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PACE 2A
THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1 3, 2008
Development Authority to purchase
Geographic Information System (GIS)
CONSIDERS GIS MAPPING
The Banks County Development Authority met with
Faith Jones, Georgia Mountains Regional Develop
ment Center, on Monday to discuss a Geographic
Information System (GIS) for Banks County. Shown
(L to R) are: Banks County Board of Commission
Chairman Gene Hart, DA members Stan Stewart,
Gram Hodgkins and Scott Ledford, Jones, DA
chairman Wayne Abernathy, Banks County Admin
istrative Officer Angela Sheppard, DA members
Jack Banks and Bill Griffin and clerk Erin Decker.
Photo by Sharon Hogan
'■ . <*"• : Vv i A
CHOCOLATE FAIR PARTICIPANTS GET READY
Participants in the Banks County Convention and Visitors Bureau’s annual
Chocolate Fair held on Monday, Nov. 10, are shown getting their dishes ready
for the judges. This year there were 25-plus entries into the event.
Photo by Sharon Hogan
Chocolate Fair winners announced
CHOCOLATE FAIR WINNERS
Winners from the Banks County Convention and
Visitors Bureau Chocolate Fair were: (front row,
L-R) Sawyer Pace and Marshal Pace; and (back,
L-R) Sandra Campbell, Jenny Murphy and Michelle
Madden.
BY SHARON HOGAN
The Banks County Develop
ment Authority approved spend
ing $113,733 for a Geographic
Information System (GIS) for
the county at the meeting on
Monday, Nov. 10.
DA member Jack Banks
made the motion to take the
funds out of the Industrial De
velopment Authority to pay
for the “orthophotography and
LiDAR” mapping system for
Banks County.
Faith D. Jones, informa
tion services director, Georgia
Mountains Regional Develop
ment Center, said she is work
ing to get nine of the 13 counties
in District 3 to commit to this
system.
Jones said the GMRDC has
applied for several grants to help
with the $1.18 million total cost
for the project. Any grant money
that is received will be applied to
the total and this will reduce the
individual cost for each county,
Jones said.
We should know about the
grants in January or February,
2009,” Jones said.
Banks County Administra
tive Officer Angela Sheppard
said, “We have a lot of demand
for this. “We've had real estate
agents and developers to ask for
this.”
Jones said some of the needs
across the region for this map
ping service are: Current acces
sible orthophotography (GPS
rectified), accurate topography
data, oblique photography and
accessibility of neighboring ju
risdictions data for analysis pur
poses. Jones said the orthopho
tography needs to be acquired at
least every three years.
Other layers of data can be
added for access such as: Par
cels, transportation, utility infra
structure (water, gas, sewer and
electric), service delivery areas,
tourism and recreation sites,
community facilities, natural
resources, historic resources
and census information, Jones
added.
LiDAR is Light Detection
and Ranging, a remote sensing
system used to collect topo
graphic data. LiDAR data can
be used for: Elevation and con
tours, calculation of slope, best
buildable areas, floodplain map
ping, water, sewer and stormwa
ter projects/placement, planning
and designing of transportation
and 3-D modeling and analysis
and visualization of line-of-sight
studies and view shed studies.
Jones said if the fly-over is
done in January or February,
2009, after word on the grants
is received, the county should
receive the data in November,
2009.
DA member Stan Stewart
said, “I've seen this system
work. It is one of the most ef
ficient economic development
tools out there.”
The county will charge a fee
for this and any funds generated
will be kept in a separate fund
for updates to keep this as an on
going project, Sheppard said.
Board of Commission Chair
man Gene Hart said, “I don’t see
why we can’t do this, it would
be a matter of bookkeeping.”
Banks said the county would
need some restrictions or every
body will be trying to access the
information.
The Banks County Board of
Commissioners voted in sup
port of this action at its monthly
meeting on Tuesday night.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business at the de
velopment authority meeting
on Monday morning, Sheppard
said she attended a meeting with
economic development directors
in Atlanta recently and a discus
sion was held on the tier structure
for each county. Sheppard said
having Banks County in a Tier
4 category is not an accurate be
trayal. She asked the Department
of Community Affairs to look at
some other factors in determin
ing the tier for each county. Cur
rently, poverty, unemployment
and median income are the fac
tors used in determining the tier.
The smaller the tier, the larger
the tax credit for employers.
The next regularly scheduled
DA meeting is set for 8:30 a.m.
on Wednesday, Dec. 17, at the
Banks County Courthouse An
nex Building.
Winners from the Banks
County Convention and Visi
tors Bureau Chocolate Fair have
been announced.
The “Chocoholics Choice”
award winner was Michelle
Madden with her Earthquake
Cake.
The “Most Creative Choco
late Creation” award winner
was Sandra Campbell with her
Banana Split Pudding Cake.
The “Best Overall Chocolate”
award winner was also Sandra
Campbell with her Dreamy
Chocolate Mousse Cake.
There were two new catego
ries for this year’s competition
- a “Best Sugar Free Choco
late” category and a “Best Par
ent/Child Chocolate Team” cat
egory.
The “Best Sugar Free Choco
late” award winner was Jenny
Murphy with her Sugar Free
Snicker Pie.
The “Best Parent/Child Team
Chocolate” award winners were
Shannon Pace and Sawyer Pace
with their Chocolate Cheese
Ball.
Everyone at the fair got to
vote on their favorite choco
late entry for the winner of the
“People’s Choice Award.” The
award went to the parent/child
team of Shannon Pace and Mar
shal Pace with their Cheesecake
Surprise Pops.
BJC Medical Center will no longer offer baby deliveries after Dec. 9
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
Trying to shave its operating
deficit, BJC Medical Center is
closing its labor and delivery
services, leaving three doctors
scrambling to make alternative
arrangements for patients.
“December 9 is the absolute
last day we will deliver a baby,”
announced CEO Jim Yarbor
ough.
The cutback includes closing
Commerce Women's Clinic,
a hospital-owned OB practice
run by Dr. David Sauls, whose
contract with BJC expires Dec.
9. The move will also bring to
an end the delivery of babies
by doctors Bob Marshbum and
Beth Sullivan.
The move hits Sauls hardest.
He's been working to get 14 pa
tients scheduled for delivery into
other facilities in Gainesville and
Athens.
“It was always more of a
community service here,” Sauls
acknowledged. “It never was a
profitable office for providing
these services.”
Sauls said he'd realized that
the long-term outlook for provid
ing OB services was at risk, but
he'd figured to get more notice if
and when the service was termi
nated.
“I had hoped that if this were
to happen, we would have many
months to work things out in
stead of one month,” he said.
Sauls, who works a couple of
shifts in the emergency room,
said he may do more of that kind
of work. He's ruled out starting
a new OB/GYN practice in an
other location, due to the cost.
Ridgeway Family Practice and
Medical Center Family Practice
are also affected.
Dr. Beth Sullivan said she’s
been busy reassuring OB pa
tients that Ridgeway Family
Practice can continue to provide
OB care. She's applied for emer
gency privileges at Athens Re
gional Medical Center. OB care
accounts to 30 percent of her
revenue, she noted.
“We are asking patients that
when they come in for an ap
pointment, we will discuss what
their options are,” said Sullivan.
She reported 19 active OB pa
tients.
Dr. Bob Marshbum of Medi
cal Center Family Practice un
derstands the problem.
“It's tough to keep an OB
wing open with the nurses and
high-tech equipment if you’re
not delivering a volume of babies
that justifies it,” he said.
Marshbum expects to deliver
two more babies before the unit
closes; he has 10 other patients
he will refer to other providers
for delivery.
“It's kind of sad,” he said. “I’ll
miss that part of my practice.
Quitting obstetrics will also af
fect his practice's future patient
mix, Marshbum predicted.
“Prior to Hoyt Duncan pass
ing, I had patients from 24 hours
old to 105 years old.”
Marshbum will continue to see
pediatric patients, but since he
will no longer deliver babies, he
expects the pediatric component
of the practice to grow smaller.
Both Marshbum and Sauls
also predicted that closing the
OB service at BJC will lead to
cases where women show up at
the emergency room in labor.
“You can have the EMS divert,
but you're always going to have
somebody who just drives up in
labor,” Sauls said. “You’re bound
by laws. You can try to transfer
them, but if you can’t find a hos
pital to accept them, you have to
deal with it here.”
Yarborough said closing the
OB unit could trim the hospital’s
deficit by $500,000 to $750,000,
Yarborough explained.
"We can no longer sustain OB
services based on reimburse
ments,” said Yarborough, who
added that the hospital would
have to deliver 300 babies a year
- with an appropriate Medicaid
mix - to break even. Last year it
delivered 66.
The move eliminates 12 po
sitions at the hospital, but Yar
borough speculated that some
of those employees will be ab
sorbed into other positions where
vacancies exist.
BJC was struggling financial
ly before the current economic
slump hit. It lost its general sur
geon and has seen its percentage
of indigent care and charity care
cases rise as the economy wors
ened.
“We’re having to cut costs,”
said the CEO. “We can only cut
so much staff until we cut ser
vices. We’ve had to cut a service
that is not self-supporting.”
BJC will continue to do OB
ultrasounds and lab work, and
OB patients will still be able to
go to BJC for some outpatient
services, Yarborough said.
Figures for the most recent fis
cal year are still up in the air, so
it is unclear just how far in the
red the facility is. The yet-to-be
resolved audit issue is how much
of the medical center’s accounts
receivable are actually collect
ible, and Yarborough said there
is a spread of about $1 million
between what the auditor says
and what the medical center’s
consultant believes. The dispute
led to the resignation recently of
the medical center’s chief finan
cial officer.
Yarborough said the facility
hopes to have that number re
solved by next week.
...Voters for your support of my
campaign for Commission Chairman.
There will be an open door policy to
everyone with concerns.
Again, Thank You!
Jf/fc/tori/ Qfia/tori/
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