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PACE 2A THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 2008 HISTORIC COURTHOUSE SEES ACTIVITY AGAIN Lawyers and clients could be seen on Thursday milling around in the court room at the historic Banks County Courthouse in downtown Homer. The courtroom will be used while re-modeling work is being done at the current courthouse. Photo by Sharon Hogan Baldwin approves spending $30,000 BY SHARON HOGAN Immediately following a public meet ing on Thursday, Aug. 14, on finances, the Baldwin City Council approved spending $30,000 for payment on a new ladder truck for the fire department. The council unanimously approved the payment from Special Purpose Local Op tion Sales Tax (SPLOST) IV revenue. In other business at the council meeting: •the council tabled action on a new secu rity system for city hall. Baldwin Financial Officer Betty Harper presented three bids received on this project to the council. Elite Security bid $4,995 for video cameras inside and outside and an alarm system. Electronic Sales submitted a bid of $6,618, including four panic buttons installed in various of fices. Ansley Communications put a bid in for $9,300. Harper said her recommen dation was for Electronic Sales. “Not the cheapest, but it’s the most coverage,” Harper said. Harper said the city has money in its SPLOST V account to cover this. •the council also tabled action on hiring an auditor to complete the 2008 city audit. Bids were received on this from Rushton & Com pany for $12,800, Jay Greene for $8,000 and Duncan & Kitchens for $10,500. •the council unanimously approved spending $800 to update the city’s zoning map after some proposed annexations are made. Interim Mayor Ray Holcomb said, “I recommend we hold up on annexing the islands until we get a new mayor.” The city has several islands that have become contig uous and need to be annexed. Some of the property owners are on the city’s water and sewer systems already. •the council met in closed session for 35 minutes to discuss potential litigation. No action was taken on this. Expansion planned in industrial park BY SHARON HOGAN A Banks County business owner is planning an expan sion of his business in the industrial park. Banks County Develop ment Authority member Scott Ledford, owner of MetroSite, located in the In dustrial Park, said at a meet ing last week that he would like to purchase the four acres adjoining his 10 acres and combine them under the same covenants. “I need it for additional lay-down yard,” he said. BOC chairman Gene Hart said the authority and the board of commission ers need to look at the cov enants to make sure they are correct. Administrative of ficer Angela Sheppard said the conditions would need to be included in the sale agreement just like the pre vious sale agreement with Ledford. The authority unanimous ly approved the sale of the four acres at $25,000 per acre, plus the reimbursement of the authority’s expenses on the four-acre tract. Led ford abstained from voting. In other business at the meeting on Wednesday: •the development author ity members authorized Erin Decker, clerk, to draft a let ter to Dr. Keith Ash stating the covenants of the prop erty he purchased from the development authority in the Industrial Park. Hart said, “I recommend sending a regis tered letter to Dr. Ash about the issue.” The covenants state that within one year of purchase some plans need to be made or construction should begin on the building on the property. Decker has been unable to contact Ash about this matter. •Hart reported that the county has approved the type of wastewater treatment plant they plan to build. The direct discharge plant will have capacity of one million gallons per day, Hart said. The footprint can easily be expanded on the property that has been pur chased, Hart said. “It can be expanded up to four times,” Hart said. The county has al ready received its discharge permit and the engineers are in the process of doing the design, Hart said. The cost of building the plant is fig ured at $8 per gallon, so the county is looking at a total of $8 million. “I don’t know what it would cost to operate the plant daily,” Hart said. The county has submitted plans to the Corp of Engi neers for the transmission line for the Martin Bridge Road area, Hart said. The gravity sewer lines are in the works. Rights of way acquisition is underway and work is being done on the wetlands mitigation, Hart reported. •Sheppard said the county is in the process of updat ing its comprehensive plan. This is required by the state and the work has been going on for several months with MacTec Engineering. The plan has been submitted to the Regional Development Commission and the state for review, Sheppard said. The plan will come back to the BOC at their October meeting for them to do the final adoption, Sheppard said. Sheppard said the plan shows industrial growth around the Martin Bridge Road area and continues to show commercial growth at Banks Crossing. The full plan can be downloaded from the county’s website at www.co.banks.ga.us. •Stewart asked that the authority provide a nametag for each member. Hart said when the county offices move into the new annex building they will have a badge-making system and they could do this for the au thority. •Sheppard said, “This is the last week we will be meeting in this building.” The next regularly scheduled development authority meet ing at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 17, will be held in the new Banks County annex building on Hudson Ridge, Homer. •the authority met in closed session for 40 min utes to discuss land acquisi tion. No action was taken. Simmons reunion planned Sept. 28 Baldwin changes meeting time BY SHARON HOGAN Baldwin addresses signs in the city BY SHARON HOGAN Realtors and politicians beware. If you put up a sign on the City of Baldwin’s right of way, the sign will be removed. The council agreed at Monday’s meeting to have the signs removed to make grass cutting easier for the street department. The signs will not be de stroyed. They will be taken to the city shop and they can be picked up from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Council member Jeff Murray said, “We’re try ing to keep the grass cut on the rights of way but we’re getting real estate signs, yard sale signs and cam paign signs. The guys cut ting grass are having to cut around them, or pull them up and then re-set them, or have a guy weed eat around them.” Murray said the street de partment employees asked him to check on this. The council agreed that starting with the next grass cutting set to begin next week the signs will be removed and can be picked up at the city shop. Murray said the city cuts 5-6 feet off the shoulder of the road or to the bank. Got a news tip? Report it to The Banks County News at 706-367-2490 FOR ONLY $5 PER MONTH, YOU CAN LIST YOUR GROUP'S MEETINGS! Let your members know when your group is meeting! Call (706) 367-5233 to advertise your meeting time, place and date in... • The Jackson Herald • The Commerce News • The Braselton News • The Banks County News • The Madison County Journal JEFFERSON 'AMERICAN LEGION Albert Gordon Post 56 Each 3rd Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. Harvie Lance, Commander Phone (706) 654-1274 310 White Plains Baptist Church Faith Bible Class meets every Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. It is a place where strangers become friends and friends become family. 706-367-5650 White Plains Baptist Church 3650 Hwy. 124 West, Jefferson, GA 30549 The Jackson Co. Republican Party Would like you to meet us for breakfast the second Sat. of each month, 8:00 at The Jefferson House. For more information, call 706-652-2967 or email fishyglass@yahoo.com Pci.ii/os BANKS COUNTY AMERICAN LEGION Post 215 Meets each 3rd Thursday, 7 p.m. In Homer, GA at the American Legion Building on Historic Highway 441 Pd.06/09 VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS Post 4872, Hurricane Shoals Convention Ctr. Each 4th Monday, 7:00 p.m. Mike Buffington, Commander Phone 706-335-6532 26.1 JEFFERSON LIONS CLUB Meets 2nd & 4th Monday Jefferson City Clubhouse 6:30 p.m. *(706) 387-1156 Mack Cates, President UNITY LODGE F&A.M. No. 36, Jefferson, GA 1st Tuesday of each month, 7:30 p.m. Dwight Wier* 706-367-5882 Borders St. behind Tabo’s 260 JEFFERSON ROTARY CLUB Meets Tuesdays Jefferson City Clubhouse 12:30 p.m. *(706) 367-7696 Gina Mitsdarffer, President BANKS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, INC. meets first Monday each month 7:00 p.m. in the Banks Co. Historial Courthouse at 105 U.S. Hwy. 441 North in Homer pd.-07/09 Citizens Organized for Pipeline Safety investigating the health risks to citizens from underground pipelines and booster stations in Madison Co. Meetings 6:30 p.m. at the Colbert Grove Baptist Church the 2nd Thurs. of each month. 706-783-4702. Pd.04/09 Baldwin resident Andrea Harper said, “Isn’t this a code enforcement issue and shouldn’t they be doing this anyway?” Murray said this is a code enforcement issue. Baldwin City Council members have rescheduled their September work session meeting for 6:30 p.m. on Wednes day, Sept. 3. The council has a Joint Local Government meeting to at tend on Thursday, Sept. 4 in Cornelia. The council meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 8. The monthly meetings are held in the courtroom at the po lice department on Willingham Avenue. Family and descendants of James Willis and Catherine ‘Smith’ Simmons are invited to the third annual Simmons family reunion from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 28, at Henderson Falls Park Shelter #4 in Toccoa. Lunch will start at 12:30 p.m. sate AUGUST 29 - SEPTEMBER 1 plus a super Saturday sidewalk sale ge Buy direct from the manufacturer and save NIKE FACTORY STORE ABERCROMBIE 8. FITCH GAP OUTLET JOCKEY JOURNEYS KASPER JOCKEY NAUTICA RUE21 EDDIE BAUER OUTLET CLAIRE’S NINE WEST VAN HEUSEN BROOKS BROTHERS FACTORY STORE AER0P0STALE AND MORE TangerOutlets Commerce, GA 1-85, Banks Crossing, Exit 149 800-405-9828 Monday-Saturday 9-9 Sunday 12-6 www.tangeroutlet.com We want to give you EXTRA SAVINGS FOR YOUR VISIT core coupon rRLLBOOK worth $100’s in savings Simply bring this ad to the Tanger Customer Service Center for your FREE Tanger Coupon Book. Expires 9-1-08 Code 1526908D