About The Banks County news. (Homer, Banks County, Ga.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 20, 2023)
o o $1.00 WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20,2023 Homer, Banks County, GA 30547 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. • 16 Pages, 2 Sections Plus Supplements Vol. 58 No. 1 Banks County Extension offers tax assistance The Banks County Exten sion Office is offering tax assistance. Through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, IRS-cer tified preparers can pre pare your federal and state tax returns, free of charge. VITA is designed to assist qualified taxpayers and to ensure that seniors, limited income families, and others receive every available ben efit. The process consists of two appointments. In the first, you will meet with the tax preparer and give them all the documentation and information they need to prepare your return. About a week later, you will return for your second appoint ment, in which you will review, sign, and file your return. Appointments will be gin February 1st. You can schedule your appointments starting January 2 by calling the Banks County Exten sion office at 706-677-6230. There are limits on which kinds of returns we can prepare, so be sure to call ahead of time. Questions can be directed to susie.bur- ton@uga.edu. COMMUNITY MEAL Lots of food choices was of fered at the annual commu nity Christmas meal in Lula last week. See Page 2B for more photos. MAILING LABEL Maxwell to again serve as vice chairman of Banks County BOC Qualifying for Alto Town Council seat By ANGELA GARY The Banks County Board of Commissioners agreed last week for Danny Max well to again serve as vice chairman. In other business at the meeting, the BOC: •recognized the Banks County High School FFA Environmental Natural Re sources team for being the national runner up. •recognized the Banks County High School FFA Forestry CDE team for be ing the national champions. •agreed to a request from fire chief Steve Nichols to purchase a LUCAS chest compression system with the opioid settlement funds. The total cost is $66,196. •approved the 2024 alco hol licenses. •agreed to a request from Linda Garrison to increase the board of elections pay to $15 per hour. •agreed to increase the salary for the planning board to $50 per meeting and the chairman to $60 per meeting. •approved the gravel hauling contract to Triple H. •agreed to purchase a ser vice body truck for the road department to be funded with special propose local option sales tax (SPLOST) funds. •named Charles Turk and Keith Gardiner to a one- year term on the Chestatee Chattahoochee RC&D. •named Becky Carlan and Dock Sisk to a six-year term on the board of health. •approved the 2024 qual ifying fees, which will be three percent of the base salary. •agreed to hold a work session before approving the 2023 comprehensive plan. Qualifying for the March 12, 2024, Town of Alto Spe cial Election for Post 1 will be held through Friday of this week. The election is to fill the unexpired term of Carolyn Cabe. The horns of qualifying through Thursday will be from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. (except for a one-horn lunch break each day), and from 8:30 a.m. to noon Friday, Dec. 22. The last day to register to vote for the March 12, 2024, Special Election is Feb. 12, 2024. The qualifying fee for the Post 1 Council seat is $35. Prospective candidates may qualify at the Office of the Election Superintendent being Habersham County Office of Elections and Voter Registration, in the basement of the Habersham County Administrative Building located at 130 Jacob’s Way, Suite 101, Clarkesville. The seats may be filled by any resident of the Town. Live Nativity presented at Beaverdam Baptist A live nativity was presented by Beaverdam Baptist Church. There were several stops for visitors to check out. Several church members represented the people in the Christmas Story, including Mary, Joseph and the three Wisemen. Gillsville sets venue fees for Frankum Building By SHERRY LEWIS The Gillsville Town Council met last week and approved venue pricing for the newly-renovated Fran kum Building. After reviewing research from similar venues, Coun cilman Kody Rylee pro posed a $300 per day fee for Gillsville residents and a $350 per day fee for non-residents. He also sug gested a $350 cash deposit refundable upon inspection along with a 72-hour can cellation window. The council also agreed to write up a rental contract which will require a copy of the renters’ driver’s license prior to rental. In other business, the council approved a propos al by local web designer, Joseph Canada, to create a new website for the town. The one-time set up fee will be $2,400 and it includes web server hosting space, domain, website set up and design, web content and email transfer along with a Gillsville Facebook page. The annual cost for support is $1,200 yearly and in cludes web and email host ing, email support, website backups, publishing month ly updates for website, Facebook page and a reser vation calendar. In other business the council: •approved the second reading of an annexation ordinance to annex Kev in Merck’s 66.74 acres on 5245 Cromartie Road in the city of Gillsville. The prop erty is currently zoned agri cultural. •heard from Mayor Wade Dale who presented an Hon orary Certificate to the fam ily of the late Town Council member, Richard Ferguson, and recognized the family members present. •heard from Sherry Strange who made sugges tions for the center light in the Frankum Building. The lighting was tabled until the January meeting.
