The Commerce news. (Commerce, Ga.) 1???-current, January 20, 2016, Image 1

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The Commerce news., January 20, 2016, Image 1

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Newspaper Page TextVol. 139 No. 49 24 Pages 2 Sections Wednesday JANUARY 20,2016 www.CommerceNewsTODAY.com 50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875 2 rezonings on agenda for planners The Commerce Planning Commission will meet at 6 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 25, to consider two rezoning requests. David Dorsey has request ed that a lot at 754 South Broad Street be changed from R-5 to OCR (Office-Commer cial-Residential). The proper ty contains a duplex. Septic Express has request ed a change from Ml to M2 for a building at 455 Industrial Parkway in the East Jackson Industrial Park. The company services septic tanks. The planning commission will make recommendations on those requests to the Com merce City Council, which will make the final decision at its Feb. 15 meeting. Adulterated snack sickens 12 children Twelve Maysville Elemen tary School students got sick Friday after eating a snack to which a student allegedly added a powdered cleaning solution. Jackson County EMS, Jackson County EMA and Jackson County Rescue were called to the school on reports of multiple sick persons. Upon arrival, they found 12 students ranging in age from 8 to 9 complain ing of feeling sick after eating food brought by a student to the school for snacks. The children were checked by EMS personnel, treated on the scene, and released to the parents in good condi tion. No students were trans ported to area hospitals. Officials said a 10-year-old student allegedly offered the snack, to which a powdered cleaning product had been added, to the students during a break between classes. The Jackson County Sher iffs Office and the Maysville Police Department are inves tigating the incident. INDEX Church News 5B Classified Ads 7-8B Crime News 6-7A Obituaries 6B Opinion 4A School 8-1OA Sports 1-4B Social News. 10-12A MAILING LABEL BELOW SPLOST Town Hall Meeting Leaders advocate for SPLOST as means of paying down debt Jackson County Board of Commissioners chairman Tom Crow speaks with citizens Catherine Daniel and Pat Garrison at a town hall meeting on Saturday. Photo by Alex Pace BY ALEX PACE Jackson County could reduce its debt and fund future expenses if the Spe cial Purpose Local Option Sales tax is renewed. Jack- son County Board of Com missioners chairman Tom Crow spoke about possible uses for SPLOST revenues at a town hall meeting Satur day morning. Approximately 20 people attended. Citizens will vote on the renewal of SPLOST in a March 1 vote. Based on cur rent revenues, Crow antic ipates the county would receive $55.5 million in reve nue over six years if SPLOST continues. The county would receive $38.85 million and the remainder would be split among the cities. Crow said determining SPLOST expenses is a “bal ancing act” as the county decides how much to spend on debt reduction and how much to use for future proj ects. The county plans to use $21 million to pay off debt for the courthouse, jail and fire training facility. The county still owes $113 mil lion on those projects. The county also plans debt payments to the air port, Bear Creek Reservoir and Industrial Development Authority. Crow said if the SPLOST vote fails, the coun ty will have to pay off the debt from another source. “It has to be paid or we go bankrupt,” said Crow. What is left over in the county’s SPLOST revenues is split between its depart ments: •water and sewer - $9.04 million • public safety - $2.25 mil lion •roads, streets and side walks - $3 million • historic courthouse (renovate second floor) - $800,000 •parks and recreation - $2.5 million • animal shelter - $250,000 Citizens spoke at the meet ing, saying they disagree with the BOC’s budgeting. Jefferson resident Rock Fee- man said he would rather See“SPLOST”on12A Cheering for the champs Brittany Burchett cheers for her brother, Kole Burchett, after his come-from-behind win in the state Class A Duals Wrestling tournament last week. Burchett’s win in the 126-pound class against Mt. Zion helped the Commerce Tigers win their fourth-straight Class A (Public) Duals state title. For the full story, see Page 1B. Photo by Ben Munro Pyrzenski removes rec director The city of Commerce is looking for a new recreation director. City manager Pete Pyrzenski terminated Scott Rodgers effective last Fri day, Han. 8, apparently over long-term medical/personal issues. “He’s been on FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act) and we’ve kind of been dealing with it since August,” Pyrzenski said last week. “We came to a crossroads. We will continue to help Scott any way we can.” Pyrzenski declined to specify the nature of Rodgers’ issues, but said he is “main taining and doing what he needs to do” to get better. The city manager said he will begin advertising for Rod gers’ replacement this week and hopes to have someone in the position by mid-Feb ruary. The city did not offer Rod gers a severance package, Pyrzenski said. Rodgers has been recre ation director since March 2012. New year means new leadership for chamber BY MARK BEARDSLEY New leadership took over the reins of the Jackson County Area Chamber of Commerce last week. Bill Cornell, 2016 chairman, presided over the first board of directors’ meeting of the year, his board comprising four newly-elected members, and while president/CEO Josh Fenn ran most of the meeting, Cornell welcomed his successor, Jim Shaw, who will remain as a director until he takes over for Fenn around Jan. 25. Fenn expressed appreci ation for the opportunity to work for the chamber. “I thank y’all for the oppor tunity to serve the past two and a half years. It’s been fun,” he said. “We got a lot done. Let’s hope you find it better than when we get start ed.” And, speaking to Shaw, Fenn said, “I hope the short-sighted individuals who never gave me a chance will give you a chance.” Cornell had praise for Fenn. “We really appreciate what you’ve done, he said. “We are in a better place and I wish you the best.” Cornell also supported Fenn’s departure for a better opportunity. “We knew coming in you had aspirations outside the chamber business,” he said. “I wouldn’t want people who didn’t have aspirations above and beyond.” Shaw told the board he “appreciated your confi dence” and was “excited about the opportunity” and “looking forward to getting started.” He alluded to his longtime service on the Industrial Development Authority: “I’ve been doing econom ic development part-time for years. It will be interesting to do it full-time,” he said. Cornell also thanked 2015 chairman Shawn Watson for his service. “I think he did a great job,” Cornell told the board. “I just hope I can accomplish half as much.” Board Adjustments Cornell announced two changes in the board for 2016. First, he said, Hank Adams, local Georgia Power man ager, resigned because he’s been promoted out of the Jefferson office. He proposed — and the board agreed — to replace Adams with the new Jefferson Georgia Power manager, Adam Finch. “He has been on the (chamber) boards in Cobb, Lumpkin and White counties. I think he will add a lot to the board,” Cornell said. The other position involves replacing Shaw. Cornell asked the board to be thinking of nominees for the position. Other Matters In other business: •Fenn reported that the chamber still has 60 “open” industrial projects and noted that the newer projects are trending toward distribution and away from manufac turing, a reversal of the 2015 trend. “But I’m pretty happy with the project flow,” he declared. • Fen noted that the cham ber added four members in December and that its 2015 membership retention rate of 85.8 percent beat the 2015 goal of 85 percent. • heard board of commis sioners chairman Tom Crow urge members to “talk to people out there” about the importance of voting for the continuation od the special purpose local option sales tax and the education local option sales tax in the March 1 referendums. He warned that there is “a lot of misinfor mation out there,” recalling a conversation he had with a voter who said he would vote against the SPLOST because “you spent too much on that gymnasium” — a reference to a Jefferson School System project that had nothing to do with SPLOST. •learned that ticket sales for the chamber’s annual awards banquet set for Thurs day at the Jefferson Civic Center had hit 255 and might reach 260. The theme is “JacksonMade: Built, grown, sold, shipped in Jackson County.”