Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 2008
THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS
PAGE 3A
Baldwin officials approve police vehicle purchase
Baldwin council says 'No' to waste disposal facility
BY SHARON HOGAN
Baldwin City Council members
unanimously approved the purchase
of a Ford Explorer to be used by the
investigation division of the poli
ce department at Monday’s council
meeting.
Assistant Police Chief Shawn
Rhoades presented the proposal to
the council at the work session on
Thursday in the absence of Police
Chief Daren Obsorn. Rhoades said
the proposal called for purchasing
the Explorer and equipping it for an
investigator’s vehicle at a price of
$23,633.
The cost to purchase a Dodge
Charger as a police cruiser would be
approximately $29,000.
Rhoades said the chief wants to
take the money saved and buy com
puters and other equipment nee
ded by the police department. The
purchase will be made with grants
funds received from the United
States Department of Agriculture.
Mayor Mark Reed questioned the
purchase of the Explorer over the
cruiser at Thursday’s work session.
“I thought we wanted to purcha
se safe cruisers,” Reed said. “The
Explorer may be what we want, but
I’m not sure it is what we need. It
is our responsibility to provide the
equipment to keep the public safe.”
Council member Ray Holcomb
made the motion to approve the pur
chase of the Explorer at Monday’s
council meeting and the motion was
approved.
Holcomb said, “We can save
enough money to buy some much-
needed equipment.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business at Monday’s
meeting, the council:
•approved the renewal of the pro
perty liability insurance on the fire
department with VFIS as presented
by Gail Harrell at the work session.
The premium renewal amount is
$10,444 compared to $10,188 for
the current premium. This policy
covers all equipment and vehicles
operated by the fire department.
Reed said an agent will be up this
week to look at the old city hall and
COUNCIL MEMBERS AT WORK
Members of the Baldwin City Council are shown at Monday's
meeting. Shown (L to R) are: Council members Beverly Holcomb,
Jeff Murray and Robert Bohannon, Mayor Mark Reed, Council
members Rodney King and Ray Holcomb and city clerk Brandy
Kyle. Photo by Sharon Hogan
some vehicle values before a deci
sion is made on the city’s insurance
renewal at a price of $74,992. There
are some questions on the values
placed on the old city hall building
and some of the vehicles covered,
Reed said.
•approved payment of a $5,280
invoice to Angela Steedley for
design engineering on the Park
Avenue water project. Reed said
82 percent of design engineering is
complete on the project. The invoice
will be paid with CDBG grant funds
for the project.
•agreed to establish two checking
accounts for USDA grant funds,
requiring two signatures.
•agreed unanimously to transfer
funds from several deposit accounts
into Certificates of Deposit (CD)
accounts in order to receive a higher
interest rate. The CDs will be at
United Community Bank because
they offered the best interest rate.
Financial officer Betty Harper told
the council at the work session on
Thursday, “We are not utilizing the
accounts like we should.”
•agreed to a legal services con
tract with Hulsey, Oliver & Mahar,
LLC., Gainesville, for David Syfan
to handle legal paperwork on the
USDA grants for the police and
fire vehicles. The city will pay $75
per hour, not to exceed $500. Syfan
will handle the paperwork for the
USDA grants. The council signed
paperwork at the council meeting
verifying each member’s terms of
office.
•unanimously approved an emplo
yee travel expense policy to be inclu
ded in the personnel policy. One
item covered in the travel expense
policy is the maximum amount to
be paid for meals. Breakfast will be
paid at $4, lunch at $6 and dinner
at $10. The policy states that under
no circumstance will be city pay
for alcoholic beverages and the city
does not pay for snacks. Receipts
will be required from the employee
for reimbursement of meals. Travel
in a personal vehicle will be reim
bursed at 40 cents per mile.
•met in closed session from 7:53
p.m. until 9:17 p.m. to discuss per
sonnel. The council also met in
closed session for 45 minutes at
Thursday’s work session meeting
to discuss personnel. No action was
taken.
•heard a report from Reed that the
city has received notification that the
Department of Natural Resources
has received the city’s application
for renewal of its existing permit to
discharge wastewater into the waters
of Georgia. Reed said the notice is
posted at city hall as required for 30
days. He said the permit is doubling
most of the testing requirements for
the city.
The next regularly scheduled coun
cil meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on
Monday, April 28, in the courtroom
at the police department.
Baldwin hears request to locate mobile home
BY SHARON HOGAN
Chuck Armour, Baldwin Falls
Road, appeared before the Baldwin
City Council at Monday’s meeting
requesting to locate a new dou
blewide mobile home on five acres
of property he owns on the road.
The property is located at the dead
end of Baldwin Falls Road and is
currently zoned R-1, single family
residential.
Council member Ray Holcomb
said, “We will have a lot of opposi
tion from the neighbors if we try to
rezone it.”
Mayor Mark Reed said, “We have
zoning to protect adjoining property
values and protect uniformity in the
neighborhoods.”
Reed informed Armour that his
option is to apply for a rezoning
special use permit.
Reed said, “We will have to post it
and have a public hearing.”
He added that the public com
ments the council has received in the
past have been “pretty tough.”
“It’s within your rights to ask for
that but I’m not confident , the way
things have been going,” he added.
OTHER BUSINESS
Other rezoning and annexation
issues at Monday’s meeting were:
•the council unanimously approved
the first reading of an annexation
request from James and Krystal
Trotter for 2.0 acres located in
Banks County at 205 Crooked Pine
Trail in the Smoke Rise Subdivision.
The Trotters are seeking to have the
property annexed into the city and
zoned R-1 residential. In order to get
city water service to the property, the
annexation is needed. The second
reading and a hearing on this request
will be held at the council meeting at
7 p.m. on Monday, April 28.
•the council unanimously
approved the first reading of the
rezoning request for property owned
by James and Kristy Woltz and
located on Willingham Avenue. The
property was recently rezoned with
a special use permit to place a new
doublewide mobile home on the
property. The Woltzes proceeded
with the demolition of an old house
on the property. However, they were
not able to secure the loan on the
doublewide and they are currently
living somewhere else. The Woltzes
were notified by certified mail of the
city’s intention to rezone the proper
ty back to its original R-2 zoning to
remove the special use permit. They
were asked to attend the meeting if
they had any objections. The second
reading and the hearing will be held
on April 28.
•the council held the first reading
on an annexation request from Kaye
B. Wilkes for 13.5 acres located
on Hwy. 365 and Wilbanks Road.
Wilkes is requesting to have the
property zoned highway business.
The use of the property will be
model log homes sales. The first
reading was unanimously approved
and the property will be posted and
advertised. The second reading and
the public hearing will be held at
the council meeting at 7 p.m. on
Monday, May 12.
Bows to be sold for Relay for Life
Everyone is asked to paint Banks County pink and purple with Relay
for Life bows.
“Put them on your mailboxes, fence posts, doors and trees in your yard
or place of business,” organizers state. “Pink bows indicate breast can
cer and purple bows are for all other kinds of cancer. Placing the bows
around the county is a wonderful opportunity to honor a cancer survivor,
as well as to remember a loved one.”
Glory Baptist UMU has large weatherproof bows available for $10
each. Contact Wanda Logan at 706-677-3207 or Charlotte Maxwell at
706-335-6948.
Leave a message and calls will be returned, they say.
All proceeds go to the Banks County Relay for Life.
BY SHARON HOGAN
A developer likely won’t apply
for a rezoning to locate a waste
disposal facility in Baldwin because
town leaders are not receptive to the
proposal.
Jesse Nix, North Georgia Sewer
and Drain Company, Cleveland,
appeared before the Baldwin City
Council at a March 6 work session
seeking approval to locate a septic
and grease trap disposal facility in
the City of Baldwin. He had not
officially applied for a rezoning but
wanted to find out if the council
would approve his plans.
Nix was not at a work session held
last Thursday but several Baldwin
residents attended to oppose the
proposal to locate a waste disposal
facility in the city.
At the March 6 meeting, Nix said
he was looking at two possible sites
for the facility — a 32-acre tract on
Duncan Bridge Road and a three-
acre tract in the industrial park.
“ I guess most of you are here about
the proposal from Jesse Nix,” Mayor
Mark Reed said at the Thursday
work session. “I talked with him
today and told him it was a dead
duck here. There’s a potential for
inconvenience for some citizens and
some environmental issues for the
feed mill. I don’t think it is what the
citizens of Baldwin want and I think
this is the feeling of the council.”
Reed said Nix did put a contract
on the Duncan Bridge Road site. He
is also looking into bringing waste
from a White County site to the
Baldwin plant.
“I talked with him about some
thing at our treatment plant,” Reed
said. “Nix plans to construct some
thing in White County and pos
sibly truck some waste over to be
put in Baldwin’s system. We will
need to make sure it doesn’t nega
tively impact Baldwin’s wastewater
plant.”
The discharge into Baldwin’s
plant would have to be approved by
Woodard and Curran.
“His intentions are good, but his
plan hasn’t been proven,” Reed
said.
Reed said the city received numer
ous calls about this issue. Reed
thanked the media for reporting on
this issue and the citizens for their
participation.
“It’s not worth the risk to Baldwin
at this time, Reed said. “We get
opposition to just about everything
we try to do.”
Council member Ray Holcomb
said, “We owe it to anybody to listen
to his or her proposal. We listened to
his proposal. We didn’t promise him
anything.”
Citizen Sandy Evans, Mallard
Pond Subdivision, said, “I don’t
think we should only come to com
plain but most of us have our great
est investment in our homes and we
want to protect them.”
Brenda Garcia of the Habersham
Retreat thanked the mayor and coun
cil for taking “thoughtful consider
ation for the citizens of Baldwin.”
City of Lula receives confirmation of $200,000 DOT grant
BY JUSTIN POOLE
Lula leaders learned Monday that the town has
received a $200,000 grant for a streetscape project.
City manager Dennis Bergin spoke on the grant during
a work session Monday.
The grant provides the city with $200,000 for use on
the streetscape project that also includes the veteran’s
park.
The grant will help for the first phase of the project
and increases the chance for more phase funding later on
to help with additional phases, city leaders said.
Bergin said it was through the efforts of Mike Evans,
Lula’s DOT district representative, that the town received
the grant.
Also at the work session Monday night:
•resident Joe Means told the council that he would
speak at the public hearing before next Monday’s meet
ing about rezoning of property off Belton Bridge Road
•information was given to the council an update to the
town’s ordinances that the EPD has requested.
•proposed topics for the council meeting April 21 were
discussed, including stream buffer setback, amendments
to ordinances on waste water discharge, storm water,
floodplain management and flood protection, building
materials for the overlay district, water fees and drought
restrictions.
Baldwin Elementary School students earn recognition
BY SHARON HOGAN
Baldwin City Council members
recognized four students on Monday
from Baldwin Elementary School
who were winners in the T-shirt logo
contest for the city’s Peach Clean
Up Day event.
Mayor Mark Reed said this is the
city’s 12th annual Peachy Clean
Up Day event and this is the third
year the students at the school have
designed the logo to be printed on
the T-shirts. All participants in the
clean up event receive a free T-shirt.
“We’ve always come up with some
good applicants,” Reed said.
The top four designs were cho
sen. Jeff Herrin, Herrin Properties,
donated savings bonds for the top
four students.
The winners were: Aaron Crump,
first place, $100 savings bond;
Chase Coker, second place, $75
savings bond; William Mitchell,
third place, $50 savings bond; and
Melissa Chavez, fourth place, $50
savings bond. All of the winners are
fifth grade students at the school.
The city will hold its Peachy Clean
Up Day event from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
on Saturday, April 26. All volunteers
are urged to meet at Fellowship
Church in the Industrial Park at 9
a.m. Biscuits will be offered on a
first-come, first-serve basis at 9 a.m.
and lunch will be provided by the
church and Fieldale Farms at 1 p.m.
Leaders state they have a lot of
door prizes for the event also.
T-SHIRT CONTEST WINNERS HONORED
Baldwin Mayor Mark Reed (second from left) is shown with the
winners of the Peachy Clean Up Day T-shirt logo contest. The
winners were chosen from the fifth grade classes at Baldwin
Elementary School. The winners shown are: Aaron Crump (L),
first place, $100 savings bond; William Mitchell (second from
right), third place, $50 savings bond; and Chase Coker (R), sec
ond place, $75 savings bond. Crump's picture will be printed
on the T-shirts that the participants at the annual clean up day
receive. Not pictured is fourth place winner Melissa Chavez.
Photo by Sharon Hogan
First Annual
Taste of East - A Family Affair
Saturday, April 19, 6:00 - 9:00 pm
Food Vendors Start at 7:00 pm
Everything else starts at 6:00 pm
East Jackson Comprehensive High School
Band Practice Field
Sponsored by the EJCHS Band Boosters
Family Fun including moonwalk, slides, obstacle
course, carnival games for children, craft vendors,
silent auction (lots of great stuff from our local
businesses), local entertainment and best of all, great
food to be sampled from some of Jackson County’s
Best Restaurants: Shane’s Rib Shack, Papa John’s
Pizza, Redd’s BBQ and Stew, Johnny’s NY Style
Pizza, Supper’s Ready, Cabin Creek BBQ, My Friend’s
Place, Starbuck’s, Cracker Barrel, Sonic Drive-In,
Rey’s Cuban Grill, Wendy’s, Sara’s Restaurant...just to
name a few. Please join us in support of the EJCHS
Band for some great fun for the whole family and a
great cause!
Tickets are $10/5 tastes. Tickets are on sale now.
If interested, please call Karen Derochers at 404-983
8189 or Vicki Whitmire at 770-654-0260. If interested in
participating as a food or craft vendor, please call
Karen Derochers or Janet McDonald at 706-658-6232.
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