Newspaper Page Text
Celebrating The life Of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Citizens observe the birthday of civil rights leader
Page 12A
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Vol. 132
No. 50
24 Pages
3 Sections
Wednesday
JANUARY 23, 2008
mainstreet news. com
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
Georgia Power
Line Failure
Cause Of Outage
The power outage early
Sunday morning was caused
by a feeder line from Georgia
Power Company Commerce
City Manager Clarence
Bryant reports.
One of the power company’s
feeder lines to the South Elm
Street substation suffered a
partial failure, he said.
“What we did was to dis
connect the substation and
switch the circuit to the other
substation and brought it
(the power) back up while
they did what they did. Then
we switched it back," Bryant
said.
Recent improvements to
the city electrical system
included sufficient upgrades
so that the entire city can be
operated off either one of the
city’s two substations.
According to Bryant, only
one phase of Georgia Power’s
three-phase line was out, so
many Commerce residents
had power — though suffi
ciently diminished — during
most of the outage.
Once Georgia Power
repaired the line, the city’s
Electric Department switched
the circuit back to the origi
nal substation.
The problem lasted about
two hours; power was totally
out for about a half hour.
Bryant said he was not
aware of what damaged the
Georgia Power line.
INDEX
Births 10A
Church News 6B
Classified Ads 1-4C
Calendar 3A
Crime News 7-8A
News Roundup 2A
Obituaries 9A
Opinions 4A
School News 7-8B
Sports 1-3B
Social News .... 101 2A
WEATHER OUTLOOK
THURSDAY FRIDAY
Sunny: Partly cloudy:
Low, 19; high, 37; Low, 33; high, 44;
10% chance rain 20% chance rain
SATURDAY SUNDAY
1 VH-O'D*
vl
Showers: Partly cloudy:
Low, 38 high, 40; Low, 39; high, 62;
40% chance rain 20% chance rain
Reservoir Levels
Commerce: 698.5 (.9 feet above full)
Bear Creek: 695 (full)
Rainfall this month
2.6 inches
CONTACT US
Phone: 706-335-2927
FAX: 706-387-5435
E-mail:
news@ma i n streetnews. com
mark@mainstreetnews.com
brandon@mainstreetnews.com
teresa@ma i n streetnews. com
Mail: P.O. Box 459,
Commerce, GA 30529
State Water Plan
Locals Scramble For Leverage On Water Panels
25-Member Panels Appointed By Governor, Lt. Governor;
House Speaker To Determine Local Water Use Policies
Local governments are jockey
ing to get representation on the
“water planning districts’’ that will
implement the state water man
agement plan passed last week by
the Georgia General Assembly.
Most of Jackson
County falls //
in the Upper
Oconee District,
but Braselton —
because its city
limits reach into
Gwinnett County
— has been placed
in the Metro North
Georgia Water Planning District.
Commerce, because its reservoir
and treatment plant are both in
the Broad River Watershed, will be
in the Savannah-Upper Ogeechee
district.
Each district will have 25 board
members, at least eight of which
must be elected officials, and
the others of whom will come
from various constituencies. Gov.
Sonny Perdue will appoint 13,
the Speaker of the House, Glenn
Richardson, will appoint six, and
Lt. Governor Casey Cagle will
appoint six.
“What we want to do is, with the
water planning district we will be
in, we want to ensure that we get
as well represented as possible,’’
explained Hunter Bicknell, who
chairs the Jackson County Water
and Sewerage Authority.
County and municipal elected
officials met a couple of weeks
ago to plot strategy. Out of that
came three poten
tial “nominees’’ for
seats on the Upper
Oconee District,
whose names
would be submitted
to the Republican
leadership for con
sideration.
Interestingly,
Braselton Mayor Pat Graham is
one of the names to be offered,
even though her town will be in
the Metro North Georgia District.
Graham has agreed to serve,
Please Turn to Page 3A
What we want to do is, with the water plan
ning district we will be in, we want to ensure
that we get as well represented as possible. ff
Hunter Bicknell, Chairman, Jackson
County Water & Sewerage Authority
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Georgia’s water planning districts
Not Even Close
Two Storms, Two Misses
The much-anticipated winter storms that were to blow
across Jackson County last week amounted to almost noth
ing. The Thursday morning storm, above, produced about a
quarter inch of snow that never stuck and total precipitation
of almost an inch. The “one to seven inches” of ice and snow
widely predicted for Saturday afternoon produced no mea
surable amounts of snow in the Commerce area and total
precipitation of less than a half an inch.
Engineer: Economic Development
Roads Make Money For Jackson
Prediction: '08 Projects To Be As 'Profitable'As '04 Work
The $15.7 million debt Jackson
County incurred in 2004 for
building roads to spur economic
development has already turned
a “profit.’’
Speaking to the Commerce
Kiwanis Club last week, Don
Clerici, former county engineer
and now a paid consultant serv
ing as the county’s “capital proj
ects manager,’’ used data from
that bond issue as justification
for the county’s recent decision
to incur another $42 million of
debt for similar projects.
According to Clerici, the 2,800
acres adjoining six roads com
pleted with the 2004 bond money
produced $209,000 in proper
ty taxes in 2004. That figure
increased tenfold to $2,090,000
in 2007.
While the roads turned a “prof
it’’ by 2007, the county’s share of
that property tax was $590,000,
far short of the annual debt ser
vice of $1.35 million.
“What the data tells you is that
we had a big return on the 2004
road program,’’ Clerici stated.
“What it proved is that we are
carrying the debt service and
the big winners in this are our
school systems.’’
School taxes on the property
amounted to $114,000 in 2003;
in 2007, the same property pro
duced $1.2 million in taxes — an
amount likely to grow significant
ly since the land along the roads
is only “six to seven percent built
out,’’ according to Clerici.
The county projects that in five
to seven years, the total tax gen
erated by the 2,800 acres affect
ed by the 2004 road program will
hit $8.1 million, generating $2.56
million for county maintenance
and operations and $4.8 million
for the school systems.
Roads built or improved with
that package include Braselton
Industrial Parkway, Valentine
Industrial Parkway, Concord
Road, Steve Reynolds Industrial
Parkway, Possum Creek Road,
Stephen B. Tanger Boulevard and
Zion Church Road. The bond
issue also included renovation
of the old Bi-Lo shopping center
in Commerce to house a cam
pus of Lanier Technical College
and sewer projects to service the
two Commerce roads (Stephen
B. Tanger Boulevard and Steve
Reynolds Industrial Parkway).
2008 Road Program
Armed with data to validate
the first road project, the county
set about to make similar projec
tions about what the 2008 road
program might produce.
“That (the analysis of the 2004
project) gave us the horsepower
and momentum to move into
what we call our 2008 road proj
ects,’’ Clerici stated. To justify
it, he added, the county did a
“snapshot’’ of the industrial land
near the roads and made a pro
jection as to what will happen to
its value.
There are approximately 5,400
acres adjacent to the proposed
projects. In 2007, they generated
$2.5 million in property taxes.
Clerici projects that in five to
seven years they will produce
$12.2 million a year and increase
the county tax digest by more
than three-quarters of a billion
dollars.
“It was a smart investment in
2004,’’ he said. “We’ve proven
it. We’re going to take the same
model and move forward.’’
Included in the 2008 program
are the following projects:
Tier One: development of
a county transportation plan
and water and sewerage plan,
$500,000; improvements to
John B. Brooks Road, $3.8 mil
lion; a study of potential new
interchanges on Interstate 85,
$250,000; and engineering
for improvements to Hwy. 53,
$300,000.
Tier two: Commerce Retail
Please Turn to Page 3A
Jackson County Government
Board Tables Action On 'Impact Fees'
By Angela Gary
The Jackson County Board
of Commissioners postponed
action on implementing impact
fees Monday night and decided
to discuss the matter further at
its board retreat next week.
The retreat will be held Monday
through Wednesday, Jan. 28-30,
at the Fairfield Inn, Macon.
Monday night, commissioner
Jody Thompson expressed res
ervations about implementing
impact fees when builders are
already struggling due to the
housing slump. He also ques
tioned the county spending
additional money on consul
tants about impact fees.
A $78,301 contract with Ross
& Associates to proceed with
implementing impact fees was
presented. The cost for the first
phase of the project is $27,601.
Chairman Pat Bell also said
she has concerns about impact
fees.
“The timing bothers me,’’ she
Please Turn to Page 3A
Only One Item On Planning
Commission Agenda Monday
The Commerce Planning Commission has but one item on the
agenda for its monthly meeting Monday night at 7:00 in the Peach
Room of the Commerce Civic Center.
That is a request by Steven Sears of 193 Willow Street for a vari
ance on the size of an accessory building.
The planning commission makes recommendations on land use
and zoning matters to the Commerce City Council. It meets on the
third Monday night of each month.
Whatever recommendation the planning commission makes on
Sears’ variance request will be acted upon by the city council at its
regular meeting Monday, Feb. 11, at 6:30 at the civic center.