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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2008 THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS PACE 3A Maysville City Council mulls budget Planners recommend approval of auto repair shop rezoning SPLOST TALK Maysville’s city attorney Gary Freeman explains the situation on the use of SPLOST funds to the council during Monday’s meeting. Photo by Justin Poole The B anks County Planning Commission recommended approval Tuesday night for a rezoning request that will lead to an auto repair shop locating on Hwy. 51. The planners recommend ed approval of a condition al use permit request from Charles Hooper to operate Deadline set for Wed., Dec. 3 The deadline for accepting photos for MainStreet News papers’ annual children’s Christmas section will be Wednesday, Dec. 3, at 5 p.m. Parents are asked to submit photos early, as photos re ceived after the deadline will not be published. The special section will be in the news stands of The Jackson Herald, The Com merce News and The Banks County News on Wednesday, Dec. 24. The newspapers will be ac cepting photographs of chil dren age 8 years and younger. The child must live in Jackson or Banks counties. Photos of grandchildren will be taken only if the child resides with the grandparents (which must be stated when submitting the photo). Please submit the follow ing information along with the child’s photo: The first and last name and age of each child shown, as well as the parents’ names, their city of residence and phone number. Photos submitted without all Census Bureau to seek help in updating address list The U.S. Census Bureau is looking for people who can count. Early next year, the bureau will hire 100,000 people nationwide to help update its address list. Those work ers will use GPS-equipped hand-held computers to veri fy, add and delete addresses. There are other jobs to be offered, including clerical staff and recruiters. Applicants will take a 30-minute exam with 28 questions and must have two forms of identification. Testing will take place at the Commerce Public Library, South Broad Street, from 3 to 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 14, and Wednesday, Nov. 19. Applicants will be paid during training. To apply, call 1-866-861-2010. Emergency food bank hours listed The hours of opera tion of the Banks-Jackson Emergency Food Bank, located at 111 Atlanta Avenue, Commerce, are from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The food bank provides one-time emergency food supplies for individuals and families referred by church es or social service groups. Deadlines at noon on Mondays: Submit your news, school and social items and letters to the edi tor to The Banks Coun ty News by noon on Mondays. the business at 2953 Hwy. 51. The Banks County Board of Commissioners will take action on the request when it meets at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 11, at the board room in the new court house annex, located at 150 Hudson Ridge. of the information may not be published. Black and white or color photos can be used, but no Po- laroids or photographs printed out from a computer onto la ser paper will be accepted, as they do not reprint well. Digital photos with the above information may be e- mailed to news@mainstreet- news.com. The e-mail MUST contain the subject line “Christmas Kids Photo” as a title, or the child’s photo may not be published. Also, the child’s photo and information requested above must be sub mitted in the same e-mail. Do not submit multiple e-mails for the same child. Once photos are submitted, they may not be replaced with another photo. The photos may be dropped off at or mailed to any of the newspaper offices and may be picked up there after Dec. 24. BY JUSTIN POOLE Decisions on a possible water rate increase, a possi ble tax hike and several other items were put on hold by the Maysville City Council Monday night. That leaves the 2009 city budget still up-in-the-air. The council plans to have another meeting to discuss how to pro ceed with the city’s finances. The city’s general fund bud get for 2009 is currently at $677,800, up 6.5 percent from 2008. The water fund budget is at $721,500, up $78,200 from 2008. City attorney Gary Freeman said the council may have to approve an operating bud get for the water department and rework the final budget with rate increases. The water budget has to be balanced, he said. Mayor Jerry Baker said that if the water rates have to increase, raising the millage rate as well would not help the residents. In other business, Lyn Villyard said that current Maysville DDA members have been asked to voluntary resign so that the DDA can be restarted with better guide lines. In other business, the coun cil: •approved $500 to cover the cost of the portable toilets from D&H Portables used during the festival. •approved a $1,105 bid to replace the window panes at city hall, coming from the Banks County SPLOST funds. •approved the resolution for the comprehensive plan not ing the service area. •approved an amendment to the business license procedure and appointed the city clerk, Barbara Thomas, as the plan ning and zoning administrator for the purpose of approving licenses. The council will still have applicants come before the council to answer ques tions about the type of busi ness. •approved a quit claim deed for the unused por tion of Pritchett Road, basi cally swapping land with the owner. •approved Chuck Floyd for a business license upon meeting the requirements for a home occupation business and the approval of the administrator. •approved three city spon sored events: A citizens din ner on Nov. 22; the Christmas Tour of Homes on Dec. 13; and the December “Movie in the Park” on Dec. 20. •Mayor Baker commented that the holdup on the side walk improvements is due to the railroad, but that a decision should be made sometime this week. He said that around the first of the year, work should start on the project. •Clay Dorsey commented he was proud to see the Dollar General open and to have Community Bank & Trust in the city. log on to www.BanksNewsTODAY.com Newspaper accepting kids' photos for annual Christmas section Ranked Highest in Customer Satisfaction by J.D. Power and Associates According to a study by J.D. Power and Associates, Jackson EMC ranks "Highest in Customer Satisfaction among Midsize Utilities in the South," as well as utilities in the nation, regardless of size. ELECTRIC MEMBERSHIP ./CORPORATION 5 " jacksonemc.com Jackson EMC received the highest numerical score among midsize utilities in the South region in the proprietary J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study'* Study based on 35,588 responses ranking the 27 largest providers in the South (AL. AK. FL, GA, LA, MS. OK, NC, SC, TX). 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