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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2008 THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS PAGE 5A Letter to the Editor Addressing misinformation about fire dept. Lula officials seeks SPLOST funds for projects LULA MAYOR UNVEILS NEW CITY MAP Lula Mayor Milton Turner unveiled the new city map at the meeting on Monday. The council unanimously approved adop tion of the official city map and the Downtown Development Authority boundary map. Photo by Sharon Hogan Dear Editor: I would like to dispel some of the rumors and misinformation that has been told to the media and members of the community. I am a paramedic/firefighter, and have been employed by Banks County Fire Department for six years. It has been reported that 34 volunteers have resigned. As of Friday the 14th when I wrote this, half that number has resigned. There have been allegations of “illegal” training classes. These alle gations are false. The training class es in question were approved by the respective state officials, both before and after the training occurred. Mr. Weldon Mintz raised some questions that I would like to clar ify. 1. There is no plan to restructure the fire dept. The department is, and will remain for the foreseeable future, a combination department. 2. There are different qualifications The Baldwin City Council approved a loan application resolu tion Monday night for $130,000 from the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development. The loan, plus a $50,000 USDA Rural Development grant the city received, will be used to purchase a new fire truck. The city’s in kind contribution in the amount of $87,840 will be for equipment on the new truck. Kathleen Henderson from USDA Rural Development, said the loan amount will be financed for 15 years at a rate of 4.375 percent with annu al payments of $12,002. The first payment will be due one year after the loan is closed. Henderson said the loan could be paid off at any time with no pen alty. Henderson said that Rural Development would oversee the project. The city has to meet certain requirements to obtain both the loan and the grant. The grant funds will be the last to be spent, she said. Henderson said she would be working with the city clerk to obtain necessary information for the proj ect. Baldwin Fire Chief Joe Roy said the city’s contribution will be equip ment the department has to transfer to the new truck. Baldwin City Attorney David Syfan reviewed the application forms and said he saw no problems with the application. OTHER BUSINESS In other business at Monday’s meeting, the council: •voted unanimously to surplus the old rescue truck from the fire depart- for volunteer personnel vs. full-time personnel. Full-time personnel are required to complete much more training than volunteers by the state of Georgia. 3. The loss of pay-per-call and pensions for volunteers is not being abolished in any way. 4. Overtime pay will not increase. Full-time fire personnel work a 24- hour on/48-hour off shift. BCFD staffs three fire stations and three med units 24 hours a day, every day. 5. The county is not losing its ISO 5 rating. When ISO returns for an evaluation, we plan to have a rating of 4. Mr. Carl Mintz also had some ques tions that I would like to address. 1. We don’t have an Interim Chief. Gary Pollard is our Chief, and has been with BCFD over 5 years. Chief Pollard has over 15 years experi ence in the fire service. Also, the 2 officers that have been attacked have ment. Proceeds from the sale of this vehicle will be used to pay on the $130,000 loan. •approved the surplus of five police vehicles—one Chevrolet Impala and four Ford Crown Victorias. Approval was also given by the council to trade the surplus vehicles to LGS Government Supply, Cleveland, for a 2006 Dodge Charger police cruiser. The trade will be no cost to the city. •voted unanimously to approve payment of an invoice in the amount of $2,880 to Engineering Management, Inc., Lawrenceville, for design engineering work on the Park Avenue water line project. Mayor Mark Reed said 71 percent of the design engineering is complete. Reed also said a report on the water rate study will be presented by EMI at the April work session scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 10. •discussed a special use permit that was approved for James and Kristy Woltz to place a manufac tured home on 1.10 acre located at 456 Willingham Avenue. Reed said the Woltzes were not able to close on their loan for the home. Reed asked Syfan if the city could put something in place on a special use permit that would give a time limit for a project to occur so it reverts back to the original use. “Usually a zoning decision is not based on tem porary conditions,” he said. Syfan said the city could bring its own zon ing procedure to rezone the property back to the original zoning. Syfan said the property owners need to be notified by certified letter of the city’s desire to zone the prop erty back to the original zoning. No 27 years experience between them. The positions they were promoted to were open to the public. Anyone could apply. These men were cho sen by a three-person hiring board. When they were hired, Chief Pollard was the assistant chief. 2. The goal of managing every emergency scene is to ensure the safety of everyone on scene and to be efficient in accomplishing the actions that have to occur at that scene. If the on-scene commander is managing the scene well and is comfortable with the responsibility, they are not removed from that posi tion. Rank or status as volunteer or paid is not a factor. I hope that this letter will dispel some of the misinformation and hysteria that has been told. Rest assured, when you call 911, we will come. Sincerely, Chace Bramlett Gainesville action was taken on this issue. •approved several amendments to the Drug Free Workplace Policy that was adopted at the March 10 council meeting. Council members Beverly Holcomb and Jeff Murray have been working on this policy for the city. Murray said 95 percent of the city’s employees have been trained on the policy. •heard from two residents on Wilbanks Street concerning water run-off on their property. Ralph Smith and Theron Ayers came before the council seeking to have repairs made to stop the run-off onto their property. Both residents said the problems occurred after water line work was completed in this area. •heard two citizens speak in oppo sition to a request to operate a sew age treatment facility in Baldwin. Brenda Garcia of Habersham Retreat, said she opposed the facil ity on behalf of the 48 residents at Habersham Retreat and also for 18 clients coming from other areas. Phyllis Marshall, a Baldwin prop erty owner, presented the coun cil with a package of information from a newspaper in White County concerning issues with a sewage treatment operation in that county. Marshall said these are the same problems that could face the City of Baldwin if the facility is approved for a 32-acre location on Duncan Bridge Road. Marshall said, “Once again, as I have asked many times before, please, please, bring back our protective city ordinances.” The council will holds its next meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 10, in the courtroom at the police department on Willingham Avenue. BY SHARON HOGAN Lula leaders are already looking for projects that could be funded through a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST). The voters in Hall County have not approved the SPLOST yet, however, if the SPLOST is approved, Lula City Council members are seeking $3 million to go towards several city projects. The council approved the proposal at a meeting last week. The proposal calls for $600,000 for roads/resurfacing; $600,000 for park and recreation/expansion of streetscape; and $1.8 million for water/sewer projects. Mayor Milton Turner said that if voters approve the SPLOST, Lula would be guaranteed $1.86 million from the Hall County. The SPLOST vote will be on the November ballot for Hall County voters. OTHER BUSINESS In other business at last week’s council meeting: •several residents were in atten dance expecting the council to dis cuss the Highland Lakes Subdivision. Bill Gresham, representing Butler- Murphy, LLC, is seeking an annexa tion and rezoning for a planned unit development for 43.126 acres locat ed on Railroad Avenue/West County Line Road. The council voted 3-1 to table consideration on this request until April while a traffic study is being done. Mayor Pro Tem Vicky Chambers cast the only vote against tabling the issue. •the council voted unanimously to approve a new city map and a new Downtown Development Authority boundary map. •Allen Burnham was approved to fill the vacant seat on the DDA. •the council approved a public hearing for 6 p.m. on Monday, April BY SHARON HOGAN The Baldwin City Council adopt ed a new purchase order system Monday night following a 50-min ute closed-door meeting to discuss “personnel.” After the meeting was re-opened, the council unanimously approved the adoption of a purchase order sys tem for the city. Mayor Mark Reed said this was a part of the financial control plan presented to the council by Baldwin Financial Advisor Betty Harper. However, Harper has not presented any plan to the council during its recent meetings. Nor was it made clear Monday night what the closed-door meeting meeting about “personnel” had to do with the adoption of the new purchase order system. The Georgia Open Records Law allows personnel discussions to 21, to hear a request for rezoning for 12.68 acres located at 6727 Belton Bridge Road. The property is cur rently zoned R-3 residential and the property owners, Joe and Hilda Means, are requesting consideration to CBD central business district (commercial). •the council recognized the March Yard of the Month Winners. They are: James Ralston, Cobb Street, dis trict 1; Billy Meeks, Athens Street, district 2; Edward Stowers, Carter Street, district 3; Hilton Stafford, Iron Horse Trail, district 4; and Raymond Woody, Athens Street, district 5. •Tim Haynes, Ayers Circle, Lula, questioned the council on the matter of tabling a decision on the Highland only be on the hiring or firing of a specific individual. Under the new system, a purchase order will be required for all pur chases and invoices will not be paid without the accompanying purchase order. In the event of an emergency, any city employee could spend an amount not to exceed $100 without a purchase order and department heads can spend an amount not to exceed $500 without a purchase order the plan states. In other business, Mayor Reed: •announced the city’s Annual Clean-up Day is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 26. Reed said the city would sponsor a logo contest for students at Baldwin Elementary School. The winning logo will be printed on the T-shirts that all participants will receive. Lakes Subdivision request. Hayes said he understood after the meet ing on Feb. 18 that the matter could not be tabled again. City Manager Dennis Bergin said the matter could only be tabled if the applicants agreed to it and they actually were asking that it be tabled until the traf fic study is complete. •Haynes also questioned the coun cil about the length of time it took for the city to replace a manhole cover that was brought to their atten tion at the meeting in February. The next regularly scheduled meet ing of the Lula City Council will be the work session set for 6:30 p.m. on Monday, April 14, at city hall. The council meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Monday, April 21. More details will be announced later on this event. •said the city had done some work on the street in Whispering Woods Trailer Park that was brought to the attention of the council at the last meeting by Wilton Watkins, a Habersham County school bus driv er. Reed said all the problems with the road are not the responsibility of the city. •said the city has received several positive comments for the work done on Baldwin Heights Road. He said the city crews worked to clear the vision in the curves on this road. •presented Baldwin Police Chief Daren Osborn the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life bronze award for raising over $3,000 for the annual Habersham County Relay for Life event. P R I TING For quality custom printing, fast turn-around and reasonable prices, give us a try. MainStreet Newspapers Printing 706/367-5233 Director presents finance report to DFACS board BY SHARON HOGAN Banks County Department of Family and Children Services members received the current county expense report at the monthly meeting on Wednesday. Kenny Jarvis, secretary, reported to the board that a total of $3,666 of county funds was spent in February. Jarvis said DFACS has spent 62 percent of the county budget with 67 percent of the year complete. “We are doing O.K. at this time,” he said. “I had hoped to spend any money left over on some equipment.” In other business at Wednesday’s meeting: •board members learned that 103 food stamp applica tions were distributed at the commodity food distribution event on Wednesday that lasted for three hours. •Jarvis said there were 551 active food stamp cases with a total of $131,318 in February and 37 active TANF cases totaling $7,634 for the month. The county had 691 family Medicaid cases in February and 10 childcare cases. •it was reported the county received 21 child protective services referrals in February, six were screened out and 15 were accepted. Of the 15 accepted, six were accepted for investigation and nine were accepted as diversions. The county had 17 family preservation cases in February, Jarvis said. Banks County had 19 children in legal cus tody in February. •the board members learned that Governor Sonny Perdue has enacted a hiring freeze that will affect DFACS. Jarvis said Banks County currently has a full staff, but if someone were to leave they would not be able to replace this person. •Jarvis said DFACS could now conduct food stamp interviews by phone. Baldwin officials approve fire truck loan BY SHARON HOGAN Baldwin officials adopt purchase order system MARK PATRICK SEMINARS PRESENTS Public Hearing Update to the short term work program and the land limitation element of the solid waste management plan for Banks County and the cities of Homer and Maysville. The Banks County Board of Commissioners and the Cities of Homer and Maysville will hold a public hearing to present a draft update to the Five-Year Short Term Work Program and the Land Limitation Element of the Banks County Solid Waste Management Plan. 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