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504 • Homer, Banks County, GA 30547 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. • 20 Pages, 2 Sections Plus Supplements • Vol. 40 No. 10
New chairman takes office
DALTON AT WORK
New Banks County Board of Commission chairman Milton Dalton is shown at work
in his Homer office Thursday morning. Photo by Angela Gary
Commissioners
to be chosen in
Nov. 3 election
Will expand BOC
to five members
BY ANGELA GARY
Two new commission
ers will be elected on Nov. 3
expanding the Banks County
Board of Commissioners to
five members.
Last year, Banks County vot
ers overwhelmingly supported
expanding the three-member
board to five members. Some
69 percent of the voters, or
4,070 people, voted in favor of
the change, while 1,869 voted
against it.
The election for the two new
BOC members has been set
for Nov. 3. Qualifying will be
held Aug. 31 through Sept.
4, beginning at 9 a.m. that
Monday and ending at noon
Friday. The terms will be for
four years each.
If a runoff is necessary, it
will be held on Dec. 1.
The change to local govern
ment will result in the follow
ing:
•Banks County would be
divided into four commis
sion districts. Each of these
districts must be represented
by one of the four part-time
commissioners, who must also
reside in their respective dis
trict.
•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 vot
ers.
Thereafter, these two new
commissioners and the chair
man 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
•Chamber holds ban
quet — page 3A
•‘Working man
ignored in tough times’
— page 4A
Other news
• Social News — 9A
•School News — 10A
•Public Safety — 5A
•Legals — 3-5 B
•Church — 8A
•Obituaries — 6-7A
4 8 7 9 1 4 1 4 3 1 111 3
Plans to keep
balance of
agriculture
and industry
BY ANGELA GARY
The new chairman of the
Banks County Board of
Commissioners wants to keep
a balance of industry and agri
culture in the county.
Milton Dalton wants the
Martin Bridge Road area of
the county to be developed for
industry, while maintaining
the cattle and poultry opera
tions in other areas of the
county.
After one month in office,
Dalton spoke Thursday morn
ing on his goals and plans for
the next four years.
“I want to see us get Martin
Bridge as industrial,” he said.
“We've got water. We now
need to get sewer there. I
would like high tech industry
there. We need something for
our children.”
Other goals he has include
expanding the county's water
system, but he says the econ
omy “will play a big part” of
how soon that happens.
The downturn in the econo
my has already led the county
to implement a hiring and
Banks County's unemploy
ment rate continues to be better
than other counties in the area at
5.8 percent in December, but that
is still higher than last year's 3.3
percent for the same period.
The highest in the area is
Franklin County at 8.9 percent
unemployment.
According to state unemploy
ment data, Banks had 645 people
unemployed in December.
BY SHARON HOGAN
In a called meeting on Jan. 27,
the Alto City Council approved
the 2009 general fund and water
fund budgets.
The total 2009 general fund
budget is $594,545. The 2009
budget is up nine percent over
the 2008 budget of $545,341.
The total water fund bud-
The City of Lula lists qualify
ing fees and dates for the mayor
and city council seats for the city
election set Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Qualifying for the general
election will be Monday, Aug.
31, through Wednesday, Sept. 2.
The hours of qualifying will be
from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each
spending freeze. Dalton hopes
this will address any budget
problems. Department heads
have also been asked to trim
their proposed budgets for
next year by 10 percent.
As for personnel and policy
changes, Dalton said he has no
plans to make any changes.
“Everything seems to be
Unemployment Rates
December 2008
State
7.8%
Banks County
5.8%
Jackson County
8.1%
Barrow County
8.7%
Gwinnett County
6.9%
Walton County
8.5%
Oconee County
4.7%
Clarke County
6.3%
Madison County
6.7%
get for 2009 is $521,725. The
water fund budget decreased by
$20,725 over the 2008 total of
$542,450.
At an earlier city council
meeting, Lisa Turner, financial
officer, reported that the budget
had little change from the 2008
budget and was “a very trim
budget.”
day at city hall.
The qualifying fee for mayor
is $144 and $36 for each council
seat.
The mayor’s seat is currently
held by Milton Turner and the
council positions up for election
are held by Vicky Chambers and
Mordecai Wilson.
running smoothly,” he said.
He said he hasn’t had “one
phone call” about the BOC's
recent action to hire John
Creasy to work in the fire
department.
Fire chief Gary Pollard
resigned shortly after Creasy
was hired. Dalton said Creasy
will serve as interim fire chief
due to the hiring freeze.
Dalton added that the hiring
freeze has impacted the coun
ty's ability to take on some of
the former volunteer firefight
ers who resigned last year but
want to come back now. He
said the hiring freeze would
not allow this to happen since
the county provides insurance
for these volunteers.
“In time, we will get our
volunteers back,” he said.
As for action by the former
BOC to pave the way for an
economic director, Dalton said
the timing is not right now for
this but adds it is something
Banks County will need in the
future.
“No one is building right
now,” he said. “I think we
will need an economic direc
tor eventually.. .Now, we need
to get our infrastructure at a
point so that when it’s ready,
we're ready.”
The new chairman said he
believes the BOC and chamber
of commerce should “work
closely together.”
“We are all trying to pro
mote the county,” he said. “The
closer we work together, the
more we will accomplish.”
Dalton had served as the
probate judge for 21 years
before retiring in 2000. He
said a return to politics has
been something he has always
wanted to do.
“I’ve always wanted to do
this,” he said of serving as
BOC chairman.
In addition to taking on a
new career path, he also recent
ly married Melba Martin. He
said he is enjoying the new
career and marriage.
Remembering Shawn Smith
1—— i
BCHS GRADUATE’S JERSEY PRESENTED
Will Ramsey, former teammate and friend of the late Shawn Smith, accepts
Smith’s Banks County High School jersey to present to Smith’s mother. Smith, a
double-lettered athlete, graduated in 1995 and was killed in a car wreck in 2007.
The ceremony was held Friday night at the high school gymnasium. See page 1B
for more on the event. Photo courtesy of Tony Rudeseal, www.rudesealphoto.com
Unemployment up to 5.8%
Tax bills out this week
Banks County Tax Commissioner Margaret Ausbum expects
property tax notices for 2008 to be sent out this week. Taxes will be
due in 60 days.
Ausbum states that the notices were not sent out in 2008 because
she was waiting for the board of education to set its millage rate. The
millage rate was set Dec. 23 which delayed the tax digest being sub
mitted to the Department of Revenue until January.
Alto approves '09 budget
Lula announces qualifying
