About The Islander. (St. Simons Island, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 25, 2019)
THE ^ISLANDER Published by Permar Publications www.theislanderonline.com • ssislander@bellsouth.net February 25, 2019 Established in 1972 Vol 47 Issue 8 Growing again A large group of local dignitaries were on hand last week to break ground for the expansion of the Southeast Georgia Health System’s (SGHS) Brunswick Campus. Manning the shovels were: (left to right) Glynn County Commissioner Wayne Neal; SGHS Chief of Staff Dr. Erick Bournigal; County Commission Chairman Mike Browning; SGHS Foundation Vice-chairman Russell Mentzer; SGHS Foundation Chairman Jim Bishop; Glynn Brunswick Memorial Hospital Authority (MHA) member Carl Alexander; MHA Chairwoman Dr. Valerie Hepburn; MHA Vice Chairman Roosevelt Harris; SGHS President & CEO Michael Scherneck; SGHS Inc. Chairman Robert Turner; SGHS, Inc. Facilities and Properties Committee Chairman Woody Woodside; SGHS, Inc. Vice President Marjorie Mathieu; Brunswick Mayor Cornell Harvey; Glynn County Commissioner Allen Booker and City Commissioner Julie Martin. Islander Staff Photo - Permar Health System breaks ground on new surgical services tower and inpatient floor Beach grant update By Matthew J. Permar Consulting engineers from the ATM firm hired by the Glynn County Board of Com missioners (BOC) to design the St. Simons beach restora tion project presented a prog ress report to the BOC dur ing last week’s work session (Tues. Feb. 19). ATM is Florida-based de sign, engineering, and con sulting firm formed in 1984. They specialize in coastal, marine, environmental, and water resources engineering and have “expertise and expe rience that includes the depth and breadth of the Coastal Engineering Discipline,” ac cording to their presentation. Last year former Georgia Governor Nathan Deal made $10 million in state money available for beach restoration Turn to Page 5 Beach revetment City defers pour tax; awards L St. contract By Pamela Permar Shierling After hearing a downtown restaurant and bar owner and a city resident speak against the city’s proposed 3% pour tax, the City Commission voted (Wednesday, Feb. 20) to defer the item until the next meeting. The city is considering amending their alcohol ordi nance to include a 3% excise tax on alcoholic beverages by the drink, also known as a pour tax. It was pointed out to the commission that there is a disparity between the city and Glynn county in the cost of an alcohol license. Susan Bates, owner of Tipsy McSway’s in downtown Brunswick, said the county Turn to Page 13 City commission As part of its $140 million master renovation and expan sion, the Southeast Georgia Heath System broke ground last Thursday on the new Sur gical Services Tower and Inpa tient Floor at the Brunswick campus. For a year renovation prep arations have been taking place including renovations to the Emergency Care Center and demolition of the Human Resources wing. The Emergency Care Cen ter will have a new entry cano py, 15 exam / treatment rooms for a total of 50 rooms includ ing two tramna rooms. The Center will expand by more than 12,000 sq. ft. The new Surgical Services By Pamela Permar Shierling Tower will expand the second floor on the Parkwood Dr. side and accommodate 16 new oper ating rooms, endoscopy suite, a post-anesthesia care unit, and pre and post-op recovery bays. The new Inpatient Floor will include 32 private patient rooms, each with a window. These rooms will maximize privacy for the patient and family. Nursing stations will be de signed to minimize distance and increase observation. The St. Simons Tower 5th Floor will renovate existing inpatient rooms to increase space, comfort and privacy. The project is funded through tax-exempt revenue bonds as well as private donors. The Thomas & Mildred Beach Trust donated $4.7 mil lion to help pay for the Emer gency Care Center expansion. The SGHS Foundation com mitted $4 million to the project and is conducting a 20-20 Vi sion Campaign with a goal of an additional $4 million. The Health System Auxiliaries have donated $500,000. The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2020. Speakers at the ground breaking were Robert Turn er, Chair SGHS, Inc.; Woody Woodside, Chair SGHS, Inc. Facilities Committee; Dr. Er ick Bournigal, Chief of Staff SGHS; and Michael Scherneck, President and CEO SGHS, Inc. Ten call for Ralston's resignation • Rep. Jones signs on By Pamela Permar Shierling State Rep. David Clark (R) of Buford, dropped a house resolution late last Friday “en couraging Georgia’s Speaker of the House of Representa tives David Ralston (R) to resign from his leadership position.” The resolution was signed by 10 Georgia representatives including District 167 Repre sentative Jeff Jones. Signing HR 328 calling for Ralston’s resignation were Reps. Kevin Cooke (R-Carroll- ton), David Stover (R-Newn- an), Jeff Jones (R-Brunswick), Sheri Gilligan (R-Cumming), Matt Gurtler (R-Tiger), Mi chael Caldwell (R-Woodstock), Turn to Page 6 Ralston County code update by TSW By Matthew J. Permar In another Glynn Comity Board of Commissioners (BOC ) work session update, the TSW firm made a presentation about their initial progress to rewrite the county’s Zoning Ordinance and Subdivision Regulations last week (Tues. Feb. 19). When the BOC approved their state-mandated com prehensive plan last year, Envision Glynn, it included a rewrite of the county zoning ordinances. The current zoning codes date back to 1968 and have been amended many times. In short they are outdated, have become hard to inter pret and in some cases may be contradictory. Caleb Racicot of TSW said that public outreach would be a fundamental part of their process and they would engage Turn to Page 8 County ordinances County-Wide News - Read County-Wide Page 2 - SGHS survey Page 4 - Letter to Editors Page 11 - JWSC hears county future growth Page 12 - jekyll to prohibit dockless scooters Page 14 - Pew News Page 15 - Kenneth Carroll photography displayed at Horton Gallery Page 16- Back Talk 0 94922 29970 3
