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THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2017
NARFE chapter members
Shown are members of the Toccoa (NARFE) The National Active and Retired Federal Employees
Association chapter: president Jane Finley, Alex Chambers, representative Dan Gasaway, Elaine Howell
and secretary Connie Hammond.
NARFE to host meeting Oct. 16
The National Active and
Retired Federal Employees
Association (NARFE), Toc
coa Chapter 1818 will meet
on Monday, October 16, at
Quincy’s Restaurant on Big A
Road in Tocooa. The speaker
will be Charles Smith, the
federal employee health ben
efits state director for Blue
Cross and Blue Shield.
“We will learn about the
ever increasing cost of 2018
benefits,” state leaders.
Georgia District 28 Rep
resentative Dan Gasaway
spoke to members at a prior
meeting providing infor
mation about local issues
including challenges within
the job market, the upcoming
state elections and the future
efforts to market the area for
tourism and industry.
Home heating help offered by Ninth District
Ninth District Opportunity,
Inc. announces home heat
ing help for the elderly and
homebound for Banks, Bar-
row, Clarke, Dawson, Elbert,
Forsyth, Franklin, Haber
sham, Hall, Hart, Jackson
Lumpkin, Madison, Oconee,
Olgelthorpe, Rabun, Ste
phens, Towns, Union and
White counties.
Households in which
every member is age 65 and
older or is homebound due
to health reasons may apply
for assistance with their
home heating bills beginning
on November 1.
The Georgia Department
of Human Services will help
pay heating costs for gas
or electric. A one-time pay
ment will be made by check
issued to the home energy
supplier on behalf of eligible
households.
Eligibility for the program
is based on the income of
all household members. All
eligible households must be
responsible for their home
heating costs.
When applying for assis
tance, persons will present
verification of age for every
one in the home, verifica
tion of all household income
received within the past 30
days (check stubs, public
assistance checks, unem
ployment checks, award let
ters and et.): verification of
Social Security numbers for
everyone in the home, veri
fication of citizenship (driv
er’s license, state ID, etc.),
and the most recent heating
source and electrical bill.
Depending on the avail
ability of funds, the regular
program will open to the gen
eral public on December 1.
All eligible applicants
are asked to contact Ninth
District Opportunity, Inc.’s
scheduling system, begin
ning at 12:01 a.m. EST, by
telephone at 855-636-3108 or
through the website, www.
ndo.org/eap.
Phone lines or website for
scheduling will not be active
until the opening date of the
program and no appoint
ments will be made by tele
phone or online until this
time. No walk-ins, appoint
ments will be scheduled
until all funds are exhaust
ed. Leaders ask not to call
the local office to schedule
an appointment, all appoint
ments must be made through
the automated scheduling
service. Additional informa
tion will be made available
online at www.ndo.org.
Only households 65 years
of age and older or home-
bound due to health reasons
may apply November 1.
Applicants that do not meet
the required criteria will be
denied.
Ninth District Opportunity,
Inc. is an equal opportuni
ty agency while providing
services without regard to
age, race, religion, gender,
sexual orientation, disability,
national origin, or any other
classification or category.
Hardigree Wildlife Sanctuary plans fall rendezvous
Storm clean-up
continues in Baldwin
BY SHARON HOGAN
The clean-up process following Tropical Storm Irma is still
going on in many areas of Northeast Georgia and the City of
Baldwin is no exception.
The council approved spending $54,633, during Monday’s
council meeting, to purchase a new chipper from Mason Trac
tor Co., Cumming.
Funding for the new chipper will come out of Habersham
County Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) 6
revenue.
Public works director Scott Barnhart said the city’s current
chipper is old and too small for what the city is using it for.
“After about four hours of use it just shuts off,” Barnhart said.
Barnhart added the chipping service offered to the city’s
residents is an important service and is greatly appreciated by
the residents.
Barnhart said the city had about 50-percent of the clean-up
from the storm complete at this time.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business at Monday’s meeting, the council:
• met in closed session, at the request of council member
Jeff Parrish, for approximately 15 minutes to discuss personnel.
No action was taken. “We will be discussing this more in the
future,” Mayor Jerry Neace said following the closed session.
•discussed, with Jeff Dorfman, Dorfman Consulting LLC,
Watkinsville, the information from the latest Habersham Coun
ty Service Delivery Strategy (SDS) meeting. The City of Bald
win, in Febmary 2017, had Dorfman complete a funding equity
study of the county and the city. Baldwin has presented infor
mation showing they provide fire department first responders
in unincorporated Habersham County and the residents in
these areas don’t pay anything for that service. Neace said
he had found there were 1,492 parcels in these areas and the
citizens of the City of Baldwin are paying for the fire services
and the Habersham County residents are not paying anything
for the fire service they are getting. There is not a written agree
ment anywhere saying that the City of Baldwin has agreed to
provide this service, this was done as a “gentleman’s agree
ment” between the two fire chiefs. Therefore Baldwin doesn’t
have to continue to provide this service. The Habersham
County officials have stated there are not willing to negotiate
this with Baldwin. Based on the current contract rate Baldwin
has with both the Town of Alto and Banks County to provide
fire service in those areas, the city would receive an additional
$17,946 from Habersham County.
•received the following announcements: Baldwin Farm
ers’ Market is open every Tuesday and Friday, from 4-8 p.m.
through October; Fall Festival is set for 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on
November 4, at the Farmers’ Market location; and the annual
Christmas Tree Lighting event is set for 6:30 p.m. on December
1, at the Mitchell Gailey Park, Willingham Avenue.
Personnel approved
by Banks County BOE
The Hardigree Wildlife
Sanctuary, Watkinsville, will
hold its annual fall rendez
vous on Saturday, Sept. 30.
Gates will be open from 9
a.m. to 5 p.m.
The entry fee is $10 per
person for ages 13 and over.
Free admission will be
offered to kids ages 12 and
under.
Lunch and refreshments
will be available for purchase.
There will be no alcohol.
There will be exhibits
and demonstrations of flint
knapping, archeology and
artifacts, animal hide tan
ning, primitive bow making,
outdoor living skills, black
smith, wildlife artist, jewelry
making, scrimshaw, 20-foot
tee pee, live Georgia snakes
(Eastern Diamondbacks),
birds of prey, knife making,
black powder, wood craft
and carving, beekeeper,
tomahawk throwing, pottery,
soap making, Native Amer
ican displays, trapping and
more.
Renowned archeologists
Johnny and Britt Williams of
Twin City will be at the event.
They will identify items the
public brings in. Their exten
sive collection will also be on
display. No artifacts will be
traded or sold.
Activities will include
black powder shooting, air
archery and tree climbing for
the kids (with use of harness,
helmet and ropes) provided
by WildRice Adventures.
“There will be fun for the
whole family,” leaders state.
“Unplug from your life-con
trolling electronics and
come spend the day or a
few hours. You will be edu
cated and amazed with all
there is to see and do. See
the demonstrations of actual
life skills of our ancestors
and the tools they had way
before technology.”
There will be a live auction
at 4 p.m. of unique one-of-
a-kind items donated by the
exhibitors.
Featured speakers and
presenters will include:
O’Neill Williams of O’Neill
Outside TV and WSB Radio,
Kirk Thomas, founder of
Outdoors Without Limits
(OWL), Birds of Prey with
an Eurasian Owl by Buster
Brown, Falconry by Smokey
Drury and guest of honor
Mrs. Pam (Donny) Collins.
Hardigree Wildlife Sanc
tuary is located at 1110 Old
Greensboro Road, Watkins
ville.
For more information, call
706-310-0088. The website is
www. hardigreewildlifesanc-
tuary.org.
Town election set in Alto to fill council seat
BY SHARON HOGAN
The Alto Town Council set
the city election for the Post
2 council seat for May 22,
2018.
At the meeting on Septem
ber 19, the council approved
the first reading for the elec
tion to fill the unexpired term
of former council member
John Closs.
Qualifying for the coun
cil seat will be held March
5-9, 2018, in the administra
tive office of the Election
Superintendent, Habersham
County Office of Elections
and Registration, Habersham
County Administrative Build
ing (old courthouse), 555
Monroe Street, Basement,
Clarkesville. The qualifying
fee is $35.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business, the
council:
•discussed ideas for the
city’s Christmas event. Coun
cil member Mike Ivie said
he would check into getting
some groups to help out with
possibly a live nativity and
caroling.
• reviewed the August
monthly police department
report showing the follow
ing: 81 calls from dispatch;
170 officer generated calls;
255 community contacts;
38 traffic stops; five safety
checks; 60 citations issued;
four arrests; 3,082 total patrol
miles; and 45,947 GCIC his
tories.
BY ANGELA GARY
The Banks County Board of Education approved several
personnel matters at its September meeting, including the
following:
• New hires: Emily Angel, paraprofessional; and Haley Aus-
burn, custodian.
• Resignations: Linda Hudson, bus driver; and Kessie Black
and Shawn Bertrang, both paraprofessionals.
• Terminations: Shaney Deloach, paraprofessional.
In other action at the meeting, the BOE:
•approved a request for the Banks County Elementary
School parking lot to be utilized for a community yard sale
held by Family Connections and the library.
• approved a request for the Bank County Middle School
special education department to sponsor the sale of T-shirts,
September 19 through October 11.
• approved a request for the Banks County High School
boys and girls basketball teams to sponsor the sale of business
ads September through March.
• approved a request from the BCHS cheerleaders to spon
sor Little Leopard Cheer Camp July 27-28, 2018.
• approved a $325,501 bid to place LED lighting in the ele
mentary and middle schools.
• discussed replacing the speakers at the high school stadi
um. Two bids have been submitted for this project. The BOE
asked for additional information before a decision is made.
There were some questions as to exactly what was offered in
each bid.
Recycle This Newspaper
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THANK YOU!
The Town of Homer and the Downtown De
velopment Authority would like to thank the
following sponsors for helping to make the
2017 Holiday Festival a huge success.
Banks County Chamber CVB
Fletcher Academy
Lighting Associates
RGWilliams Construction
A&L Farms
Document Destruction Services
Homer Drug
Homer Family Chiropractor
Joe Costa & Associates
Banks County Farm Bureau
Little Ward Funeral Home
Price’s Septic Tank Service
Pritchett Tire
Sander’s Furniture Company
Ivie Funeral Home
Owens Farm Equipment
Waste Management
v J
The Homer City Governing Authority do hereby announce that the millage rate will be set at a
meeting to be held on October 10, 2017 at 6 o’clock. Pursuant to the requirements of O.C.G.A.
48-5-32 do hereby publish the following presentation of the current year’s tax digest and levy
along with the history of the history of the tax digest and levy for the past five years.
CURRENT 2017 TAX DIGEST AND 5-YEAR HISTORY OF LEVY
CITY
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Real & Personal
30,103.575
32,155,736
29,822,009
26,361,805
26.668.446
29,458.256
Motor Vehicles
3,017.020
2,043,960
1,648,060
1,289,360
966.730
783.710
Mobile Homes
608.201
586,097
544,709
573,973
574.439
584.490
Timber - 100%
70.223
-0-
-0-
-0-
58.578
30.979
Heavy Duty Equipment
-0-
-0-
-0-
-0-
-0-
-0-
Gross Digest
35,918.684
35,575,278
33,879,596
30,201,643
30.126.329
32,793.105
Less M&O Exemptions
4,665.394
4,280,921
4,151,200
2,360,756
2,431.139
3,818.899
Net M&O Digest
31,253.290
31,294,357
29,728,396
27,840,887
27.695.190
30,364.905
Gross M&O Millage
6.27
6.43
5.37
3.29
5.86
5.13
Less Rollbacks
6.27
6.43
5.37
3.29
5.86
5.13
Net M&O Millage
-0-
-0-
-0-
-0-
-0-
-0-
Net Taxes Levied
-0-
-0-
-0-
-0-
-0-
-0-
Net Taxes & Increase
Net Taxes % Increase