Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

Wrestling: IB Cross Country: 3B Awards given at season’s end k N. 1 1 1 . Young wrestlers compete — 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.