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— www.BanksNewsTODAY.com —
50<t • Homer, Banks County, GA 30547 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. • 16 Pages, 2 Sections Plus Supplements • Vol. 44 No. 4
Newsmaker of the Year
Deidra Moore a strong leader for county 911/EMA
DEIDRA MOORE
BY ANGELA GARY
The Banks County 911/EMA
Department has answered a
record number of calls this year,
while staying within budget and
acquiring numerous grants. The
county has served as the host for
training sessions for public safe
ty employees from throughout
the state and has stayed on top
of what it takes to be prepared in
case of a major emergency, while
handling the day-to-day emer
gencies that impact the citizens
of the county.
While it takes a team to do this
and not just one person, there
has been one person at the helm
of Banks County 911/EMA who
has led the team tirelessly and
keeps everything on track. Deidra
Moore, who was also recognized
by her peers across the state this
year as “Director of the Year,”
has been named the Newsmaker
of the Year for 2011.
Moore is a familiar face across
the county as she attends many
public meetings and events to
inform citizens about the 911/
EMA department and to keep
everyone up to date. She is
also quick to give credit to the
employees for the success of the
department.
It is clear that the staff also
appreciates Moore, as it was
the employees who nominated
her as Director of the Year for
the area. The nomination letter
included the following: “Deidra
is dedicated, caring, concerned
and proactive in ensuring that
her employees, the citizens of
this county, the public safety
personnel and the governmental
entities are served to the best
of her ability. She is always
available when needed, and she
never meets a challenge that is
too much to pursue. She is tire
less in her efforts to improve her
department and those that work
in it.”
The staff also recognized Moore
for “working tirelessly” to make
the department the “professional
agency that it is today.”
The nomination letter also
included the following: “She
has continuously pursued edu
cation to improve her abilities
and strives daily to set the stan
dard for those that she employs.
Deidra has maintained an open
door policy from the day she
took the position of director, and
all those that work for her know
without doubt that she will listen
when needed.”
Moore came to Banks County
E-911 in 1999 and was pro
moted to director in 2001. After
becoming director, she initiated
the Advisory Board, later add
ing the Citizen Corps Council
and Communications Council
for Banks County. She estab
lished the Citizen Emergency
Response Team (CERT) for
Banks County.
As a new year gets under way,
Moore has identified a list of
goals for her department and
passed them on to the commis
sioners, including equipment
upgrades, hosting and/or attend
ing additional classes, training
and exercises, maintaining the
budget, completing the narrow-
band effort, complete disaster
plans, updating the state resource
database and seeking more grant
funding opportunities.
Newsmakers
of past years
2010
Jerry Neace, Baldwin mayor
2009
Milton Turner, Lula mayor
2008
Jim McLendon,
Homer UMC pastor
2007
Robin Trotter,
Family Connections/Generous Hearts
2006
Gene Hart, BOC chairman
2005
Doug Cheek, Homer mayor
2004
Rep. Jeanette Jamieson
2003
Chris Erwin, superintendent
2002
Jack Banks,
Development Authority
2001
Bonnie Johnson, CVB
2000
Charles Chapman, sheriff
1999
Mark Reed, Baldwin mayor
1998
Gary Freeman/Danny Maxwell,
BOC
1997
Bo Garrison/Dock Sisk,
BOE chairman/superintendent
1996
Milton Patterson, BOC
Inside
•The year in review
— page 2A
•Top stories of 2011
— page 3A
•Crime: Two people
robbed at gunpoint
• Political: Chamber,
CVB groups merge
• Education: ELOST
passes
OpZE
• ‘Importance is in
eye of beholder’
— page 4A
Other news
Social
- 5A
Church
— 4B
Obituaries
- 7 A
Public Safety
- 6A
Legal s
- 5B
School
- 8A
Economic Story of the Year
Planner hired; ground broken on new business park
event held near
the business park
site on Windmill
Farm Road, next to
the Banks County
Sheriff’s Office.
The 41-acre busi
ness park is locat
ed on Highway
441 and Windmill
Farm Road and is
designed specifi
cally to encour
age small busi
ness development.
Hudson River
Business Park is
BRAD DAY
department. No
discussion was
held on how the
money would be
spent.
As for the
rezonings, the
county approved
the request from
the county devel
opment author
ity to rezone the
property from
ARR to C-2 to
develop Hudson
River Business
Park.
BY ANGELA GARY
In 2011, Banks County lead
ers paved the way for econom
ic development to come to the
North Georgia town with the hiring
of a community planner and the
groundbreaking at a new business
park.
The county’s latest moves to
bring economic growth to the
county are just getting under way
and it is still to be determined the
outcome, but the effort itself is
worthy of being named Economic
Story of the Year.
Just one year ago, a job descrip
tion was created for the commu
nity planner with economic devel
opment being one of the main
job duties. Applications were taken
and the search was soon narrowed
to the top three candidates. Early
in the year, Brad Day was hired for
the new position.
Mid-year, a groundbreaking
ceremony for the Hudson River
Business Park was held with more
than 60 people attending on the
hot summer day. Local and state
officials were on hand for the
located in the cen
ter of Banks County
and is an attractive location on
U.S. 441 for growing companies,
Day said.
The county has followed through
by approving rezonings on the site
that will lead to better develop
ment, as well as allocating money
for economic development efforts.
The BOC agreed in a meeting on
Aug. 9 to allocate $175,000 to be
used by the economic development
Day said the
plan calls for
locating seven sites on the proper
ty, including leaving in greenspace
and wetlands.
“The park has been designed to
what the land can give us,” he said.
“It fits well. We will have natural
foliage between the three pads...
There will be low impact.”
Day said county leaders project
that the business park will bring
175 to 200 jobs to the county at its
full buildout with a $10 million to
$25 million investment.
Day said the only cost so far has
been the design for the business
park. He added that the county
wants to get a prospect lined up
before moving forward.
“The (development) authority is
conservative,” he said. “We don’t
want to do anything until we have
a prospect. There has been some
interest. No one has signed on the
dotted line. We have taken clients
out (to the property).”
At the end of 2011, the
Development Authority agreed to
spend $10,250 for the erosion and
sedimentation control plan for the
Hudson River Business Park.
The work will be performed by
Carter Engineering Consultants,
Bogart, and will include the ero
sion control plan, stormwater man
agement plan, permitting and proj
ect reimbursables on all three of
the building pads in the business
park.
The next step in the development
of the park will be the grading of
two of the pads.
