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o o $1.00 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16, 2023 Homer, Banks County, GA 30547 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. • 16 Pages, 2 Sections Plus Supplements Vol. 57 No. 35 Banks County company sues SK Battery over fire damage Maysville to set millage rate Aug. 21 The Maysville City Council will meet at 6 p.m. on Aug. 21 to set the mill- age rate for Banks and Jack- son County. The meeting will be held at city hall, located at 4 Homer Street, Maysville. The proposed millage rate is 0.264 for Banks Coun ty and 0.640 for Jackson County. In 2022, the mill- age rate was 0.769 in Banks and 0.322 in Banks. Davis named finalist for code officer position Dale Cash has been named by the Banks Coun ty Board of Commissioners as the finalist for the code enforcement officer posi tion. The action was taken af ter a closed session to dis cuss personnel at a called meeting last week. The BOC will vote to hire Cash when it meets on Aug. 24 at 1 p.m. on the Annex Building in Homer. Qualifying set for Lula election The City of Lula will open qualifying for Lula Council positions on Mon day, August 21, to Wednes day, August 23. Districts 1, currently held by Tony Cornett, District 4, which is currently held by Garnett Smith, and District 5 which is currently vacant will be on the ballot.. The town election will be held, on Tuesday, Novem ber 7. City of Lula Council Qualifying Period will be 8:30 am till 4:30 pm-Mon- day, August 21, through Wednesday, August 23, Lula City Hall, District 1, 4, & 5. BY ANGELA GARY A Banks County man claims that a battery com pany is responsible for the fire that destroyed several buildings. Scott Ledford, owner of Metro Site, has filed a law suit against SK Battery of Commerce. Ledford contends that the company included batteries that were not allowed in items they disposed of at his company. He is seeking $26.5 mil lion in damages. Metro Site, located on In dustrial Boulevard at Banks Crossing, was heavily dam aged in the fire in mid-July. The lawsuit states: “This is a case about a foreign company that ignored the risk of harm posed by its il legal and intentional dump ing of hazardous materials into a roll-off container it knew was bound for a pub lic recycling facility. The company’s disregard for a known risk led to the total destruction of a local recy cling business. This action is brought to recover dam ages caused by intentional misconduct, and to prevent this illegal dumping of haz ardous waste from ever hap pening again.” SK Battery America, Inc. manufactures pouch-cell lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). BY SHERRY LEWIS The Lula City Council voted to initiate the removal of Councilman Gene Bram- lett after spending more than an hour in closed ses sion on Monday. The three-person coun cil, Tony Cornett, Garnett Smith, and Denise Shock- ley, also unanimously vote to start an investigation of Bramlett. Bramlett has been under fire many times since taking office after his ousted long time councilman Mordecai Wilson two years ago. The latest allegation hap pened after information was leaked following an execu tive session when the coun cil discussed hiring a new assistant city manager. Once the council dis cussed the matter City At torney Joey Homans, they voted to hire Ab Hayes, an attorney for the Gainesville The LIBs are sold to Ford for its F-150 Lightning truck, and to Volkswagen for its ID.4 electric vehicle. Metro Site, Inc. is a local recycling and disposal com pany that has been recycling the non-hazardous waste generated by SK Battery America, Inc., for the past three years. The lawsuit states, “SK Battery America, Inc. reg ularly dumped its non-haz- ardous waste into large roll off containers, which were then transported to Metro Site, Inc’s facility. SK Bat tery America, Inc. knew that it should never send LIBs to a recycling facility, such as Metro Site, Inc., because, not only are the LIBs non-re- cyclable, but they also con tain hazardous chemicals that can easily catch fire and explode. SK Battery Ameri ca, Inc. repeatedly promised and assured Metro Site Inc. that the waste that it sent would not contain LIBs. SK Battery America, Inc. broke that promise, and, in doing so, placed Metro Site, Inc.’s business and employees at risk of harm.” Metro Site leaders state that the risk came to fruition on July 14, 2023, when SK Battery America, Inc. “in tentionally sent Metro Site, Inc. a load of waste that contained hazardous pouch firm, Hulsey, Oliver, and Mahar, to investigate this matter. In other business the council: •held a public hearing to consider a 5-year plan for water and sewer rates. •noted that the Belton Bridge water line bid would open on September 5. •said that the improve ments to the Oconee Well will move forward. •discussed improvements to the Wellness Parks. The wi-fi project is underway. •said the bid development is underway to replace the culvert on Chattahoochee and Carter Streets, •discussed a possible Neighborhood Watch pro gram; the city had one in the past, and the council hopes to meet with Banks County Sheriff Carlton Speed and Hall County Sheriff Joe Couch to discuss revitaliz- cell LIBs hidden within the pile. SK Battery America, Inc. provided a false man ifest for the load that mis represented the load’s con tents - that being the hidden pouch cell LIBs. As Metro Site, Inc. pro cessed the load, a violent fire broke out.” Despite attempts to ex tinguish the flames, the fire consumed Metro Site, Inc. ’s facility, destroying its busi ness and causing life-alter ing economic loss. The lawsuit states that a joint investigation into the root cause of the fire re vealed several LIBs hidden within the waste pile that SK Battery America, Inc. had sent to Metro Site, Inc. Ledford states, “Although SK Battery may describe the fire as having “some other origin,” there can be no dis pute that its LIB’s—which never should have been sent to Metro Site in the first in stance—caused the fire. SK Battery America, Inc.’s ac tions constitute willful tres pass, breach of contract, and improper dumping, and a substantial punitive damag es award is required to deter SK Battery’s persistent mis conduct.” The lawsuit was filed in Jackson County Superior Court since SK Battery is in Jackson County. ing the program. •discussed the proposed rezoning of 23 acres locat ed along Highway 365 and Belton Bridge Road. The Hall County property is cur rently zone Highway Busi ness, but a request has been made to change it to Heavy Industrial. There will be a public hearing on Monday, August 21, but the request should be tabled. •reported that the Lula La dies will meet on Wednes day, August 23 for lunch at noon and dinner at 6:30 •advised citizens that the Historical Society Lula Belton will meeting on Monday, August 28 at 7 p.m. at the DEPOT. Ev eryone is invited to attend. •noted that the Lula Fall Festival will be held on Sat urday, September 30. Infor mation is available “@lula- fall festival.” Lula Council votes to oust Bramlett MAILING LABEL GiUsville mayor to serve as zoning official By SHERRY LEWIS The Gillsville Council approved the appointment of Mayor Wade Dali as the acting town zoning official. Wade will take on the role in his regular duties, and he will not require any addi tional salary. The resolution states the zoning official can delegate certain duties of the zoning official to appropriate staff members. In other business the council: •opened three bids for cleaning of the part build ing. After some review, the council agreed to hire Ra chel Canada to clean the park building. •reviewed the unpaid business license. •agreed to have City Clerk Sandra Helton to move for ward with the annexation request by Kevin Merck for his residential property on Cromartie Road. •approved a plat submit ted by Mayor Dale, from James R. Watkins regarding the combining of cemetery lots on his property on Hen derson Road. •announced that the clean up dates for the town will be September 23 at 8:00 a.m. at the City Park building. Lunch will be provided for all volunteers. •Mayor Dale reported that the Downtown DOT project is nearing completion. The reflective signs will be in stalled soon. •reported that security cameras for the downtown area have been installed and two additional cameras will soon be added to the inside if the Frankum Building. •announced that The Frankum Building renova tion project is nearing com pletion and lights will be installed soon. The Mayor and Council look forward to having an open house in conjunction with the Pottery Festival held on, Saturday, October 7th. •Mayor Dale commended Councilmember Ricky Sut ton for compiling the plans for the restrooms in Town Hall and Frankum Building. MEDIAN AT BANKS CROSSING Construction starts of median at Banks Crossing BY ANGELA GARY Work has gotten under way on the construction of a median at Banks Crossing. Last week, contractors milled the center lane along a mile-and-a-half stretch of highway from Faulkner Road to Dallas Drive. he work was done in preparation for the con struction of a raised median. State transportation of ficials encourage drivers to seek alternate routes to avoid delays. Before heading out, get real-time information on work status and traffic con ditions by calling 511, visit ing 51 lga.org, or download ing the Georgia 511 app. Citizens air concerns on proposed BOE millage rate By ANGELA GARY The Banks County Board of Education held the first of three public hearings Thursday evening to receive input on the proposed millage rate. Five citizens attended the meeting with several questioning the proposed increase and asking for tax breaks to be given to senior citizens. The BOE’s proposal is to increase the property taxes it will levy this year by 10.37 percent over the rollback mill- age rate. In the past 25 years, the millage rate has been increased above the rollback rate seven times. As for the question from one citizen about breaks for senior citizens, BOE members pointed out this would take state legislative action and a vote by the citizens. BOE members also questioned why the millage rate was being approved before the budget. Superintendent Dr. Ann Hopkins replied that the budget has been completed but has not been approved yet. She said those budget figures were used to prepare the proposed millage rate. In 1999, an increase of 2.00 mills; in 2004, an increase of 1.50 mills; in 2009, an increase of 1.50 mills; in 2013, an increase of 1.0 mills; in 2019, an increase of .625 mills; in 2020, an increase of .195 mills; and in 2021, an increase of 1.016 mills. In 2019, 2020 “In 2019, 2020 and 2021, we were merely maintaining our millage rate at the prior year amount of 14.511 mills,” superintendent Dr. Hopkins states. She adds, “In 2022, we lowered the millage rate to 14.000 mills from the prior year rate of 14.511 mills. In 2022, despite the millage being lowered to 14.000, the millage did increase by 1.01 mills over the rollback rate of 12.990.” In 2023, the Banks County Board of Education proposes to maintain the millage rate at 14.000 mills. “Also, if we adopted the rollback rate of 12.685 mills we would lose $750,818 in state funding (Equalization Grant) which would equal roughly .780 mills,” Hopkins said. When the total digest of taxable property is prepared, Georgia law requires that a rollback millage rate must be computed that will produce the same total revenue on the current year’s digest that last year’s millage rate would have produced had no reassessments occurred. The budget tentatively set by the Banks County Board of Education requires a millage rate higher than the rollback millage rate; therefore, before the Banks County Board of Education may set a final millage rate, Georgia law re quires three public hearings to be held to allow the public an opportunity to express their opinions on the increase.” The next two hearings will be held on Thursday, August 10, at 6:30 p.m. and on Thursday, August 17 at 11 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. BOE ACTION After the public hearing, a meeting was held by the BOE to review other agenda items, including the purchase of two buses and approval of the “I Write” program instruc tional materials for teachers.