The Commerce news. (Commerce, Ga.) 1???-current, February 17, 2016, Image 1

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The Commerce news., February 17, 2016, Image 1

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Newspaper Page TextVol. 139 No. 52 24 Pages 2 Sections Wednesday FEBRUARY 17,2016 www.CommerceNewsTODAY.com 50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875 STATE CHAMPS AGAIN The Commerce Tigers won their third-straight traditional Class A state wrestling championship. See Page 1B I. . ,1 QUESTIONS WINDSTREAM kci Rep. Doug Collins seeks answers from Windstream in response to constituent complaints. See Page 2A Early voting continues 2 more weeks Pyrzenski Resigns Some 249 of Jackson County’s 36,788 voters took advantage of the first of three weeks of advance voting to cast their ballots in the March 1 presidential primaries and for the sales tax referendums. Advance voting will contin ue through this week and all of next week at the Jackson County Administrative Build ing in Jefferson. Voters can cast early ballots Monday through Friday, from 8-5 each day at the admin istrative building. There will also be advance voting this Saturday Feb. 20, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the administrative building. In addition, during the week of Feb. 22-26, advance voting will take place at the Commerce Parks and Recre ation office on Carson Street and at the Braselton police and municipal building. Hours will be 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Besides the Georgia presi dential primaries for both the Republican and Democratic parties, voters in Jackson County will cast ballots in two sales tax referendums, one to extend the special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST) for another six years, and the other to extend the education local option sales tax (ELOST) for another five years. In addition to the advance voting, as of Monday Feb. 15, the county elections office has mailed out 90 paper bal lots and emailed four digi tal ballots since Jan. 13. To count, those ballots must be returned to the elections office on March 1, although overseas and military voters have an additional three days to get their ballots in. INDEX Church News .... 11A Classified Ads 8-9B Crime News 6-7A Obituaries 4B Opinion 4A School 8-9A Sports.... 1-4B & 12B Social News. 10-11A MAILING LABEL BELOW Consultant hopes to have new manager in place in June Pete Pyrzneski’s tenure as city man ager is over. The Commerce City Council, fol lowing a 54-minute “executive ses sion” in a called meeting last Thursday night, voted unanimously to accept a resignation offered by Pyrzenski at 5 p.m. that day. Pyrzenski did not attend the council meeting. The resignation becomes effective Feb. 29. Pyrzenski has been city man ager since October 2012. The council also voted unanimous ly to confirm the election of Kevin Dean as fire chief. Pyrzenski’s placing of Dean on “probation” for reasons never made public and the council’s inaction on confirming Dean, were major contributors to a showdown that culminated in Pyrzenski’s res ignation. His recent termination of recreation director Scott Rodgers was also reportedly a factor that came to light during a three-hour closed- tothepublic discussion at the Feb. 1 “work session” where more than 100 people turned out in support of the fire department. On Thursday a crowd of approx imately 50 people applauded and shouted in appreciation of the coun cil’s action. The council also: •voted to retain Tom Berry, Under wood & Company who served as interim city manager before Pyrzens- Pete Pyrzenski ki was hired and who helped the city with the search that resulted in Pyrzenski’s hiring, to again lead the search for a city manager •authorized Mayor Clark Hill to negotiate a severance package with Pyrzenski •appointed city finance director James Wascher as interim city man ager “It’s not been a fun two weeks,” Hill commented after the meeting. “It’s never fun to watch a community go through what we’ve gone through.” Because area law enforcement officials from all over Northeast Geor gia were meeting in the Commerce Room of the Commerce Civic Cen ter, Thursday’s meeting was held in the much smaller “executive board” room. Approximately 40 citizens piled into the room, with others standing in the hallway, as the meeting began at 6 p.m. Hill called the meeting to order, then the council went into an “exec utive session” to discuss the situation, forcing the citizens out of the room. While the council deliberated, most of the people stayed, and when the council opened the meeting back up 54 minutes later, they streamed back into the tiny room to hear the results. Replacement Process Berry said he will begin “some where in March, whenever the coun cil is ready” the process of finding a new city manager. He said the city will advertise the position in “two or three” publications and post notices on certain websites. “There will be a long list of candi dates for this job,” he said. “It will be painstaking to pare it all down.” Berry said his role will be to present the facts to the council. “I usually don’t recommend a can didate,” Berry said. “I try to give them the facts. This is their employee, and I try to get as much information as I can for them to make a decision.” He speculated that, with his help, the council will pare the list down to S10 individuals, possibly conduct phone interviews, then come up with 3-4 finalists. At that point, Berry said, the finalists’ names would be made public and the council would do inter views. “We should have somebody in here in June,” Berry concluded. Severance Asked about the nature of the sev erance package to be negotiated, Hill said that the contract Pyrzenski has with the city specifies an amount, which he said he thought was six months pay. That would amount to about $55,000. Interim Manager Hill also revealed that he’d called Wascher during the closed session to ask if the finance director would serve as interim manager. He indicated that the subject of additional compensa tion for taking on that role did not come up. It was a difficult process for Hill. The mayor and his family are personal friends with Pyrzenski and his family. “Pete did a lot of great things in the community from projects and tackling problems,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of momentum going now, a lot of projects still in the pipe, and Pete promised to make himself available for a smooth transition. He had only good things to say about the city when I met with him.” Commerce council reappoints attorney, municipal court judge Judge sworn in Municipal court Judge Billy Chandler, right, takes the oath of office from city attorney John Stell after being reappointed to a two-year term. The Commerce City Council reappointed its city attorney and the judge of its municipal court to high light a brief meeting Monday night. By unanimous vote, the council re-appointed John Stell as city attorney for 2016. Then the council re-appointed Billy Chandler for another two-year term, after which Stell adminis tered the oath of office to Chandler. The rest of the meeting, which lasted less than 20 minutes, was also dedicat ed to minor housekeeping items and reports. Among them was the approval of two ordinances. The city unanimously approved its speed zone ordinance, as required by the state, spelling out on which streets and roads the police can use speed detec tion devices such as radar. The approval came over the objection of Tim Red mond, Troy Street, who speaks at every council meeting. Redmond requested that the city drop both Interstate 85 and U.S. 441 from the ordinance, arguing that those roads are covered by the Jackson County Sheriffs Office and that Commerce officers on duty on 1-85 and U.S. 441 “are not available to patrol your streets and my street.” “I just think the city police department would be better served to protect my neigh bors’ property and my property and just respond (to 1-85 and U.S. 441) when there is a call for their ser vice,” Redmond said. Stell advised the coun cil to ignore Redmond’s request, calling it a “matter of public safety and traffic safety that you should con tinue to run radar on those streets.” The council took his advice. The ordinance cov ers two years. The other ordinance approved Monday was a “GMA Utility Accommo dation Right of Way Ordi nance” designed to give the city more control over utility activities taking place on its rights of way. The ordinance was drafted by the Georgia Municipal Association. Other Business Also on Monday night, the city council: • approved a rezoning recommendation from the Commerce Planning Com mission changing a lot at 754 South Broad Street from R-5 (multifamily housing) to C-2 (general commercial). Ward 2 councilman Donald Wil son abstained from voting, pointing out that he’d sold the property to the current owner. •approved a license to sell beer and wine for AQSA Ventures LLC at 145 South Elm Street. J.D.’s Tobacco Town is relocating there from the strip mall that burned on North Elm Street last year. • approved the closure of Homer and High Streets to through traffic from 3 to 9 p.m. Thursday night, Feb. 18, to accommodate Mays- ville Baptist Church’s annu al wild game supper, which will be held at the former QRM building. The event is expected to attract 3,000 people, most of whom will park at designated sites around town and will ride shuttle buses to the event. •approved the closure of Elm Street from 9 to 11 a.m. and Elm Street from, 10:45 to 11 a.m. on Satur day, March 26, for the city’s annual Easter parade. • heard interim city man ager and finance director James Wascher report that as of Jan. 31, the city’s Gen eral Fund was $248,272 in the black; its Water/Sewer Fund had a $77,247 deficit, thanks to a recent bond payment; the Electric Fund was $537,148 to the good due to higher-than-nor- mal summer sales; and its Gas Fund has a deficit of $167,014, which Wascher said should be whittled down in February and March due to higher gas sales. Septic Express won't locate in Commerce A company interested in buying a lot in the East Jackson Industrial Park has withdrawn its rezoning request and will locate in Gainesville. Septic Express LLC has withdrawn its application to rezone five acres on Industri al Parkway from M-l to M-2, which the Commerce Plan ning Commission was sched uled to hear Monday night. “They withdrew their application,” said city plan ning director David Zellner. “They are moving to Gaines ville, which approved their permit.” The company planned to collect waste materials from septic tanks, pre-treat the wastes, then dispose of it into the city’s sewerage system. The withdrawal of the application leaves the plan ning commission with just one agenda item for Mon day night, when it meets at 6:00 in the Peach Room of the Commerce Civic Center. Charles Mathis seeks to have 1.42 acres on Hwy. 334 annexed into Commerce and rezoned from GI (gen eral industrial) in Jackson County to C-2 (general com mercial) in Commerce. Mathis owns NES, which is adjacent to the tract being rezoned and annexed. “When he rezoned (the NES location), he did not annex it at the time,” Zellner said.