Newspaper Page Text
New Board Of Commissioners
Gets Down To Business
THE COMMERCE (GA) NEWS, WEDNESDAY. TANUARY 7, 2009 - PAGE 5A
Hardy Installed
Commissioner Chas Hardy takes the oath of
office from Probate Judge Margaret Deadwyler
Friday morning.
By Sharon Hogan
In a unanimous vote at
Monday’s Jackson County
Board of Commission meet
ing, approval was given to
spend $219,668 to get new
aerial photographs of the
county.
PhotoScience Geospatial
Solutions submitted the bid.
The funds will come out of
the economic development
bond program.
The action took place in
the first meeting of the new
Jackson County Board of
Commissioners. Chairman
Hunter Bicknell and District
2 Commissioner Chas
Hardy were sworn in Friday
morning.
Joel Logan, Jackson
County’s GIS (global infor
mation systems) manager,
said the last time the county
had this scope of work done
was in 2001. He added that
the information is needed
for the county’s transporta
tion plan and to design and
engineer upcoming road
projects.
GIS, 911 and other county
departments will benefit
from this as well, Logan
added.
“This project will be ben
eficial in helping to analyze
and select future reservoir
locations,’’ Logan said.
BOC member Dwain
Smith asked if the project
will be completed in 2009.
Logan said it would.
Logan said June 31 is the
date for all of the orthopho
tography to be completed.
The completion date for the
contour modeling will be in
November, Logan added.
Logan said a nationally-
advertised request for pro
posals was issued on this
project and PhotoScience
scored the highest due
to its relevant experience
and ability and equipment
necessary to complete the
work.
Other Business
In other business at
Monday’s meeting, the com
missioners:
• approved the 2009 meet
ing dates and times. All
meetings will be held at 6
p.m. in the Jury Assembly
Room of the Jackson
County Courthouse, on
the first and third Monday
of each month unless re
scheduled due to a holiday
or other conflict.
•authorized the appoint
ment of commissioner
Bruce Yates as vice-chair
man. Yates will perform
the duties and exercise the
authority of the chairman in
his absence.
• appointedDonLohmeier
to another one-year term on
the Jackson County Airport
Authority. Lohmeier’s previ
ous term expired Dec. 31,
2008, and he had expressed
his interest in being re-ap-
pointed, Smith said.
•re-appointed Keith
Zimmerman to the Jackson
County Board of Health for
another five-year term.
• unanimously approved
Shade Storey to fill the unex
pired term of BOC chair
man Hunter Bicknell on the
Jackson County Water and
Sewerage Authority. The
term will expire June 30,
2010.
• re-appointed Priscilla
Daves to another two-year
term on the Natural Historic
Resources Advisory
Council.
• re-appointed Lucille Law
to another two-year term
on the Northeast Georgia
Aging Services Advisory
Council.
• unanimously elected
Bicknell for a two-year
term, to replace Pat Bell,
on the Northeast Georgia
Solid Waste Management
Authority. Bell’s term
expired Dec. 31, 2008.
•re-appointed John
Derochers to another
one-year term on the
Jackson County Parks
and Recreation Advisory
Committee.
• did not approve the
nomination by Smith
of Don Segraves to the
Jackson County Industrial
Development Authority.
The nomination was to fill
the unexpired term of Chas
Hardy, who was installed
as a county commissioner
Friday. The term will expire
Dec. 31, 2010. No one sec
onded Smith’s motion.
- Willis Cook: Hello World, We’re Here
Cont. from Page 4A
advanced enough to have
sensitive radio receivers
know we are here.
So, why haven't we
heard from anyone?
Well, maybe no one is
there. (I don't believe
that. There may be no
one within 100 light
years of us, but surely,
among 200 billion stars,
there are myriad civiliza
tions.) Possibly some
one's out there but they
aren't listening for us.
Maybe they can't detect
our signals or don't rec
ognize them as signs of
intelligence. (Suppose,
for instance, they picked
up a TV report from one
of our political conven
tions. Would they think
that came from an intel
ligent civilization?) A
third possibility is that
they're transmitting for
all they're worth and we
can't detect their signals.
Even with Sirius, a
very close star, we will
never be able to carry
on a conversation, when
it takes 17 years to get
a response. How many
centuries would it take
just to learn each other's
language? But imagine
we have overcome that
hurdle and are anxious
to take advantage of the
Sirians' advanced tech
nology. We might ask
about their principal
source of energy. And
they might reply: "Oh,
we use the light from our
sun, which we convert by
magnetohydrodynamics
into other forms of ener
gy. But, hey, we really
enjoyed your new movie,
'Terminator 2: Judgment
Day.' Tell us — is John
Connor now your presi
dent?"
Willis Cook is a retired
electrical engineer who was
born in New Orleans and
grew up in the Mississippi
Delta. He lives on Varner
Road in Franklin County.
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Maysville Approves Budget
The Maysville City
Council approved a $1.3
million budget in its
first meeting of the year
Monday night.
The council unanimous
ly approved the nearly
$1,354,000 budget that
includes $692,000 for
water, sewer and garbage.
The council also
approved mileage rates for
Maysville residents in both
counties without changes.
On the Banks County
side, the rate is .810 mills
while the Jackson County
side is 1.764 mills.
Following the adop
tion of the new budget,
the council approved the
deadline date for 2008
city taxes. Residents have
until April 10 to pay their
taxes.
Also Monday night, the
council heard updates
about the ongoing
streetscape project and
ground water exploration.
William Shealy, assis
tant project manager of
landscape architecture
for the Jaegar Company,
updated the progress on
the streetscape project.
Shealy informed the coun
cil that there is potential
to work with the railroad
for city use inside of the
railroad right-of-way, but
in the interest of mov
ing forward at this time
it would be advisable to
work around the park. The
plans have been submit
ted to the state DOT and
Shealy hopes to hear back
by next month.
Since the fall meeting
with the council, Shealy
said that a lot of progress
has been made and he is
waiting on the GDOT to
signoff and is looking to
move ahead. If all goes
accordingly, the spring
could start the bidding
process of the first phase
of the streetscape project.
Following with updates
on projects, Chip
McGaughey of EMI deliv
ered a report from A&S
Environmental Services
on the city’s ground water
exploration. The report
outlines where several
favorable sites are on a
three tier basis.
According to the report,
yields of wells in the
city have up to 80 gal
lons per minute at depths
from 145 feet to 500 feet.
Recommendations based
on the report include six-
inch test wells construct
ed on the favorable sites
to test water samples at
600 feet down.
Geological formations
and the positioning of the
city between tributaries
could limit the effective
ness of some wells accord
ing to the report.
Other Business
During Monday’s meet
ing, the city council:
•approved the reap
pointment of Clarence
Sullens as city police
chief, Gary Freeman
as city attorney, and G.
Hammond Law III as city
judge.
•approved a work ses
sion for Jan. 8 at 6 p.m.
to discuss concerns city
attorney Freeman has on
the councils understand
ing of zoning laws, the
detail on alcohol in the
town and the emergency
management plan with
Jackson County.
•looked at a list of
city residents interested
in participating on the
Downtown Development
Authority. The council
hopes to restart the DDA
without any legal holdups
this time over the vague
requirements of its mem
bers.
— Nicholson Moves On Charter Change
Cont. from Page 1A
city council.
According to city attor
ney Rob Russell, the coun
cil felt the charter needed
to be redone, and the deci
sion was made to do a new
charter rather than a series
of changes to the existing
charter.
One big change to the
charter is the provision
for staggering the terms
of elected officials. Under
the new charter, in the next
election only, the two mem
bers getting the most votes
will serve an initial term of
two years, with subsequent
terms for four. The other
two council members will
serve for four years. That
will result in the city hold
ing elections every two
years for two councilmen,
with each member serving
four years after the initial
election cycle.
The council will hold
the second reading and a
vote on the new charter at
their next meeting. It will
then be sent to the General
Assembly for approval.
No votes were taken at
Monday night’s meeting.
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