About The Banks County news. (Homer, Banks County, Ga.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 22, 2023)
o O $1.00 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2023 Homer, Banks County, GA 30547 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. • 12 Pages, 1 Section Plus Supplements Vol.57 No. 49 9th District offers home heating help Brenda Dalin, program director of Ninth District Opportunity, Inc. has an nounced that home heating help for the elderly and medically homebound in Banks County.. Households in which ev ery member is age 65 and older — OR — is medically homebound due to health reasons may apply for as sistance with their heating bills beginning on De cember 1, 2023. One-time payments will be made by check issued to the home energy suppliers. Eligibility for the program is based on the income of all household members. When applying for assis tance, persons will present verification of age for ev eryone in the home, ver ification of all household income received within the past 30 days (check stubs, public assistance checks, unemployment checks, etc.); verification of Social Security numbers for every one in the home, verifica tion of citizenship (driver’s license, state ID, etc.), and the most recent heating bill and electric bill. “Please bring all docu mentation as we can no lon ger obtain the information for you,” leaders state. All eligible applicants are asked to contact Ninth District Opportunity, Inc.’s scheduling system Decem ber 1, 2023, beginning at 8:30 a.m. by telephone at 855-636-3108 or go online to https://ndo.appointment. works/ea. Phone lines and website for scheduling will not be active until the open ing date of the program and no appointments will be made by telephone or on line until this time. No walk-ins will be tak en. Appointments will be scheduled until all funds are exhausted. Additional information will be made available on line at www.ndo.org. Only households 65 years of age and older or medi cally homebound may ap ply beginning December 1, 2023. Applicants that do not meet the required criteria will be denied. The general public may apply on January 2, 2024, beginning at 8:30 a.m. MAILING LABEL Christmas events planned across the county in December By ANGELA GARY The Christmas season will kick off in early De cember as the first of area holiday events takes place. The first holiday event will be in Baldwin, with Home, Maysville and Gills- ville also holding special events in December. BALDWIN The City of Baldwin will be hosting a Christmas tree lighting on Friday, Decem ber 1, at 6:30 p.m. There will be free hot cocoa, photos with Santa and Christmas carols by the Baldwin Elementary School Choir. All are welcome to at tend. The link to the Face- book event page is https:// lb.me/e/uWAYSgS5. MAYSVILLE The Maysville Commu nity Club will hold Christ mas in the Park on Satur day, Dec. 2, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.. The event will include vendors, hot choc olate and music. For more information on the Christ mas in the Park celebration,, email the community club at Maysville.comclub@gmail. com. HOMER The Downtown Develop ment Authority and Town of Homer are sponsoring Christmas on the Farm from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Satur day, Dec. 9. The event will include craft and food vendors, a hay ride, games and a visit from Santa. There will be a parade at 10 a.m. GILLSVILLE Christmas in Gillsville will be held from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 2-3. Syd ney Segars Real Estate and Gillsville City Council will be hosting the event. There will be free Santa photos and other fun events, organizers state. Stephanie Almagno sworn in as mayor of Baldwin By KARLEE CALDWELL At the November Bald win City Council meeting, Stephanie Almagno was sworn in as the new mayor of the town. After her appointment, Mayor Almagno expressed her gratitude, stating, “Thank you to the staff and the residents. I promise to listen to you and to respond honestly and work with in tegrity. Thank you for your faith in me.” Former Mayor Alice Ven ter stated, “I will pass the gavel to yet another great woman who will serve the city well with experience and knowledge.” Mayor Almagno will be the third female elected mayor in Habersham County, the sec ond female mayor of Bald win, and the first female elected mayor of Baldwin. The council also appoint ed Maarten Venter as May or Pro Tempore after being nominated by other council members. OTHER BUSINESS In other business at the meeting, the council: •held a public hearing for the Precision Digital Special Use Permit where the public heard from the company’s owner. No citizens came forward to speak in favor or opposition. •approved the Wastewater Treatment Plant heat pump expense of $5,948. •approved the updated version of the 2024 Coun cil Meeting Calendar which features council meetings, work sessions, holidays, and more. •agreed to waive the nep otism policy for Hayden Benfield, son of Assistant Chief Benfield, to join the Baldwin Fire Department in a full-time position. Due to his “experience and skill set,” the council approved this under the condition that he will skip Assistant Chief Benfield in chain of com mand. ANNOUNCEMENTS •The City of Baldwin will be hosting the second Baldwin Thanksgiving Community Potluck on No vember 23 from 2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. at the Baldwin Fire Department. This pot- luck is open to all Baldwin residents. Turkey and ham will be provided, and cit izens are being asked to bring their favorite family dish to share. Reserve a seat by emailing ewoodmaster@ cityolbaldwin.org or by tex ting 470-208-9842. •City offices will be closed November 23 and November 24 in observance of Thanksgiving. BOC approves sheriffs request for ‘flock cameras’ By ANGELA GARY The Banks County Board of Commissioners agreed at its November meeting to a request from Sheriff Carlton Speed to spend $48,000 to purchase “flock cameras” to be placed at main roadways in the county. The cameras will not be used to give tickets but will be used to locate “criminals” traveling through the county. There are eight of these cameras already in place in the county. “These are used as crime deterrents,” Sheriff Speed said. “We are looking for people who are committing a crime and are a nuisance to Banks County.” He added, “Criminals know where these are and they avoid these areas and that is what we want. We want them to go somewhere else to commit their crimes.” He described flock cameras as being a network of cam eras that is a license plate reader. It takes photo and sends it to the officers who can look at it. He said, “We can make a hot list, so to speak, if we are looking for a vehicle that has been involved in burglaries or crimes.” There will be an annual cost of $40,000 to maintain the cameras. The sheriff also reported that in the past 30 days, the flock cameras already in place in the county have hit on over 1 million vehicles. “That tells you how many people are on the roads,” he said. “In Banks County, we have lo cated six wanted people, recovered seven stolen vehicles and made three DUI arrests with the flock cameras. “ In other business at the meeting, the BOC: •approved a request from Jonathan Terry to amend the environmental health fees as recommended by the health department board. •agreed to purchase a bush hog for the road and bridge department at a cost of $23,500. •agreed to seek bids for improvements needed on Deer- crest Road. •agreed to pay KCI Technologies $17,690 for handing the road maintenance oversight and engineering for county road projects. BOC seeks applications for health, tax board The Banks County Board of Commissioners is taking applications for several public service opportunities. This includes: three six-year terms on the board of health and one six-year term on the board of tax assessors. Those who would like to apply are asked to call 706-677- 6800 or go to www.bankscountyga.org/bc. The application may also be downloaded and submitted to the commission er’s office at 150 Hudson Ridge, Suite 1, Homer, by noon on Thursday, Dec. 7. The completed application may also be emailed to county clerk Jenni Gailey at the following address, jgailey@co.banks.ga.us. Community meal in Lula honors local veterans A community-wide meal was held in Lula recently with veterans being honored. The Lula Ladies coordinates this event which brought out more than 100 people. See more photos from the event on Page 12. World War II veteran Mordecai Wilson is one of the veter ans honored at the recent community meal organized by the Lula Ladies. Paving bid awarded by Maysville City Council The Maysville City Coun cil approved a paving bid to Garrett Paving when it held the November meeting. The paving bids were opened and reviewed at the meeting. Garrett Paving came in with the lowest bid of $83,282. Allied Paving Company submitted a bid of $99,625. The council approved the bid of Garrett Paving Com pany. The motion was made by council member Richard Parr and seconded Kimber ly Wilmoth. OTHER BUSINESS In other business at the meeting, a plat at 61 Homer Street was submitted to the council for review. This was tabled until the December meeting so it could go be fore the planning oard for their review and to make a recommendation to the council. •a bid for another Pavilion was tabled until the Decem ber 4 meeting. •a bid to approve the re placement of the air con ditioning unit at city hall was awarded to Nick Toney in the amount of $3,650. The motion was made by council member Richard Parr and seconded by Scott Harper. 14 14 3
