The Oconee County Industrial Development Authority cancelled its scheduled meeting for this afternoon because the documents needed for the Authority to go forward with authorization of a loan for Presbyterian Village Athens are not ready.
The county sent out a notice just before noon today announcing the cancellation of the 4 p.m. meeting but did not give a reason and did not indicate when the meeting would be held.
The three Republican state legislative candidates who spoke at the Oconee County and Athens Area Chamber of Commerce Candidate forum on Thursday night said they did not want the government involved in health care and that the market could provide solutions to health care problems.
The other five speakers–four Democrats and a write-in candidate–said the market was not working and government needed to step in to address health care problems.
Marcus Wiedower, Republican candidate for the 119th House District seat, raised more than $80,000 from July 1 to Sept. 30, topping all six candidates for Oconee County’s seats in the Georgia General Assembly.
Deborah Gonzalez, Democrat incumbent in House District 117, raised $68,381–more than $20,000 above the $47,987 raised by her Republican challenger, Houston Gaines.
Oconee County School administrators are in the process of putting together a team of some 30 to 40 members who will meet in early November as the next step in the Strategic Planning Process, Claire Buck, chief academic officer, told the Board of Education last week.
Buck said invitations had gone out to 39 individuals, roughly evenly split between student and staff on the one hand and parents and community on the other. Buck referred to the group, when assembled, as the Planning Team.
The Oconee County Industrial Development Authority on Friday postponed its meeting to consider issuance of bonds for construction of Presbyterian Village Athens on U.S. 441 at Hog Mountain Road that had been scheduled for tomorrow (Monday).
County Clerk Kathy Hayes sent out notice of the postponement of the Authority meeting at 10:30 a.m. on Friday but did not give an explanation of the decision to postpone the meeting.
Fran Thompson and Andrea Wellnitz, seeking spots on the Oconee County Board of Education, told a packed room of citizens gathered for a candidate forum on Thursday night that they want the Board to be more transparent and more open to citizen input.
Incumbents Kim Argo and Amy Parrish said the Board already is transparent and open to citizens ideas and feedback and they want to make sure the community understands that.
Oconee County commissioners, with minimal discussion, unanimously approved the request for a shopping center at the intersection of Lenru Road and Malcom Bridge Road and for a museum, office, and events venue at Cole Springs Road and Snows Mill Road.
Just fewer than 50 citizens turned out for the meeting, about half of them interested in the shopping center decision, despite their having been told in advance it was unlikely they would get a chance to speak. They did not get that chance.
