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UGA Will Gut Jobs, Has Plan to Reopen
PLUS, ACC’S REDEVELOPMENT PLANS AND MORE LOCAL NEWS
By Blake Aued news@flagpole.com
The University System of Georgia’s pro
posed fiscal 2021 budget calls for elimi
nating 394 positions at the University of
Georgia to meet Gov. Brian Kemp’s order
for state agencies to cut 14%.
The proposed budget was obtained by
the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. For all of
USG’s 26 institutions combined, it calls for
laying off 735 people and freezing another
1,341 open positions. Along with cuts to
travel and other expenses, that would save
$361 million.
UGA appears to be cutting mostly
administrative and support staff, sparing
faculty. Those administrative cuts, how
ever, would “lead to a severe disruption in
service,” USG wrote, including delays in
hiring, accounting and processing student
accounts. In addition, employees making
over $35,000 a year would be furloughed
anywhere from four to 16 days, depending
on their pay. UGA’s current $421 million
budget would shrink by $59 million.
The University of North Georgia, which
has a campus in Oconee County, would also
offer voluntary separation agreements to
retirement-eligible employees.
State tax revenue declined 36% last
month, and unemployment hit nearly 12%,
as many businesses closed in the wake of
the coronavirus pandemic.
The budget isn’t final until the state leg
islature—which is currently in recess due
to the pandemic—reconvenes and passes a
state budget, and then the Board of Regents
passes a budget for public colleges and uni
versities. The Georgia constitution requires
a budget to be passed by July 1.
Those employees who remain will start
reporting back to campus on June 15, after
three months of closure during the coro
navirus pandemic, according to a plan laid
out by President Jere Morehead, Provost
Jack Hu and Vice President for Finance and
Administration Ryan Nesbit, with advice
from health care faculty. During Phase 1,
staggered or rotating work schedules and
telecommuting will be encouraged, to main
tain social distancing. More people will be
brought back to campus during Phase 2,
and Phase 3 will be the full return of faculty,
staff and students to campus in August.
Many details have yet to be announced,
but according to the campus-wide email,
the university will soon launch a compre
hensive educational campaign about safety
precautions.
Kemp: Bars Gan Reopen
Meanwhile, Gov. Kemp gave the green
light for bars and nightclubs to reopen,
if they follow safety regulations. He also
allowed gatherings of up to 25 people for
events like weddings. Music venues remain
closed, however.
Kemp’s latest executive order, issued
May 27, further eased social distancing
rules effective June 1. In addition to
businesses listed above, schools can hold
summer classes, and parents can send their
children to camp. Amusement parks can
reopen June 12.
Among the requirements to reopen are
screening employees daily for fever, follow
ing sanitation and hygiene rules, enforcing
social distancing and limiting crowds to
fewer than 25 people or 35% of the build
ing’s capacity.
Kemp also extended the declaration of
emergency through July 12. Shelter-in-
place orders for the elderly and others who
are especially at risk of COVID-19 remain
in place. Kemp also urged everyone to wear
a mask in public to
slow the spread of
the virus.
The announce
ment came as the
Athens area and
Georgia as a whole
saw a spike in COVID-19 cases, although it’s
unclear how much of that is due to relaxed
restrictions and how much is due to more
testing. Georgia continues to ramp up test
ing and contact tracing, according to Public
Health Commissioner Kathleen Toomey.
TADs Part Two
The Athens-Clarke County Commission
is taking another crack at creating special
tax districts all over the county to encour
age the redevelopment of blighted areas.
Last fall, Mayor Kelly Girtz proposed tax
allocation districts for the Newton Bridge
Road corridor and an area stretching from
the eastern end of downtown along North
Avenue to the Loop. However, commission
ers said they felt rushed and wanted to con
sider other locations as well.
TADs are an economic development tool
intended to encourage redevelopment in a
specific area. A tax allocation district—also
known as tax increment financing—freezes
property taxes in a blighted area for a fixed
period of time; then, taxes collected from
new development are devoted to infrastruc
ture improvements within the district, such
as roads, sidewalks, parks or water and
sewer lines. After the period ends, the local
government and schools collect the full
amount of taxes.
Girtz identified six potential locations
for TADs. “These are places we care about in
our community, where we’d like to see more
quality development,” he said.
• Georgia Square Mall, where the county
could work with the owner or another
developer to build housing, a park and a
transit hub, convert outlying buildings to
mixed use and fill empty retail spaces with
bars and restaurants.
“You could imagine at some point the
mall becoming almost another down
town,” Girtz said.
• West Broad Street and Hawthorne Avenue,
where the county could upgrade intersec
tions and improve bike and pedestrian
connectivity—for instance, by building
a greenway on the Middle Oconee—to
encourage higher-density apartment devel
opments that include affordable housing.
• The east downtown or “River District”
area, where a TAD could capitalize on the
new Classic Center arena and associated
parking deck and senior living facility.
• Newton Bridge Road, where taxes from
the mixed-use General Time and Southern
Mills projects could be spent on bike and
pedestrian connections to Prince Avenue,
Kathwood Drive, Sandy Creek Nature
Center and Holland Park, encouraging
more redevelopment of abandoned indus
trial sites.
• North Avenue near the Loop and the
Lexington Road/Gaines School area,
where bike and pedestrian safety improve
ments could encourage mixed-use and
mixed-income housing and commercial
redevelopment.
Two types of TADs are possible: a geo
graphical area where ACC slowly accumu
lates funds for improvements, or one tied to
a specific project. In the latter scenario, ACC
would sell bonds to fund improvements
and pay them back once the development
is completed. Or, the
county could declare
an area a “redevel
opment zone” and
solicit proposals
from developers for
a specific project that
would meet a community need like afford
able housing.
“You’ve got a bird in the hand, willing
to commit an amount certain, and then
you can borrow the funds to pay for the
improvements, or you can do a geographic
[TAD] and let it accumulate,” Manager
Blaine Williams said.
In a separate presentation, SPLOST
manager Derek Doster gave commissioners
several options for using transportation
sales taxes to improve Lexington Road and
Atlanta Highway, which came out of study
committees appointed by former mayor
Nancy Denson, as well as the Athens in
Motion bike/pedestrian plan.
ACC will solicit public input online this
month, then discuss potential TAD sites in
July. The whole process must be completed
by the end of the year, when property val
ues are set for tax purposes.
Proposals include improved signage and
an access road from Lexington Road to Ben
Epps Airport, sidewalk connections from
neighborhoods to bus stops, a traffic signal
with a crosswalk at the county jail, other
intersection improvements and multi-use
trails from Satterfield Park to the airport
and Southeast Clarke Park.
“We look at this whole corridor as a
group, and not just from a vehicular stand
point,” Doster said. “We want to look at it
with alternative modes of transportation
through the whole corridor—what bike
improvements can be done, what pedes
trian improvements can be done, and
then what transit facilities may need to be
updated or included.”
Options for Atlanta Highway include bus
stops and sidewalks, along with realigning
the Mitchell Bridge Road/Timothy Road
intersection, removing the slip lane behind
the Pepsi plant and adding signage on the
right-turn-only lane into the mall.
The studies did not include the Loop
interchanges on Atlanta Highway and
Lexington Road because the Georgia
Department of Transportation is already
planning to rebuild them, Doster said.
Q&A With Mary P. Bagby
Board of Education District 2 candidate
Kirrena Gallagher did not return Flagpoles
questionnaire by our deadline, but her
opponent, Mary P. Bagby, did provide
answers. Here they are, in full:
• On what she would look for in a new
superintendent: “Not applicable, as this
position is not currently open, to my
understanding.”
• On how to achieve racial equity: “Follow
policy and procedures mandated by
state legislature regarding education and
Georgia’s state right to a free and appro
priate education for all students.”
• On prioritizing SPLOST projects: “It would
greater serve our students to prioritize the
broadband expansion and Eastside library
project.” (Editor’s note: These are Athens-
Clarke County SPLOST projects, not Clarke
County School District SPLOST projects.)
• On bringing civility to school board meet
ings: “My role would [be] to stand by and
uphold the affidavit I signed to not engage
in conflict of interests and abide by the
Board of Education mandated policy and
procedures of the state.” O
THIS M«»fcKU W«KU»
THIS WEEK: A SPECIAL
QUARANTINE FUN GAME!
We’ve inserted several de-
roughout
the following panels. Can
you find them all? Answers
at the end-but no peeking!
1. February 26: Trump assures
nation that his administration
has the pandemic under control.
"BECAUSE Of ALL WE'VE DONE, THE
RISK TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
REMAINS VERT LOW...WHEN YOU
HAVE FIFTEEN PEOPLE, AND THE
FIFTEEN WITHIN A COUPLE OF DAYS
IS GOING TO BE DOWN TO ZERO,
THAT'S A PRETTY GOOD JOB WE'VE
DONE.*"
by TOM TOMORROW
2. April 10: Trump laments the
ineffectiveness of antibacterial
treatments on the virus.
"THIS IS A VERY BRILLIANT ENEMY!
ANTIBIOTICS USED TO SOLVE EVERY
PROBLEM. NOW ONE OF THE BIGGEST
PROBLEMS THE WORLD HAS IS THE
GERM HAS GOTTEN So BRILLIANT
THAT THE ANTIBIOTIC CAN'T KEEP
VP WITH IT!"
3. April 23: Trump proposes alter
native treatments for COVID-19.
"I SEE THE DISINFECTANT THAT
KNOCKS IT OUT IN A MINUTE! IS
THERE A WAY WE CAN Do SOME
THING LIKE THAT BY INJECTION
INSIDE, OR ALMOST A CLEANING?
...IT WOULD BE INTERESTING TO
CHECK THAT OUT!"
4. May 18: Trump disparages
hydroxychloroquine study with
negative results.
"THERE WAS A FALSE STUDY DONE
WHERE THEY GAVE IT TO VERY SICK
PEOPLE...PEOPLE THAT WERE READY
TO DIE: IT WAS GIVEN 8Y OBVIOUSLY
NOT FRIENDS OF THE ADMINISTRATION!"
DID YOU SPOT THE MISTAKES?
Panel 1: The mistake here is that
Donald Trump over became pres
ident. Whoops!
Panel 2: Trump was not removed
from office during impeachment,
nor has the 25th Amendment been
invoked. Oh well!
Panel 3: A deranged narcissist
in cognitive decline is in charge
of our pandemic response. Whoops
again!
Panel 4: Did we mention that
Donald Trump is president? Also,
his hands are too big in that
drawing.
You could imagine at some
point the mall becoming
almost another downtown.
4
FLAGPOLE.COM | JUNE 3, 2020
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