, Nora Clough, who lives near the site, asked that the council reject the request due to public safety concerns and a fear that a business on the site would adversely affect the value of her residential property. Timothy White, who represents Trivedi, showed the council a schematic of the development in which the Hospital Road entrance to the lot had been eliminated — a version the planning commission had not seen. Hardy offered Massey a chance to withdraw his motion in favor of a new motion sending the issue back to the planning commission. Massey declined. Councilmen Mark Fitzpatrick and Wayne Gholston voted against Massey’s motion, creating a 2-2 deadlock. “I vote to deny,” said Hardy, breaking the tie. Trivedi can submit a new request for a variance in six months. The council voted to accept the other recommendations of the planning commission, including: •rezoning from C-2 (commer cial) to OCR (office-commer cial-residential) for a lot at 75 South Broad Street Extension so Asuncion Harrison can get financing on her house. •rezoning from A-2 in the coun ty to R-1E (residential-estate) and the annexation of her lot at 2559 B. Wilson Road. • a rezoning for annexation of a lot at 375 Hwy. 441 North by Keith Whitfield. The change is from A-2 in the county to C-2 in the city. •a variance in the size of an accessory building requested by Mike Aaron, 191 Hospital Road, with the conditions that he use a mid-grade vinyl on the addition and that the original concrete block portion of the building be painted the same color as the vinyl. Also on Monday night, the council: •voted to extend until the end of February the emergency mora torium on demolition permits in the downtown • appointed Chris Bray to fill the unexpired term of Don Moore on the Downtown Development Authority •approved an ordinance that would allow the city to impose a franchise fee on any cable or video franchise chartered by the state in Commerce. Fitzpatrick, who works for Windstream, abstained on the issue. •amended its recently passed supplemental power purchase contract with the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia to reduce the amount of power being purchased from 1,724 kilowatts to 1,297 kw because MEAG did not purchase the full allotment of electricity. •heard Police Chief John Gaissert read a letter commend ing officer Billy Shane Harrison for his “time, patience and unfail ing good humor” in changing a tire for a motorist stranded on Interstate 85. •tabled discussion of an adjust ment on a water tap for a city resident. George B. Bo Hamil Jr., chair man of the board of directors for FGBC Bancshares Inc. and its subsidiary, First Georgia Banking Company, announced that Randall Pugh has been appointed to the holding com pany board. Additionally, Hamil announced that Greg Akins, Dr. J. Richard Bland III and Ralph E. Fleck III have been named directors. Pugh is the president and chief executive officer of Jackson EMC in Jefferson. He also serves as an alternate director on the Oglethorpe Power Corporation (OPC) board of directors and is a member and Past Chairman of the OPC Finance Committee. He currently is a director of the Georgia Systems Operations Co. (GSOC) where he serves as chairman of the Audit Committee. He is vice chairman of the Jackson County Water and Sewerage Authority, serves as chairman of the Jackson County FGBC Advisory Board and is a director of First Georgia Banking Company. Akins is the chief operating officer and chief credit offi cer for First Georgia Banking Company. Bland is a radiation oncologist and medical director of the Roy Richards Sr. Cancer Center, and Fleck is the chief financial officer and controller of Die Tech Industries Inc. News Photos Available Online MainStreet Newspapers Inc. offers staff-produced pho tos from its five newspapers available for the ordering of prints online at its web site, mainstreetnews.com. Based in Jefferson, the company owns The Commerce News, The Jackson Herald, The Madison County Journal, The Braselton News and The Banks County News. Access to the photos catalogue is available from a button on the mainstreetnews.com web site. There will be approximately a one-week lag time between the time photos are published and their availability online. Those who don’t have Internet access in their homes may visit area public libraries that offer the service. City Issues No Permits For Houses In November The city of Commerce’s build ing inspection department did not issue a single permit for a house during November. The department issued a per mit for a commercial building valued at $551,000 and permits for two additions to houses val ued at a total of $30,000 and two permits for alterations to commercial buildings, valued at a total of $35,000. The amount of building approved for the month totaled $616,000. The city has issued permits worth $10.5 million dur ing 2007. At this time last year, the city had issued permits for construction valued at $33.1 mil lion. First Georgia Bank Names New Directors tarttieast \ Wrgha ) * Bank j e<* \ Now Open In Jefferson! Come By And See Our Brand New Branch And Friendly Faces Conveniently Located At: 1775 Old Pendergrass Road • Jefferson, GA 30549 yroic 706-367-5266 Pictured: Top Row: Brandy Cleveland, Reggie Metheny (Senior Vice-President/Manager), Stacey Burkhaulter Bottom Row: Jennifer Stancil, Sai Herr-Lee, Missy Ward Commerce Sciioof of Vance Senior & Junior Companies Qristms fzrfomm Featuring Act 11 Of The Nutcracker And also Rockette’s style Holiday Tap & Jazz Selections With Special Performances Bij The J.C.C.H.S. Advanced Choral Ensemble Commerce School of Dance 706-555-75+5 and City Tire & Auto Service 706-555-2201 Have your child s holiday portraits made after the lerformance with the Sugar Plum & Dew Drop Fairies Anna-Marie Hoop ^Victoria Woo, December D • 7:00 December 16 • 3:00