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PAGE 2A THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2008 BOC shortens terms for development authority members BY SHARON HOGAN Banks County Board of Commissioners Gene Hart and Joe Barefoot voted at last week’s meet ing to change the length of term that development authority mem bers will serve. Commission mem ber Rickey Cain was absent from the meeting. The development authority mem bers currently serve six-year terms and the county will have a resolu tion drawn up changing this to a four-year term. This is in line with the planning and zoning board, Hart said. OTHER BUSINESS In other business at the meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 22, the commis sioners: •unanimously approved a resolu tion in support of “prescribed fires.” Doug Andrews, Georgia Forestry Commission chief ranger for Banks and Hall counties, told the commis sioners that prescribed burns are a good practice and they are cheap for the property owner. Most of the burning done by the Forestry Commission is done in January through March, Andrews said. A prescribed fire is a land manage ment/public safety tool in the pre vention of wildfires. It reduces the liability and loss of private property and saves lives while it acts as a pre ventive measure saving taxpayers the cost of local government pub lic safety and fire fighting officials from responding to wildfires which consume valuable tax resources, the resolution reads. •unanimously approved a raise in the amount paid for grand jury compensation. The commissioners agreed to raise the amount from $25 per day to $35 per day. •agreed unanimously to have Hart send a letter of acceptance to Waste Management for a 1990 White Tanker Truck. Waste Management offered the county the truck to be used by the fire depart ment. The truck is a tandem axle truck with a 4,000 gallon tanker. Waste Management has agreed to replace the clutch before the county receives the truck. Brian Eubanks, Banks County Fire and Rescue, told the commissioners that the truck would need new tires, a new paint job and a new pump. The cost of the pump is estimated at $6,000. Eubanks said the warden at Lee Arrendale Correctional Institute, Alto, has offered their services to paint the vehicle. Banks County will have have to furnish the materials only. Hart estimated the total cost to be spent at $10,000. Eubanks said a new tanker of this size would cost $150,000 to $200,000. Hart and Barefoot unanimously agreed to accept the truck and later iden tify where the funds to upgrade the truck will come from. •tabled the Uchee Boy Scout Lodge lease agreement. •declared the old salt barn located near the site of the new courthouse annex as surplus property. Hart said, “We will tear it down when we have the money to do so.” •postponed the budget and finance report until 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 12. Finance Officer Randy Failyer was absent from Tuesday’s meeting due to illness in his family. Baldwin hears request for special use permit Baldwin hearing set for Tuesday A hearing on the suit filed against the City of Baldwin by Baldwin resident Theron Ayers will be held at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 5, at the Habersham County Courthouse. Judge Hugh W. Stone is sched uled to hear the case filed by Ayers against the city and City of Baldwin Election Superintendent Brandy Kyle. Ayers alleges in the suit that Kyle went out to homes in the city and brought back absentee ballots. Ayers ran against incumbent council member Beverly Holcomb for the Post 1 council seat. The count after the Nov. 6 city election showed Holcomb beating Ayers by three votes. Ayers’ suit states that, according to the two voting machines, Ayers won the election by one vote. With the 18 absentee ballots in ques tion, Ayers lost by three votes. Ayers states the following rea sons for filing the suit: not know ing the conditions that the election superintendent required to be eli gible for her to come out to their homes, the inconsistency of her answers as to how many homes she actually went to; his winning on the voting machines; and the closeness of the vote after count ing the absentee ballots. Ayers also questioned the training of Kyle to hold this position. BY SHARON HOGAN Baldwin City Council members heard a request for a special use permit at Monday’s council meet ing. Kristy Woltz came before the council seeking the permit to allow for a new doublewide mobile home to be located on property in the city that is cur rently zoned single family R-2. The council unanimously agreed to post the property and hold a public hearing on the request at 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 11, prior to the regular council meeting. Woltz told the council that she and her husband, James, would like to locate the mobile home on a lot located on Perry Manor Drive off Willingham Avenue. An older home is currently located on the lot. Woltz said this house and a garage will be torn down and removed. Mayor Mark Reed said a special use permit allows for a manu factured home to be located on the site. The home has to be set on a permanent foundation with masonry underpinning. Reed also told Woltz that she would need to obtain a copy of the city’s requirements in the building of the home. Council member Ray Holcomb instructed Woltz to obtain a demolition permit as well as any other necessary permits from the city’s building inspector, Shawn Rhoades. The next regular council meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 11. The work session meet ing is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 7. Both meetings are held in the courtroom at the police department. OTHER BUSINESS At Monday’s meeting the coun cil also: • tabled any action on replacing the water meter at the J. Warren Road pump house. Public Utilities Director Tim Hall told the coun cil that this meter needed to be replaced. Hall said the current meter is a distribution meter, not a billing meter. Charlie McGugan, City of Demorest Public Works Director, said this meter can not be calibrated and the meter should be calibrated once a year. Demorest has agreed to split the cost of the meter with the City of Baldwin since Demorest buys water coming through the old meter from Baldwin. Hall pre sented the council with a bid of $8,750 for a mechanical meter from Delta Municipal Supply Company, Inc., Lawrenceville, and a price of $4,011 for an electronic meter from Fluid Equipment Company, Inc., Social Circle. Hall told the council that Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax revenue will be used to purchase this meter. Reed said he wanted to contact the Woodard & Curran representatives to see if they had any additional sources for pricing. • voted unanimously to pur chase a boring unit for the public works department. Hall presented the council with four bids for this unit. The council accepted the low bid price of $3,643 for a two-and- one-half inch unit from Georgia Underground Supply, Forest Park. Bids were also obtained from Georgia Underground on a three- inch unit for $4,510; Vermeer Southeast Sales & Service, Inc. on a two-and-one-half inch unit for $3,895; and Ditch Witch of Georgia for $3,968. Hall told the council that revenue from Banks County SPLOST will be used to fund this purchase. • tabled any action on setting a date for a one-day retreat for the council members and depart ment heads to discuss plans for the City of Baldwin. Reed asked the council members to come up with a date to discuss at the work session at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 7. • unanimously approved Reed, Mayor Pro-Tem Ray Holcomb and council member Jeff Murray as the budget committee. Reed said they would begin working on a new budget for the city. • met in closed session for approximately 40 minutes to dis cuss personnel. No action was taken when the meeting was opened to the public. Baldwin approves purchase of four new police vehicles BY SHARON HOGAN The Baldwin City Council unani mously approved the purchase of four new vehicles to be used by the police department. The action came at the council’s monthly meeting Monday night. Police Chief Daren Osborn pre sented the council with informa tion on the purchase of three 2008 Dodge Chargers and one 2008 Dodge 1500 Quad-Cab 4x4 pick up. Two of the cars will be used as patrol vehicles and one will be used as the chief’s car. The price of the chief’s vehicle fully equipped is $25,845. The price of the two patrol cars is $63,190 fully equipped. All three of the cars will be purchased at Carl Gregory Dodge, Columbus. That dealership has the state contract. The total price of the truck fully equipped is $29,398 from Hayes Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep, Baldwin. The truck will be used by the code enforcement officer and will also be equipped as a police vehicle to be used by the police department. The payments on these vehi cles will be deferred for one year through the leasing agency. The city will then make quarterly pay ments on the vehicles. At the end of the lease, the city will own the vehicles. The funds used to purchase these vehicles will come from the upcom ing Habersham County Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax 5 revenue. Council member Robert Bohannon voiced his concern at the meeting about the SPLOST money paying for the vehicles even though they will already have been purchased by the city. Councilmember Ray Holcomb said the city had been told by the Habersham County manager and finance director that the action is allowed, even though the SPLOST hasn’t begun. Also at Monday’s meeting, two Baldwin residents came before the council to discuss the police department. Kristie Harrison asked the council for extra police patrols on Wilbanks Street. Harrison said she was concerned with all the gang activity in Baldwin. Harrison said someone was spotted Friday attempting to steal post-hole dig gers from her yard. Gary Lilly told the council the police department “needs more cars and more people patrolling.” OTHER BUSINESS In other business at Monday’s meeting: • the council held a public hear ing on the proposed ordinance to establish a franchise fee appli cable to holders of cable or video franchises issued by the state of Georgia. No one appeared at the public hearing to speak in favor of or in opposition to the proposed ordinance. The council voted unanimously after the public hear ing to approve the second reading of this ordinance. • Code Enforcement Officer Shawn Rhoades told the council that at the request of council mem ber Jeff Murray he had checked on the dilapidated buildings at the Travel Inn. Rhoades said a letter was drafted to send to the property owner giving him notification that an inspection of the property will be done on Tuesday, Feb. 5. The property owner will have 45 days after the inspection to clear up any violations before a second inspec tion will be done. If the violations are not cleared up, fines will be levied and the property owner will have to appear at city court. • the council voted unani mously to approve payment of an invoice in the amount of $3,840 to Engineering Management, Inc. for professional services performed in December on the Park Avenue water and sewer project. WJJC Welcomes: The Dr. Laura Program Morals, ethics, and values... Dr. Laura Schlessinger helps millions steer a path through difficult life decisions by insisting that they do the right thing. In an “anything goes” World, Dr. Laura’s message of personal responsibility and accountability has become the rallying point for millions of listeners. i/s /’ aV ™ E o VPROGRAM * / ^ i \ . / V n Monday - Friday \ / k \/ / 3:00 P.M. - 6:00 P.M. | a- y O.W. 7 WJJC Radio - 1270 AM www.WJJC.net 703-335-1270 BOE reappoints school principals BY CHRIS BRIDGES Impressed by the current leader ship of the Banks County School System, members of the Board of Education voted last week to reap point all four principals for the 2008-09 school year. The BOE voted 4-0 to reap point principals Janice Reiselt, Jan Bertrang, Matthew Cooper and Art Wheaton for another year. BOE member Bo Garrison abstained from voting since he has a son-in law who is an assistant principal at Banks County High School. The BOE also voted to reap point school system assistant prin cipals Debra Ayers, Lori Rylee, Faith Simpson, Christine Bray and Michael Williams for 2008-09. Discussion of personnel items usu ally take place in a closed session but BOE members told superinten dent Chris Erwin there was not need to do so this time and simply voted to accept his recommendation on the school principals and assistant principals. The BOE also approved mem bers of the central office staff for 2008-09 including: •Donna Reed, assistant superin tendent. •Dennis Marlow, school food nutrition director. •Pam Strickland, special needs director. •Ann Langford, federal programs, student assessment director. •Holly Koochel, social worker. •Ray Harness, psychologist. •Clay Hobbs, transportation director. •Stacey Morgan, 21 st Century Project manager. The BOE also approved the fol lowing personnel items Thursday night: •classified personnel, new hires: Lisa Cape, para-professional; Cassidy Ann Hughes, para-profes sional and Dione Hughes, after school program. •certified personnel, family med ical leave: Chrystal Carlan, teacher, Banks County Primary School. •classified personnel, family medical leave: Jean Lacey, para- professional, Banks County High School. Fees set for2008 county elections BY CHRIS BRIDGES Banks County voters will go to their respective voting polls this summer for another primary election with 11 county posts up for vote. Candidate qualifying for the General Primary Election will begin Monday, April 28, at 9 am. and continues through Friday, May 2, at noon. Candidate qualifying for the General/Non-Partisan Election will begin from June 23-27. Offices which can be contested in the primary election and the qualifying fee for each is as follows: •sheriff, $1,616.40 •tax commissioner, $1,392.24 •clerk of superior court, $1,392.24 •probate judge, $1,392.24 •magistrate judge, $1,392,24 •coroner, $72 •county chairman, $1,080 •county surveyor, $25 •board of education, post 1, $64.50 •board of education, post 2, $60 •board of education, post 4, $60. The qualifying fee for each office is based on three percent of that office’s base salary. Reed seeks public input on plan BY SHARON HOGAN Baldwin Mayor Mark Reed gave the city council members an update on the Banks County Joint Comprehensive Plan at Monday’s council meeting. The plan is for unincorporated area of Banks County and the municipalities of Baldwin and Homer. Reed told the council that he attended a meeting on Thursday, Jan. 24, at Homer City Hall to discuss the com prehensive plan update. Reed said the state would be notified of the plan update. The members project the plan will be completed in July. Reed said Baldwin council members would hold a hearing at its council meeting at 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 11, on the first phase of the update. Reed urged all Banks County resi dents to complete a copy of the issues and opportunities questionnaire as soon as possible and return it. Reed said copies of the questionnaire are available at Baldwin City Hall. Reed said it is important for all resi dents to complete this questionnaire as soon as possible. Voter ID continued from page 1A Department of Driver Services (DDS) •Valid U.S. passport •Valid employee photo ID from any branch, department, agency, or entity of the U.S. Government, Georgia, or any county, municipality, board, authority, or other entity of the state •Valid U.S. military photo ID •Valid tribal photo ID If a voter does not have one of these forms of photo identification, they can obtain a free Voter ID card at their county registrar’s office or the Georgia Department of Driver Services. Voters can request an absentee ballot through Friday, Feb. 1. All absentee ballots must be received by the county registrar on Election Day, Tuesday, Feb. 5. Photo identification is not required when voting by mail. To download an absentee ballot request form, visit www.sos.ga.gov/elections. Anyone with additional questions about Georgia’s photo ID requirements can visit www.GAPhotoID.com or call toll free 877-725-9797. 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