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AUGUST 24, 2023 Merged with The Comer News and The Daniclsvillc Monitor, 2006 4 MadisonJoumalTODAY.com Vol. 40 No. 29* Publication No. 1074-987* Danielsville, Madison County, Georgia 30633 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers Inc. *12 Pages, 1 Section Plus Supplements $1.00 DANIELSVILLE SPORTS Farmers market to hold celebration The Danielsville Farm ers Market will host a spe cial market celebration to cap off its first market sea son on Saturday, Aug. 26. “Thank you for an in credible first season — let’s celebrate,” the orga nizers’ flyer reads. “Your favorite market vendors will be joined by local businesses and community groups, food and drink, and music.” The market will be held at Memorial Park, 91 Al bany Ave., with extended hours from 8 a.m to 2 p.m. The Chick-fil-A food track, sponsored by Madison County Ace Hardware, will be serving from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The market will show case local Georgia-made products and their makers. The market includes bak ers, farmers, meat produc ers, florists, artists selling a variety of wares and more. Health and safety events as well as community or ganizations and businesses will be on-site, including the Danielsville Police De partment who will be offer ing car seat checks. All vendor fees are donated to the Madison Oglethorpe Animal Shelter. So far to date, the Daniels ville Farmers Market has donated roughly $3,998 to the shelter. For more information, visit https://danielsville- market.wixsite.com/farm- ersmarket/finalcelebration or the Danielsville Farmers Market Facebook page. Index News — 1-2A Opinions — 4A Crime — 6A Socials — 3A, 5A and 7A Schools — 3A Churches — 7A Obituaries — 8-9A Sports — 5A and 12A Classifieds — 10A Legals —11A Friday Night Lights return in Madison County MINI Vapawnnis ST.MARYj lift'd 1 IplU IPgI v'nit f ltt< CiSTm A BfrsULATi^l fta ■ , m v ' Vi r /*M\l Photos by Seth Manus Red Raiders line up for the play. Mggp The Rowdy Raiders student section brings the energy and leads the crowd to open up the season. See more coverage of the first home game on 12A. EMPLOYMENT Contact Phone: 706-367-5233 Email: hannah@mainstreet news.com Web: MadisonJoumalTODAYcom MAILING LABEL LABOR UPDATE: Madison Co. not immune to nationwide employment shortage, vacancies open By Alison Smith Since a spike in April 2020, la bor shortages nationwide are im pacting services at the drive-thru, repairs to homes and delays in manufacturing. Private industries are not the only ones impacted by record job openings. Madison County government faces critical vacancies in its ability to serve its citizens. The latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Opening and Labor Turnover Survey reports over 9.58 million unfilled positions across the country. Even though that num ber is the lowest since 2021, the Bureau estimates that the country has about 1.6 job opportunities for every job seeker. Symptoms of that disparity are revealing themselves in county job openings too. Madison County human resourc es director Tracy Drake recently reported 13 current or upcoming job openings within the county administration office, road depart ment, EMS and recreation depart ment. The county currently staffs 185 full-time positions. The sheriff’s office declined to disclose an exact number of vacan cies for this article, but in a Face- book post dated July 24, 2023, Sheriff Michael Moore said, “I’m 7 jailers down inside the jail and 4 Deputy Sheriff’s short on patrol.” That post also explained that the sheriff’s office had discontinued inmate labor at the county transfer station due to a shortage of deputies to oversee that work. An opening for the animal con trol officer has perhaps gained the most attention from citizens recent ly. However, the growing impact of other positions is impacting county business as well. Board of Commission chairman Todd Higdon said COVID has changed the culture of the work force and Georgia, in general, is outgrowing its means of employ ment. “COVID brought a new level of stay-at-home employees,” he said as he described losing a potential employee to a remote work position recently. Higdon says that the county is receiving very few applications for open positions and the unfilled jobs are a constant stress to current em ployees, who are often performing duties of other positions. “The best employees we’ve been able to hire have retired from some where else,” he said. He explained that even those hires present issues, because the public sector, small business and the growing industry along 1-85 are all competing for the same labor pool. Within administrative positions, Higdon says pay is not the prima ry issue with the county’s abili ty to hire. The recent renewal of TSPLOST funds makes work proj ects for the road department, for example, well funded. The county also completed a pay study imple mented at the beginning of the year with the average employee earning a $4,679 raise. County 911 director Brenan Baird said the pay raise in 2023 was initially a morale boost for his de partment, but other nearby counties quickly increased their pay to com pete with the new wages. He says the wage inflation and competition directly impact his ability to hire qualified applicants. Baird said that he has seen a $3 to $10 per hour difference in some neighboring counties. The 911 Cen ter currently has two unfilled posi tions. Like Higdon, Captain Baird ex plained that openings are not unique to the county and competition with the private sector is tough. “Our biggest draw is a smaller town atmosphere with support of law enforcement,” he said. Even so, the nationwide percep tion of law enforcement and public service has declined dramatically in the last two or three years, he said. “The biggest problem is that my dispatchers are overworked,” Baird explained. He says he worries about them being overstressed in what he said is one of the most important jobs in the county. Since the 911 Center must be staffed 24 hours per day, Baird adds that the vacancies are resulting in extra cost to the See Shortage, page 2A o