About The Islander. (St. Simons Island, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (July 15, 2013)
50<t THE ^SLANDER Published by Permar Publications www.theislanderonline.com July 15, 2013 • ssislander@bellsouth.net Established in 1972 Vol 41 Issue 28 Rewards program for worker safety a possibility • Jail construction cost changes By Matthew J. Permar After hearing the worker’s compensation report from Glynn County Human Re sources Director Orali Reed last week, Commissioner Bob Coleman (At Large #2) asked if the county had any kind safety rewards program for county employees. Reed said they did not have one at this time but it is a goal of her department to research the possibility of starting one. Ms. Reed said it would have to be fair to employees across the board, in addition to being cost conscious. In addition, Reed told the county finance committee on Tuesday, July 9 that her de partment had hired a safety officer who would work with employees on safety training and planning. • In other Finance Com mittee business: - The committee was set to make a recommendation to the full county commission for approval of a contract with the Georgia Dept, of Correc tions to have two work details in Glynn at a cost of $39,000 per detail per year. The item was pulled from the agenda due to issues with the contract that Assistant County Attorney Will Worley said were being worked out. - Another item that was pulled from the agenda was a construction Change Order #21 for the new County De tention Center in the amount of $34,800. Jail architect Jim Ingram told the committee that he was working with the subcon tractors and hoped to reduce the change order cost. The change order will be Turn to Page 5 Finance committee Mainstreet Brunswick Downtown Brunswick contributes to Region 12 growth Georgia’s Main Street pro gram is a community-based development initiative that encourages public and private partnerships to create success ful central business districts utilizing the nationally recog nized 4-Point Approach™ for downtown revitalization. Working in the program areas of organization, design, promotion and economic de velopment, Main Street com munities utilize local busi ness owners, property owners, citizens, non-profit organiza tions, and local governments to build a comprehensive ap proach to sustainable down town development. The Georgia Main Street Program began in 1980 as one of the original pilot state coordinating programs of the National Main Street Initia tive launched by the National Trust for Historic Preserva tion. The program launched By Pamela Permar Shierling with five local communities and has grown to serve 96 communities statewide. Georgia Main Streets rep resent some of the strongest central business districts in the state and in the Southeast and now serves as one of the largest Main Street networks in the country. Main Street is a program of the National Main Street Center, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Since their inception, Geor gia Classic Main Street Com munities have created over 56,000 net new jobs, nearly 12,000 net new small busi nesses and $2.98 billion in public and private investment in 96 downtown’s across the state. In 2012 Georgia Mainstreet led the nation in private in vestment and job creation. The economics of Georgia Main Streets were present ed recently by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. The snapshot provides a glimpse into downtown devel opment to date for 2013. The 96 member cities are divided into 12 regions. Brunswick is in Region 12 which includes Darien, Kingsland, Pem broke, St. Marys, Statesboro, Sylvania, Tybee Island and Woodbine. After Region Three, which is the Atlanta region, Region 12 was first in net new jobs and building rehabs, second in total investment and tied for first in new businesses. Businesses which have located to Brunswick dur ing 2013 include South Coast Bank and Trust, the Brunswick and Golden Isles Turn to Page 6 Mainstreet County-Wide News - Read County-Wide MOAA/SGHS Pew News Chief Ellis Back Talk scholarship Church News Trains in Israel Editorial Column Community News - Pg 2 -Pg 14 -Pg 10 -Pg 16 The heart of downtown Brunswick - facing south along Newcastle St. looking at the intersection of Gloucester St. Islander Staff Photo - Permar Surfin’ the Seaboard gets Bwk airport runway contract By Pamela Permar Shierling The Glynn County Airport Commission (GCAC) voted last week to select Seaboard Construction as the contrac tor for the Brunswick Golden Isles Airport Runway/Taxi way Rehabilitation Project. The GCAC received two bids on June 28 from Seaboard Construction and McLendon Enterprises. Seaboard was the low bid der at $15,117,704. The bid is under engineer Brian Thompson’s estimate of $16 million and almost $9.5 million lower than Seaboard’s original bid of $24.5 million in March of this year. Thompson works for RS&H, the GCAC engineering firm. Turn to Page 4 GCAC BOE increases millage rate • Mann's contract renewed one year By Pamela Permar Shierling For the first time since 2005, the Glynn County Board of Education (BOE) voted to advertise a millage rate in crease. The vote came during the Tuesday, July 9 meeting. In 2005 the millage rate went from 16.482 mils to 16.980 mils. The rate dropped to 16.23 in 2006 and to 15.23 in 2007 where it has remained. All concerned citizens are invited to the public hearings on this tax increase to be held at the Glynn County School System Administration Build ing 1313 Egmont Street, Brunswick, on Thursday, July 18 at 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., and on Thursday, July 25 at 9 a.m. Following the third and Turn to Page 6 School millage 0 9492229970 3
