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Farm Day held
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— www.BanksNewsTODAY.com —
504 • Homer, Banks County, GA 30547 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. • 20 Pages, 3 Sections Plus Supplements • Vol. 40 No. 12
Voters give
BOC change
green light
BY ANGELA GARY
Banks County voters over
whelmingly supported in
Tuesday’s election changing to
a five-member board of com
missioners.
Some 69 percent of the voters,
or 4,070 people, voted in favor
of the change, while 1,869 voted
against it.
The change to local govern
ment will result in the follow
ing:
•The current board of three
commissioners will be expanded
to five commissioners, all serv
ing, as do the current commis
sioners, four-year terms.
•One commissioner will hold
a full-time position as chairman.
The other four will serve as part-
time commissioners.
•Banks County would be
divided into four commission
districts. Each of these districts
must be represented by one of
the four part-time commission
ers, who must also reside in their
respective district.
•The chairman may reside
in any district, representing the
county as a whole.
•All of the commissioners will
be elected by a county-wide vote
of all eligible voters.
•The two new part-time
commissioners will be elected
in a special election held early
next year, probably in March.
Thereafter, these two new com
missioners and the chairman
will be elected every four years
together in the same year and the
other two will be elected every
four years in the same two year
off-cycle that is currently used.
News -2-3A
Maysville council
mulls budget — page 3A
•Courthouse annex
open house set
— page 2A
•‘Recalling good times
with faithful buddy’
— page 4A
Other news
• Social News — 8&10B
• School News — 7B
• Public Safety — 5-6A
• Legals — 4-6B
•Church — 9B
•Obituaries — 7A
Ausburn, Brown re-elected
Harden defeats Jamieson for House seat
TAX COMMISSIONER RE-ELECTED
Margaret Ausburn (second from left) was re-elected in Tuesday’s election. She is
shown watching as the results came in Tuesday night. Shown are: (L-R) Kassie
Suggs, Mrs. Ausburn, Lori Slaton and Jane Dunson. Photo by Sharon Hogan
BY ANGELA GARY
Margaret Ausburn and Neal
Brown were re-elected in
Tuesday’s election, while Rep.
Jeanette Jamieson was defeat
ed.
Banks County had a 73 per
cent voter-turnout with 6,276 of
the 8,585 registered voters cast
ing a ballot. Some 28 percent
of those voting cast their ballots
during the early voting period.
In the tax commissioner’s
race, Ausburn, the Democrat
incumbent, had 3,474 votes, or
57 percent, while Republican
challenger Becky Taylor had
2,568 votes.
In Post 1 on the Banks
County Board of Education,
Republican incumbent Neal
Brown had 4,055 votes, or 68
percent, while Democrat chal
lenger, David Kennedy, had
1,861 votes.
As for the State House District
28 seat, Michael Harden had the
most votes in Banks County, as
well as winning district-wide.
In Banks County Harden, a
Republican, had 3,826 votes,
while Jamieson, a Democrat,
had 2,243 votes. District-wide,
Harden had 10,239 votes, or
54 percent, and Jamieson had
8,443 votes.
In the United States House
District 10 race, Paul Broun
won in Banks County, as well as
winning district-wide. In Banks
County, Broun, the incumbent
Republican, had 4,455 votes,
while Democrat Bobby Saxon
had 1,503 votes. District-wide,
Broun had 175,788 votes, or 60
percent, and Saxon had 113,565
votes.
In the United States Senate
seat, Saxby Chambliss, the
incumbent Republican, had
4.264 votes in Banks County,
while Democract challenger,
Jim Martin, had 1,512 votes.
Liberterian Allen Buckley had
297 votes in Banks County.
State-wide, the results were
not finalized at press time. It
appeared as if Chambliss might
be headed into a runoff. With
96 percent of the precincts in
the district reporting, Chambliss
had 1.7 million votes, or 49
percent, and Jim Martin had
1.6 million. Libertarian Allen
Buckley had 131,862 votes.
In the presidential race, John
McCain was the winner in
Banks County with 5,114 votes
compared to Barack Obama
with 1,026 votes. Bob Barr had
89 votes. Obama was declared
the national winner in the presi
dential race.
BOC moves toward hiring economic director
Approves contract for new position
BY ANGELA GARY
The Banks County Board of
Commissioners paved the way
for hiring an economic director
last week, although a time frame
for hiring someone has not been
discussed publicly.
The BOC and the Banks
County Development Authority
have both struggled over details
in the contract for an economic
development director. However,
there has been no discussion on
advertising for a person or when
the position would be filled.
The BOC is apparently get
ting closer to moving forward
with hiring someone as the
contract for the new position
was approved at a meeting on
Tuesday, Oct. 28. BOC chairman
Gene Hart and commissioner
Joe Barefoot both voted in favor
of the contract. Rickey Cain was
not present. The Development
Authority approved the contract
at an earlier meeting.
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The job duties and other
guidelines for the new position
are included in the contract, but
it does not state a specific salary.
The salary issue has been a topic
of debate of BOC and DA lead
ers for several months.
At one time, a $200,000 fig
ure was mentioned as a budget
for the department. This would
not have been salary only. It
would have included the entire
budget for the department. This
figure was not placed in the final
contract. A salary and depart
ment budget will apparently be
negotiated when someone is
hired.
The contact is for five years
and would begin on Dec. 31,
2008, which apparently means
a person will be hired this year.
The development authority and
BOC would both be involved
in the hiring of an economic
director and the BOC would
handle the supervision of the
employee.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business at the Oct.
28 meeting, the BOC:
•agreed to pay Ansley
Communications $41,2050 for
cabling at the courthouse. This
is part of the renovation of the
facility.
•agreed to pay Gunby
Communications $10,650
for a redundant repeater for
the 911 department. No bids
were taken because this proj
ect is building onto an existing
radio infrastructure that Gunby
Communications maintains for
the county.
•approved an update of the
comprehensive plan. Several
public hearings were held and
the regional development cen
ter and state community affairs
department signed off on the
update. This plan must be
approved in order for the county
to maintain its “qualified local
government status.”
•approved a solid waste plan
and a records management
plan.
•took no action on filling
Albert Ward’s seat on the plan
ning commission. Hart made a
motion that Melinda Cochran
fill the position, but Barefoot did
not second the motion. Barefoot
then made a motion that Ward
be reappointed, but Hart didn’t
second that motion. The BOC
will reconsider the matter when
commissioner Cain is present to
break the tie.
•held a 30-minute closed ses
sion to discuss land acquisition.
Members of the development
authority also attended this
closed-door meeting. No action
was taken when the meeting
was opened to the public.
Millage
unchanged
BY ANGELA GARY
For the fourth year in a row,
the Banks County Board of
Commissioners has kept the
millage rate at 8.304.
At a meeting last week, the
BOC unanimously approved
the millage rate.
“We’re real proud that we
are able to do this for the
county without raising the
millage rate at all,” BOC
chairman Gene Hart said.
“There was a lot of cutting
and gnashing of teeth as we
went over the budget with
the department heads. This
is four years in a row that we
have held it the same. I am
real proud of this.”
Commissioner Joe Barefoot
added: “I want to say that we
worked hard on this budget
to keep it where it is. We are
aware that there are unknown
economic issues.”
Banks CVB presents fourth chocolate fair
Taste Test
Veterans Day
celebration set
Banks County Middle School
will honor veterans on November
11, with a program and a recep
tion at 10 a.m. in the gym.
“Also, we are planning a dis
play to show the history and
importance of Veterans Day and
contributions of local service men
and women,” organizers state.
Lula to break
ground on park
The City of Lula Downtown
Development Authority will hold
a groundbreaking ceremony
for Veterans Park at 11 a.m. on
Tuesday, Nov. 11, at the comer of
Main Street and Athens Street.
Leaders invite everyone to join
the community for this event.
This is the first phase in the rede
velopment of the downtown Lula
area.
The Banks County
Convention and Visitors
Bureau invites everyone out
to the fourth annual CVB
Chocolate Fair on Nov. 10
from 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. in
the Community Room at the
Tanger Town Centre at Banks
Crossing.
The fair is a competition for
amateur bakers in which par
ticipants bring their chocolate
creation entries and each entry
is judged by a panel of judges
and prizes are awarded to the
participants with the winning
entries.
The categories for the judg
ing are: Best Overall Chocolate
Entry Winner, $100: Most
Creative Chocolate Creation
Winner, $100: and Chocoholics
Choice Award Winner, $100.
There will also be two
new categories for the 2008
Chocolate Fair. They are: Best
Sugar Free Chocolate Entry
Winner, $100, and Best Parent/
Child (age 12 and under) Entry
Winner, $100.
Not only are the entries sam
pled and judged by the panel
of judges. Everyone attending
the fair gets to sample all the
entries and vote on their favor
ite chocolate dish to determine
the winner of the People’s
Chocolate Choice Award
Winner, $100.
The entry fee is $25 for those
aged 13 and older for up to two
entries. And, the entry fee is
$10 for Parent/Child (age 12
and under) teams for up to two
entries.
Tickets to attend the choco
late fair are $5 in advance and
$7 at the door with children 12
and under admitted free.
Tickets and entry forms are
available at the RE/MAX Select
Commerce office located in the
Commerce Crossing mall at
Banks Crossing; at the First
Georgia Bank in Homer; and in
Cornelia at the main branch of
Community Bank and Trust.
For more information, contact
the Banks County Convention
and Visitors Bureau (CVB) at
bankscvb@windstream.net or
call 706-677-5265.