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PACE 2A THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2008 Long-time politician to be buried Friday J. Mac Barber, 91, died on Sunday, Dec. 7,2008, in Macon. A memorial service will be held Friday, Dec. 12, 2008, at 2 p.m. at the First United Method ist Church of Commerce. The Revs. Floyt A. Allen and David G. Bowen will officiate. The body has been donated to Emory University Medical School. Barber, a lifelong politician and public servant was one of the most colorful figures in recent Georgia history. Known univer sally “Mac,” Barber was bom in Banks County, the son of the late William L. and Susan K. Barber. He grew up in Commerce. He is survived by a niece, An gela G. Adams, Macon, and a great-nephew, James Adams III, and a great-niece, Kathryn A. Brooks, both of Macon. He was preceded in death by his wife, Ja nette McGarity Barber; two sis ters, Marian Barber and Kathryn B. Gaultney, and brothers Wil liam Ralph Barber and Dwight F. Barber. Barber attended Georgia Tech and was a U.S. Army veteran of World Warn. His political career was long and varied. He served in the Georgia Legislature from 1949 to 1973 as a representative from Jackson County. Georgia Public Television, the Fembank Science Center and educational bills were among his major focuses. He served one term as mayor of Commerce, chaired the State Committee on Education, was president of the Georgia School Board Association and the Com merce Kiwanis Club. Barber chaired the board of the First United Methodist Church of Commerce, was long-time chair of the BJC Hospital Authority, was president of the chamber of commerce, chaired the Geor gia Committee on Children and Youth, the Governor’s Confer ence on Education and the Jack- son-Banks chapter of the Ameri can Red Cross. Barber was honored for his ac complishments by the University of Georgia, Emory University, the Georgia Association of Edu cators, the Georgia Youth Coun cil, the National Association of Retired People and the Georgia PTA. Barber was known for his hu mility and his eagerness to help his constituents, a trait that en deared him to many, but which created difficulties when he for gave medical bills owed at BJC Hospital or utility bills during his tenure as mayor. He knew virtually every poli tician and department head in Georgia and was always willing to make a phone call for some one in need. “Mac” was also known locally and statewide for colorful quirks and idiosyncrasies. He used to leave his PSC office through a window so he wouldn’t be seen. If he was known locally for be ing slow to pay his bills, it is also true that money matters never seemed to interest him. Barber routinely turned down PSC pay increases and at one point had some $300,000 worth of un cashed checks for his service on the PSC. Barber once decided to attend a utility conference on the West Coast by car, taking along two PSC transportation officers for the ride rather than flying. A no toriously erratic driver in his later years, Barber once wrecked a PSC car by driving off a loading ramp behind Quality Foods. During his controversial ten ure as mayor. Barber was known to circle City Hall two or three times to see who was waiting out front before parking across the street and walking up for the meeting. He listed his occupa tion in state documents as a “tree farmer” — he owned a certified tree farm in Banks County. Above all. Barber stood for the working-class people and the down and out, whether in Atlanta or in Commerce. He was a con sistent opponent of utility rate increases. “Mac’s strength is that he works very hard,” commented fellow PSC member Bob Dur den. “His weakness is he’s not issue-oriented. He was more in terested in people than issues and the big picture.” Barber’s integrity was chal lenged in 1985 when the attor ney general’s office launched an investigation to see whether Barber had accepted bribes from trucking executives seeking a fa vorable ruling. Barber produced cash in envelopes and uncashed PSC payroll checks dating back to 1961 to prove his innocence, but faced with the possibility of indictment and still mourning the loss of his wife who had re cently died, resigned. He was later cleared of any wrongdoing, and was subsequently re-elected to his old PSC seat. He also successfully sued a former aide to Gov. Joe Frank Harris for defamation, set tling for $400,000 — which he pledged to donate to the Univer sity of Georgia. In 2002, Barber, then 85, ran against a former neighbor, Lau ren “Bubba” McDonald for the Public Service Commis sion, claiming to be a resident of a Trout Lane mobile home in Banks County — where he had never lived. He withdrew after it was proven that he had not moved his voter registration from Commerce, which was in another PSC district. In lieu of flowers, donations should be made to the First Unit ed Methodist Church, 54 Cherry Street, Commerce AG 30529; or the Janette M. Barber Professor ship, Family & Consumer Sci ence Department, 224 Dawson Hall, UGA, Athens GA 30602 or the donor’s favorite charity. Baldwin City Council gets rebate for water plant Learns fees to increase in 2009 BY SHARON HOGAN The Baldwin City Council re ceived a bit of good news at the work session on Tuesday, Dec. 2, in the form of a rebate from Woo dard & Curran, the firm that the city hired to operate its water and wastewater plants. Eric Teittinen, Woodard & Curran, said the projected rebate amount at this point in the year is $24,523. “At the end of December, we will have actual numbers and the rebate should be paid within a couple of weeks,” Teittinen said. The contract the city has with Woodard & Curran provides for extra billing or rebates for actual conditions that vary more than 10 percent plus or minus the baseline conditions, Teittinen explained. The city’s contract amount for 2008 was $87,366 per month or $1,048 million per year. Then came the bad news to the council. The new fee for 2009 is $96,570 per month. This is a three percent increase plus power costs for the water plant and wastewa ter lift stations. This amount will total $1,158 million for the city. Teittinen said the contract increase is three percent, but inflation is about four percent. The 2008 contract price did not include power costs. The power cost for the water plant is $65,000 and $14,000 for the wastewater lift stations. Teittinen said an alternative to the fee structure would be a fixed fee plus the cost to treat actual flows and loads. The advantage is you’re only paying for what you’re actually treating, Teit tinen said. The disadvantage is it’s more complicated to manage, Teittinen added. Teittinen said the question is, “Is it worth it to determine the variable fee if there’s not a lot of variability? My recommendation would be to stick with the fixed fee and adjust the baseline condi tions down.” Baldwin Mayor Mike Kelley said, “I would like for you to look at the variable prices on water and wastewater.” Teittinen said he would do some different scenarios provid ing different flows, loads, etc on the variable fee approach and re port back to the council with this information. OTHER BUSINESS In other business; •Pam Helton, Georgia Mu nicipal Association Local Gov ernment Marketing Manager, addressed the council on GMA’s natural gas purchasing service. Helton said the service is de signed to save local governments and other public entities as well as unburdening them from hav ing to figure out which of the price components, rates and plans best fit their needs. There is no charge for the service provide by GMA. The council asked Hel ton to provide an analysis of what Baldwin would have paid in the past year if they’d had gone with GMA one year ago. This will be compared to what Baldwin actu ally paid during the past year for its natural gas bills. •Celena Williams, C7 Market ing and Sales, presented plans and pricing to the council for a City of Baldwin website. Wil liams said the one-time cost to the city would be $1,350 plus $9 per month for the hosting fee with Ansley Communications. Don Ansley, Ansley Communi cations, was also at the meeting and agreed to have one of his rep resentatives attend the January 8 work session to discuss this proj ect further with the council. •Matt Plaisted came before the council requesting to have his property at 1405 Highway 441 rezoned to Highway Business from R-2 residential. Plaisted said his original plans for the building was a real estate office, but due to the economy he might complete the building for gen eral office space. Plaisted said he had re-constructed the building to Habersham County build ing specifications. The council advised Plaisted that the build ing is located in Banks County and the City of Baldwin has its own building inspector. Council member Ray Holcomb said he didn’t see a problem with this being zoned Highway Business. Plaisted was advised to meet with Baldwin Building Inspector Shawn Rhoades concerning this matter. •Jack Waldrip came to the council requesting that the city accept the roads and infrastruc ture in Highland Pointe Subdivi sion off Highway 365 on Charlie Davis Road. Waldrip said all terms of the agreement have been met and the one-year mainte nance period ended in June 2007, but a verbal agreement was made with former mayor Mark Reed to continue for one year, till June 8, 2008. The subdivision consists of 155 lots, only 50 lots have been sold and only 15 houses have been built. Baldwin Finance Di rector Betty Harper questioned Waldrip about the wear and tear on the streets if only 15 houses have been built and there are 155 lots total. Mayor Mike Kel ley said, “I would hope that my predecessor would have been looking ahead and the agreement would state that the roads, streets, water and sewer would not be taken over until the subdivision is at least three-fourths complete.” Holcomb said normally the city does not take the streets over until the subdivision is built out, then there’s the one-year agree ment. Kelley asked Waldrip and his partner Steve Parks to come and talk with the council about this issue. The next regularly scheduled work session will be held on Thursday, Jan. 8, at 6:30 p.m., in the courtroom at the Baldwin Po lice Department. Baldwin meets BY SHARON HOGAN The Baldwin City Council held three public hearings on Monday, Dec. 8, to take public input about the proposed 2008-2009 fiscal year millage rate. The proposal is to increase the millage rate from 8 mills in Hab- on millage rate ersham County to 8.25 mills. The Banks County millage rate will be 3.83 mills, after the rollback. No citizens spoke. The council will hold the final hearing on the millage rate at 6:30 p.m. on Mon day, Dec. 29. The council meeting will follow at 7 p.m. jm-mironment ] at-SaraM^famlffiperated resj featuriimdeliclbd^h'ome^&m Homemade Ice Creams & Desserts % Monday - Saturday: 6 a.m. • 2 p.m Friday & Saturday Nights: 5 p.m. • 9 p.m.; Sunday: 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. 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 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 f|| AMERICAN LEGION Post 215 Meets each 3rd Thursday, 7 p.m. In Homer, GA at the American Legion Building on Historic Highway 441 Pd.oe/oo 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/o< % JEFFERSON W AMERICAN LEGION Albert Gordon Post 56 Each 3rd Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. Harvie Lance, Commander Phone (706) 654-1274 aio 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 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 ITIZENS ipeline Safety RGANIZED for • VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS Post 4872, Hurricane Shoals Convention Ctr. Each 4th Tuesdasy, 7:00 p.m. Lamar Langston, Commander Phone 706-652-2627 26.1 A UNITY LODGE F&A.M. No. 36, Jefferson, GA 1st Tuesday of each month, 7:30 p.m. Dwayne Potts • 706-367-4449 Borders St. behind Tabo’s 260 JEFFERSON ROTARY CLUB Meets Tuesdays Jefferson City Clubhouse 12:30 p.m. *(706) 367-7696 Gina Mitsdarffer, President JEFFERSON LIONS CLUB Meets 2nd & 4th Monday Jefferson City Clubhouse 6:30 p.m. *(706) 387-1156 Mack Cates, President Holiday Giving Dressbarn collecting toys Dressbam, located in the Tanger Town Centre at Banks Crossing, will collect Christmas gifts in a Toys for Tots Drive through Dec. 12. The store seeks new, unwrapped toys and will offer a 15 percent discount coupon off a regular-priced item, in exchange. Toy donations taken Toys for Tots donations are being collected at the RE/MAX Select of fice, located in the Commerce Crossing mall, through Dec. 19. Spa continued from page 1A Each spa/massage and body work therapy business shall pro vide to each patrol clean, sanitary and opaque coverings capable of covering the patron’s specific ana tomical regions. No massage and body work shall be administered unless the patron is covered by such covering of the specific ana tomical region. •Hours of operation. A spa/ massage and bodywork therapy business shall be closed between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. and closed on Sunday. •Application. The business application must be accompanied by a certificate or diploma from a recognized school as defined for each person working in the busi ness of performing massage or reflexology. A list of the violations was sent to Kyung Cha Oliveira. Scores continued from page 1A cent passing. Madison County High School had 87 percent of the test takers passing the test in 2008, up one percent from 2007. Apalachee High School in Barrow County had 91 percent of the students passing the test in 2008, up from 88 percent in 2007 Winder-Barrow High School hac 91 percent passing, down from 91 percent in 2007. In Georgia, 106,152 high schoo students took the writing test, witl 96,444 of those reported as first time test takers in the 11th grade. BOC continued from page 1A from Triple H Transport of $475 per ton for gravel hauling for county projects. The county received one more bid. Simpson Trucking submitted a bid of $560 per ton. Shubert Hauling had also submitted a bid but it was withdrawn. •commissioners agreed to replace windows at the court house which is being renovated. There will not be any additional change to the overall budget for this work. •a $3,000 annual contract with the Tate’s Creek Fire Department was approved. •approved a $25,125 contract with Rindt McDuff & Associates for engineering work on a long- range water plan for the county. The BOC also approved a $9,000 contract with the company for a engineering for a gravity line sewer project. •Hart was authorized to sign off on the service delivery strat egy resolution. •a proposal to increase the pay for the board of equalization to $150 per day, as of July 1, 2009, was approved. •a proposal to increase the daily pay for bailiffs to $50 was approved. •alcohol license renewals for the year were approved. •the BOC agreed to pay $200 per month in retirement compen- station for senior judge Robert Adamson. •it was reported that landfill fees for county residents who use Waste Management to dispose of their garbage will be $10 for up to 10 bags of garbage per visit. •the BOC approved a proposal of $29,260 to update the com puter software in the tax com missioner’s office. •commissioners approved an update on the GIS (geographic information system) resolution. It was first approved in August and some minor changes were made after errors were discov ered. •the Dec. 23 scheduled BOC meeting was cancelled. The next regular BOC meeting will be Jan. 13. •a 20-minute closed session was held to discuss land acquisi tion. No action was taken. CASH CALL AND COMPARE PER GRAM 706-369-0000 ■n);l GREG REEVES Fine Jewelry 613 Hawthorne Ave. • Athens NOTICE TO TAXPAYERS REGARDING THE TEMPORARY PAYMENT OF 2008 PROPERTY TAXES The taxes you pay on real property each year are determined by the value of the real property and improvements thereon as determined by the Tax Assessors, multiplied by the millage rate. However, the Board of Education has not set their millage rate, the tax digest has not been approved for 2008. When the tax digest is approved the final amount of your 2008 ad valorem taxes for property will be determined. The Banks County Tax Commissioner cannot accept voluntary tax payments without the approval of the Revenue Commissioner of the State of Georgia. On December 3, 2008, the Revenue Commissioner notified the Banks County Tax Commissioner that voluntary payments toward the 2008 ad valorem tax bill could be accepted. Voluntary tax payments shall be credited against the amounts finally determined to be due for 2008 taxes. If you make a voluntary payment on your 2008 ad valorem taxes, you may be entitled to a refund or you may be required to pay additional taxes when the tax digest is approved and the millage rate is set. After the tax digest is approved and the millage rate is set, you will receive your 2008 tax bill. In order to obtain your refund (if you are entitled to a refund as a result of your voluntary tax payments), you must return to the Office of the Banks County Tax Commissioner (in the Banks County Courthouse Annex) in person to claim your refund. All voluntary tax payments must be made or postmarked on or before December 31, 2008. A drop box is now available for your convenience at the entrance to the Tax Commissioner’s office at the Courthouse Annex. Payments come into a secure area and are processed daily. If you have questions, please call the Tax Commissioner’s office at (706) 677-6204. I 1