Newspaper Page Text
Vol. 140
No. 12
28 Pages
2 Sections
Wednesday
MAY 11,2016
www.CommerceNewsTODAY.com
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
291 cast
ballots in
1st week of
early voting
Early in-person voting for
the May 24 general primary
and nonpartisan elections
continues in Jefferson this
week and next.
Some 291 Jackson County
voters took advantage of the
first week of early voting last
week.
Polling takes place at 441
Gordon Street — the Gordon
Street Center — in Jefferson
to which the Jackson County
Board of Elections and Reg
istration office has moved.
Early voting continues there
through May 20.
Hours will be 8 a.m. to 5
p.m. every Monday through
Friday and 94 on Saturday,
May 14.
There will also be a week
of early voting May 16-20 at
the Commerce Recreation
Department office on Car-
son Street and the Braselton
Police and Municipal Court
Building. Hours there will be
8 am to 5 p.m.
There are only five contest
ed local races.
Absentee ballots will be
available through Friday, May
20.
City BOE to
meet an
hour earlier
Effective next month, the
Commerce Board of Educa
tion will begin its meetings an
hour earlier.
The board voted Monday
night to advance the timing
of its meetings from 7 p.m. to
6 p.m. Regular meetings are
held on the second Monday
night of each month, with
“work sessions” the Thursday
evening before the regular
meetings.
Regular meetings are sched
uled for June 13, July 11, Aug. 8,
Sept. 12, Oct. 10, Nov. 14 and
Dec. 12.
Work sessions will be held
on Aug. 4, Sept. 8, Oct. 6, Nov.
See “Earlier” on Page 3A
INDEX
Church News 5B
Classified Ads 6-7B
Crime News 6-8A
Obituaries 1 1 B
Opinion 4A
School 9-11A
Sports 1-5B
Social News. 15-16A
MAILING LABEL BELOW
Commerce Schools to fund
HVAC, roofs via energy savings
'Guaranteed' savings to facilitate major building improvements
The Commerce Board of Education made it
clear last Thursday night that it plans to enter a
15-year, $7.5 million contract that will allow it to
fund major upgrades in lighting, HVAC systems
and replace roofs on its two oldest schools.
In fact, the BOE had planned to pass a res
olution to that effect Monday night, but wound
up tabling the matter a month until its new bond
issue is completed.
Superintendent Joy Tolbert said that the
underwriter and bond attorney for the system’s
in-process bond refinancing indicated that taking
on more debt might jeopardize that issue.
“They don’t want to do anything that will obli
gate the system to additional debt” until those
bonds are closed. Closing is expected in late May
or the first week in June.
The system expects to save $830,000 by
refunding the $12 million in 2009 bonds, which
financed the construction of the new Commerce
High School. The new bonds will carry an inter
est rate of less than half of the current issue.
If those bonds close on schedule, the board
will sign a resolution with ABM Building Solu
tions at its June meeting.
The contract with ABM guarantees energy
savings of almost $5.5 million over the course
of the lease, leaving the board to come up with
$1.94 million. The lease anticipates that from
2018 through 2027 the board will spend $100,000
a year, with that amount going to $188,000 a year
for the final five years. That increase begins at the
same time the system’s 2009 bonds are retired.
The project involves a one-year construction
period during which ABM will retrofit lighting
throughout the schools, install HVAC controls
and Dyson had dryers in all of the schools, install
water-conserving sinks, toilets and urinals in the
elementary and primary schools, install new
water fountains in the primary elementary and
See “Energy” on Page 3A
Enjoying the ride
McKenna Bryant, 4, of Commerce, beams as she rides a pony Saturday
afternoon at the 38th annual Nicholson Daisy Festival. The festival featured
more than 60 booths, offering food, crafts and other merchandise, along
with musical entertainment and other attractions. For more photos, see
Page 16AA.
Housing a
'major obstacle'
chamber told
While Jackson County
has an abundance of build
ings and property available
for industrial development,
the head of one of the
region’s top real estate
companies says the county
faces a major obstacle
in filling those buildings:
housing.
“Housing is this county’s
Achilles heel,” declared
Frank Norton Jr., president
and CEO of The Norton
Agency, in a presentation
May 4 to the Jackson
County Area Chamber of
Commerce.
Norton, a self-described
“data junkie” who collects
and assimilates informa
tion on land, housing and
development trends in 58
counties in North Georgia,
warned that Jackson Coun
ty lacks affordable houses
for the people needed to
work in those distribution
centers and other indus
tries.
Norton presented a
PowerPoint slide show
covering housing and
other data. It demonstrated
that the Northeast Georgia
corridor contains the bulk
of new jobs and available
industrial space in Georgia,
which he put at 12.2 mil
lion square feet between
the Gwinnett County line
and South Carolina.
“So where are they
(workers) going to live?”
Norton asked. “Because
there’s a shortage (of hous
ing) in other counties too.
We have a living problem.
We can only get them to
commute so far. Nobody
has the housing stock.”
Jackson County, Norton
says, has 5,300 vacant
developed lots and land
zoned for another 7,580
lots.
“That’s 43,000 people
that could live in Jackson
County on lots already
zoned or in existence,” he
calculated.
That’s the good news.
The bad news is that hous
ing prices are putting new
homes out of the reach of
what Norton calls “aver
age people with average
credit” who need “average
houses.”
“We have a housing
problem we have to fix,”
he said.
According to Norton,
construction costs in the
area are up 40 percent
since 2006, some of that
related to the costs of labor
and material, but much of
it due to regulations.
“If we don’t solve that
problem, we will have no
houses under $150,000,”
he warned.
Norton suggested that
officials “need to rethink
housing” to bring down
costs that will attract work
ers to provide labor for
See “Housing” on 3A
Council to gets first
look at budget Mon.
The Commerce City Council will get its first look at the
proposed Fiscal Year 2017 budget Monday night at 6:00 in the
Commerce Room of the Commerce Civic Center.
City manager James Wascher will present the highlights
of the spending plan for council review, but the council is
not likely to take any official action at this point. The fiscal
year begins July 1.
Action items on the agenda include:
• approval of the list of 11 streets to be resurfaced this
year.
• approval of a water sales contract with the Jackson
County Water & Sewerage Authority.
• appointment of two members to the new Commerce
Hospital Authority.
• approval of the Commerce Board of Education’s bond
refinancing plan.
•a one-time amendment to the city’s retirement plan
as part of the city’s severance agreement with former city
manager Pete Pyrzenski.
Following the council meeting, the Commerce Hospital
Authority will hold its first meeting to elect officers.
A needle for a good cause
Tess, owned by Nancy James is restrained by Maria Hulzar after reacting
to a needle stick during the rabies clinic Wednesday, May 4, at Commerce
Veterinary Hospital. April Carithers injects the vaccine, which will protect
Tess against rabies for a year.
