Only three people stepped forward last month when the Walton County Water and Sewer Authority invited residents of Oconee and Walton counties to offer comments on an Environmental Information Document prepared for the planned water treatment plant on the Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir.
Oconee County is partner with Walton County on the reservoir and the planned treatment plant, which, at some point in the future, is expected to be expanded to treat water pumped from the Apalachee River.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 184 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Dec. 27, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The Department of Public Health reported the Northeast Health District had added 268 cases in the week ending on Dec. 20, 274 cases in the week ending on Dec. 13, 178 cases in the week ending on Dec. 6, 155 cases in the week ending Nov. 29, and 145 cases in the week ending Nov. 22.
The Georgia Department of Education earlier this month released its College and Career Ready Performance Index showing that Oconee County Schools exceeded the state averages on four of the five components of the Index.
The Department of Education does not compute scores for school systems, but rather for individual schools in the system and for grade clusters, and Oconee County Schools had the top score in the state at the Elementary, Middle, and High school grade clusters on the Content Mastery component.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 268 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Dec. 20, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The Department of Public Health reported the Northeast Health District had added 274 cases in the week ending on Dec. 13.
The redistricting maps passed by the Georgia legislature earlier this month, signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp, and now before U.S. District Court Judge Steve Jones for review make no changes to the state House and Senate districts in which Oconee County falls.
The Republican-controlled legislature, however, did change the composition of U.S. House District 10, which includes Oconee County.
The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) has acknowledged that its proposed detour during the construction of the SR 316 interchange with Jimmy Daniell Road may result in increased traffic in the Deerbrook/Silverleaf neighborhood.
The posted detour from the construction of the interchange would bypass those neighborhoods and follow Atlanta Highway and U.S. 78/Monroe Highway, Eric Duff, State Environmental Administrator with GDOT, informed residents of those neighborhoods.
Oconee County is expecting the discolorization of water in its system resulting from high levels of manganese to have dissipated on Tuesday.
Oconee County Water Resources staff was doing heavy flushing of the lines on Monday, Oconee County Administrator Justin Kirouac said late Monday morning.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 274 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Dec. 13, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The Department of Public Health reported the Northeast Health District had added 178 cases in the week ending on Dec. 6.
Kalki Yalamanchili was emphatic in telling Oconee County Republicans at the party's meeting late last month that he does not want to run as a Republican or as a Democrat in seeking the position as District Attorney for the Western Judicial Circuit.
In his 30 minute presentation, Yalamanchili said repeatedly--at least seven times--that he did not view the office of District Attorney as a partisan one.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 178 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Dec. 6, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The Department of Public Health reported the Northeast Health District had added 155 cases in the week ending Nov. 29.
Oconee County commissioners on Tuesday night unanimously approved a rezone for a 25-acre commercial development at the planned second entrance to Oconee Veterans Park but split their vote on allowing for a self storage unit within that development.
With Mark Saxon and Mark Thomas voting for the special use allowing for the self storage unit, and Amrey Harden and Chuck Horton voting against, Commission Chair John Daniell was forced to vote, breaking the tie in favor of the self storage use.
Neither Harden nor Horton had voiced opposition to the self-storage unit in the discussion leading up to the vote.
Ian Taylor, the only citizen who spoke at the public hearing, said he was not opposed to the development but did not think the self-storage facility was in the best interest of the community.
Most of the discussion among commissioners that followed the public hearing focused on other parts of the massive Parkside commercial and residential complex, which stretches across 500 acres from Hog Mountain Road to Mars Hill Road.
The project has been dormant since it was approved--over much public opposition--in 2004.
Abe Abouhamdan, representing current owner and developer Mark Jennings, told the Board that it is at least possible that the 50-acre parcel to the east of the shopping center approved by the Board on Tuesday will be developed as a big box center.
Oconee County Director of Planning and Code Enforcement Guy Herring said Jennings will be required to build the key roadway inside the development connecting Mars Hill Road and Hog Mountain Road before any permits will be issued for the approved shopping center.
Description Of Shopping Center
Property owner Jennings, through his Athens Construction Group Property Holdings LLC and Parkside Property Development LLC, was asking the Board to rezone 20 acres that front on Hog Mountain Road and abut the eastern side of Oconee Veterans Park zoned for agriculture as well as five adjoining acres cut from another parcel zoned for residential development.
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| Abouhamdan 12/5/2023 |
Jennings was asking that both parcels be rezoned for highway business use and for a special use to allow for the self-storage unit.
The 20-acre parcel was not part of the 2004 Parkside rezone, while the adjoining five acres were.
Abouhamdan told the Board that the 25 acres under consider for the rezone “is a parcel that is kind of sandwiched between the OVP Park (Oconee Veterans Park) and 50-acres already zoned commercial that is within Parkside.”
He said it didn’t make sense to develop the 25 acres as residential because of the traffic and he said he he and Jennings rejected the idea of making it a large shopping center.
“We wanted to put something that's transitional, quality, small scale and that's really where we came up with a footprint of commercial buildings, cafes, delis--you know, something that you can get a coffee, a cappuccino,” Abouhamdan said. “You can get an ice cream cone, or you can take and buy some sports shoes or shirts.”
The self-storage facility will consist of 12 one- and two-story buildings on 5.7 acres and, according to Abouhamdan, will be all brick or stone. “We want something to be attractive, to be nice,” he said.
Citizen Comment
“I’m not against the development per se,” Taylor told the Board. “I’m kind of, sort of, ambivalent to it.”
“I just want to make sure that careful consideration is given to the self storage portion of this unit,” he said.
Taylor said he has talked with some law enforcement officers about “some theft and what not at self storage units and it has come to my attention that crime at these self storage units is a little bit more prevalent than I had certainly understood it to be.”
“Given that this will be right next to the park, and then ultimately a residential area, I just want to make sure that consideration is given to the safety aspect of it,” he said.
“Is self storage the right thing to have there?” he asked. “I don't know if it's the best land use for the property. That's for the developer to decide.”
“I'm just not convinced that the location is in the best interest of the community,” he said.
Discussion Following Hearing
Abouhamdan said that the self-storage unit will be a gated facility, will be attractive, and will be an “amenity” for residents of Parkside and other subdivisions in the area.
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Labeled Clip From Presentation 12/5/2023 |
In response to a question from Harden, Herring said that, before any building permits are issued for the self storage unit or any other part of the proposed subdivision, the entire Dooley Boulevard will have to be complete. (Herring said after the meeting that Dooley Connector will have to be completed as well.)
Dooley Boulevard is the main road through Parkside, running from Hog Mountain Road to Mars Hill Road.
The road exists, but the final paving has not been done, and it has been exposed to weather for years while Parkside has gone through several hands and remained unbuilt.
As currently platted, Parkside will have 776 residential lots, with 269 of those lots designated for persons 55 years old and older, as well as commercial components at Mars Hill Road and Hog Mountain Road.
Herring also told Harden that the 50 acres on Hog Mountain Road between Dooley Boulevard and Dooley Connector–just east of the shopping center before the Board on Tuesday, is zoned R-2 but is designated as commercial.
Parkside was zoned as a master plan development, containing both commercial and residential components.
Herring said a big box shopping center with a grocery store “was envisioned for that area.”
Traffic Lights
“Are there traffic lights slated for any of these intersections?” Harden asked.
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| Entrance To OVP Via Dooley And Park Connectors |
Herring said a traffic study was done in 2004 and it proposed a traffic signal at Dooley Connector and Hog Mountain Road.
“It also proposed a signal up at Mars Hill, where Dooley Boulevard comes through there,” he said.
He said it “referenced another signal” at Dooley Boulevard and Hog Mountain Road “based on the commercial development that develops out.”
Herring said the signals will have to go through permitting by the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) and “meet warrants,” and GDOT will determine the timing of installation of those signals.
“Do you have any idea what you all are thinking of on the other side over here?” Horton asked Abouhamdan, referring to the tract between the Dooley Connector and Dooley Boulevard.
“I know from the previous rezone, commissioner, that there was a shopping center, multiple restaurants, a variety of commercial,” Abouhamdan said.
“I couldn't begin to tell you what's going to go in there,” he said, “but it is commercial. It could be big box retail or it could be more like Epps Bridge setting.”
“That’s why we’re trying to do much less intensive here between the park and that zone,” he said.
Other Action
In another zoning case, the Board approved a request by Commissioner Mark Thomas that a cell tower already approved for property he owns on Cedar Road in the south of the county be allowed to be 49 feet taller than originally proposed (to 199 feet) and be moved slightly on the property to maximize its reach. Thomas recused himself from that vote.
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| Pilgrim Before Board 12/5/2023 |
At the beginning of the meeting, David Clementson used the Public Comment section of the meeting to “compliment the good work” of the county Parks and Recreation Department.
“In these times when there's a lot to complain about in unsafe communities,” he said, “we can be proud of Oconee County's parks department and we should express our gratitude for the leadership of director Lisa Devol.”
Much of the early part of the meeting was devoted to a review of the just completed Fiscal Year 2023 Audit by Rushton LLC, with offices in Gainesville.
Clay Pilgrim from Rushton told the Board that “nothing came to our attention during the audit process that would prohibit us from issuing an unmodified or clean opinion on the financials.”
The Board also approved ground lease agreements with Prime Tower Development of Alpharetta for 199 foot high cell towers at 1030 Rankin Road (Butler's Crossing Collection Site) and 3500 Hog Mountain Road (Oconee Veterans Park).
The Board also awarded a bid for renovation of Eagle Tavern to Watkinsville's Bayne Development Group, LLC, with authorization not to exceed $114,000. The funding will come from SPLOST 2015 monies set aside for Historic and Scenic Facilities.
The Board also approved items put on the consent agenda at the Nov. 28 meeting approving a naming right agreement at Heritage Park, authorizing the county to submit a joint claim with Upper Oconee Basin Water Authority in a damages settlement, agreeing to abandon Hillsboro Road so New High Shoals can assume responsibility for the roadway, and agreeing to the annexation by Watkinsville of that portion of the Thomas Farm outside the city limits.
Video
The video below is on the Oconee County YouTube Channel.
The meeting begins at 7:19 in the video.
Clementson made his comments at 8:24 in the video.
Pilgrim began his review of the audit at 11:07 in the video.
Discussion of the Parkside rezone begins at 30:12 in the video.
Abouhamdan made his initial comments at 33:54 in the video.
Taylor spoke at 42:55.
Amanda Prochaska, co-publisher of The Oconee Enterprise, went to the Oconee County Board of Education meeting on Monday evening planning to respond to the criticism of the paper made by Board Member Tim Burgess at the November Board meeting.
Prochaska intended to point out, contrary to what Burgess had said, that the paper publishes a large number of positive stories about Oconee County Schools.
Oconee County Commissioners took steps last week at their agenda setting meeting to improve the cell phone coverage in the northern part of the county when they heard details of two Ground Lease Agreements with Alpharetta-based Prime Tower Development.
The agreements will allow Prime Tower to construct 199 foot tall cell towers at the county’s Butler's Crossing Collection Site, 1030 Rankin Road, and at Oconee Veterans Park, 3500 Hog Mountain Road.
Pam Hendrix told the Oconee County Board of Education last month during the public comment section of its meeting that she wanted to understand spending per student in Oconee County Schools and how it has changed over time.
She said her goal was frustrated by errors in calculations of Per Pupil Expenditures in the 2022-23 Annual Report Oconee County Schools had sent to mailboxes in the county in July.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 155 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Nov. 29, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The Department of Public Health reported the Northeast Health District had added 145 cases in the week ending Nov. 22.
Spencer Frye, who represents the 122nd District in the Georgia House, told Oconee County Democrats earlier this month that he doesn’t know what is going to happen when the General Assembly meets in special session Wednesday to create new legislative districts for the state.
Frye said his district, which currently falls entirely in Clarke County, could be changed or left alone.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 145 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Nov. 22, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The Department of Public Health reported the Northeast Health District had added 184 cases in the week ending on Nov. 15.
Library Books and traffic concerns were the key topics at the Oconee County Town Hall Meeting held by the Board of Commissioners on last Wednesday.
The meeting began with Board Chair John Daniell outlining the 10 ballot items voters will be asked to approve in the May Primary Election to increase the homestead exemption for all county home owners and simplify property tax exemptions for seniors.
Brian Brodrick, Chuck Garrett, and Connie Massie each picked up one vote on Tuesday when the Oconee County Board of Elections and Registration certified the results of the Nov. 7 elections in Watkinsville.
The change in the vote totals from the Unofficial and Incomplete Results released on election evening and the Official and Complete Results certified by the Board on Tuesday was the result of acceptance of one provisional ballot.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 184 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Nov. 15, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The Department of Public Health reported the Northeast Health District had added 140 cases in the week ending on Nov. 8.
The Oconee County Planning Commission on Monday approved, in 5 to 3 votes, a rezone request for a commercial development at the front of the massive Parkside residential development on Hog Mountain Road that will include self storage units and small shops.
The shops, Abe Abouhamdan, representing the Parkside developer, said will be tailored to patrons of adjoining Oconee Veterans Park and are likely to include an ice cream parlor, coffee shops, small restaurants, and speciality shops.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 140 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Nov. 8, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The Department of Public Health reported the Northeast Health District had added 141 cases in the week ending on Nov. 1.
Responsibility for prosecution of five types of misdemeanors in Oconee County will shift from the Western Judicial Circuit District Attorney to a Magistrate Court prosecutor as a result of action taken by the County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday night.
Included is prosecution of shoplifting cases, which Board of Commissioners Chair John Daniell said makes up the bulk of misdemeanor cases in the county.
Pam Hendrix told the Oconee County Board of Education at its meeting on Monday that she and other citizens know the county has a great school system.
“I want to commend everybody for that,” she said.
Hendrix said she had two questions, however, that she wanted to have answered.
Incumbents Chuck Garrett and Connie Massey handily defeated challengers Rebecca Billings and Carolyn Maultsby in Watkinsville Council races on Tuesday.
Garrett received 67.1 percent of the vote to Billings’ 32.9 percent in the race for Post 1.
Massey received 71.9 percent of the vote to Maultsby’s 28.1 percent in the Post 2 election.
In a brief meeting last week, the Oconee County Board of Commissioners tentatively approved spending $547,220 as the county’s share of the cost of design services for the upgrade of the Bear Creek Water Treatment Plant in Jackson County.
The Upper Oconee Water Basin Authority has awarded a $2.3 million contract to Jacobs Engineering Group, an international professional services firm with offices in Atlanta, for the upgrade of the water treatment facility from 21 million gallons per day to 42 million gallons per day.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 141 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Nov. 1, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The Department of Public Health reported the Northeast Health District had added 146 cases in the week ending on Oct. 25.
Twenty-eight Watkinsville voters cast a ballot in the final day of early voting on Friday, the largest number that has turned out on any day in the three weeks of advance voting leading up to Tuesday’s Election Day.
A total of 224 of the city’s voters has participated in early voting, and three more have returned an absentee ballot, meaning that just 9.6 percent of the 2,369 eligible voters have cast a ballot so far.
A Georgia Department of Transportation project team has identified the potential need for a nearly four-mile-long detour during construction of a grade-separated, diamond interchange on SR 316 at Jimmy Daniell Road.
Traffic on Jimmy Daniell Road wanting to access westbound SR 316 could be required to travel north on Jimmy Daniell Road and then New Jimmy Daniel Road, westbound on Atlanta Highway, and then southbound on U.S. 78 to reach SR 316.
The owner of the property on Hog Mountain Road that will surround the planned new entrance to Oconee Veterans Park is asking the county to allow for a multi-use commercial development of the 25-acre site.
Proposed are small-scale business and commercial buildings to accommodate small shops, cafes, and services that will be accessible to users of Oconee Veterans Park as well as to the residents of the future Parkside residential development.
Data recently released by Oconee County Schools show that college entrance test scores systemwide were largely unchanged in 2023 from a year earlier, and that the graduation rate fell slightly for the second year in a row.
The data also show that in each case--ACT scores, SAT Scores, and Graduation Rates--North Oconee High School students scored higher than students at Oconee County High School.
The three speakers, asked by Oconee County Democrats earlier this month to discuss the Role of Local Media, gave complementary responses.
Amanda Prochaska, co-publisher of The Oconee Enterprise and the first to speak, took a historical perspective.
Only 156 of the 2,369 eligible voters in Watkinsville have cast a ballot in the first 12 days of early voting for the two Council seats to be decided in the Nov. 7 elections.
Only four persons have requested and been issued an absentee ballot, as of Saturday, and only one of those ballots had been received by the Oconee County Office of Elections and Registration.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 146 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Oct. 25, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The Department of Public Health reported the Northeast Health District had added 83 cases in the week ending on Oct. 18.
The Hard Labor Creek Reservoir Management Board and Walton County Water and Sewer Authority last week voted to revise the design capacity of their planned water treatment plant from 16 million gallons per day to 12 million gallons per day.
The two bodies took the action in a called joint meeting after learning that the projected cost of construction of the water treatment plant has increased by more than 62 percent--from $96 million to more than $155.8 million.
Oconee County Schools took in more than $1 million in revenue from the Educational Local Option Sales Tax (ELOST) in September, Dan Smith, Chief Financial Officer for Oconee County Schools, told the Board of Education at it meeting last week.
The September monthly receipt was the second in a row in which revenue exceeded the $1 million mark.
Only 89 of the 2,369 eligible voters have cast a ballot in the first six days of early voting for the two Council seats on the ballot for the Nov. 7 elections in Watkinsville.
Only three persons have requested an absentee ballot, and as of Saturday none of those ballots had been received by the Oconee County Office of Elections and Registration.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added only 83 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Oct. 18, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The Department of Public Health reported the Northeast Health District had added 157 cases in the week ending on Oct. 11.
The Oconee County Industrial Development Authority on Tuesday agreed to revise the Development Guidelines it created in 2000 to accommodate the two most recent firms that plan to locate to the Gateway Technology and Business Park on the edge of Bogart.
After nearly 50 minutes in executive session, the Authority, in its capacity as an Architectural Review Committee, also gave tentative approval to concept plans submitted by one of those companies, Technology Park Atlanta.
The Oconee County Planning Commission on Monday night recommended approval of a new plan for the historic Seymour D. Fambrough House in the center of Bishop.
Owner Ted Christensen told the Planning Commission he intends to convert what is often referred to as the Bishop House to a seven-room bed and breakfast.
Patty Durand said she is ready to run as a Democrat and challenge Republican Incumbent Tim Echols as District 2 representative to the state Public Service Commission.
Durand said she was ready to run and challenge Echols in 2021, when she lived in Gwinnett County, then a part of District 2.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 157 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Oct. 11, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The Department of Public Health reported nearly the same number of new cases, 154, in the week ending on Oct. 4.
The Oconee County Library Board of Trustees on Monday granted two of five requests by citizens to reclassify books available through the Oconee County Library in Watkinsville.
The citizens said they objected to the explicit, sexual content of the books. Four of the five books deal with LGBTQ+ issues. The fifth is focused on issues of consent.
Oconee County Schools on Monday released 2023 Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores for students at the system’s two high schools, showing little change from the year before.
Scores have improved from 2020 and 2021, when scores had dropped dramatically from the year before the COVID-19 pandemic. SAT scores have not returned to the highpoint from 2018, according to data released on Monday.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 154 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Oct. 4, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The Department of Public Health reported 193 new cases in the week ending on Sept. 27.
Two of the last remaining undeveloped parcels along the southeast side of Hog Mountain Road east of Butler’s Crossing will be converted to commercial use if the Board of Commissioners approves two separate rezone requests at its meeting on Tuesday.
UAL Holdings LLC is seeking to rezone a 2.7 acre parcel that currently has a residence on it at 1911 Hog Mountain Road to B-2 (Highway Business District) so it can build a four-building office complex.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 193 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Sept. 27, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The Department of Public Health reported 231 new cases in the week ending on Sept. 20.
Suzannah Heimel asked the Oconee County Board of Commissioners to find a way to provide oversight of the county’s libraries.
Julie Mauck said she wants the county to defund the two libraries until the problems she sees “gets worked out” and then the two libraries should “pull away from the Athens Regional Library System.”
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 231 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Sept. 20, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The Department of Public Health reported 411 new cases in the week ending on Sept.13, 345 new cases in the week ending on Sept. 6, 424 new cases in the week ending on Aug. 30, and 519 new cases in the week ending on Aug. 23.
The estimated cost of building a third high school for Oconee County Schools is between $150 and $175 million, School Superintendent Jason Branch reported at the Community Engagement Session held at the Civic Center on Tuesday night.
That figure does not include land acquisition, which Branch estimated to be an additional “several million."
Pam Hendrix used the public comment section of the Oconee County Board of Education meeting on Monday to tell the Board she thinks it should put a “pause” on new school construction and possibly on construction more generally.
Hendrix reminded the Board that it was told last week that enrollment is down slightly–by six students–over the start of the last school year.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners last week gave quick approval to two rezones and two zoning variances in a meeting that lasted less than 30 minutes.
The Board approved a request by Anderson-Wells II LLC that the part of a 29.4 acre parcel on Aiken Road within the unincorporated part of the county be rezoned from agricultural use to Office Business Park use.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 411 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Sept. 13, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The Department of Public Health reported 345 new cases in the week ending on Sept. 6, 424 new cases in the week ending on Aug. 30, and 519 new cases in the week ending on Aug. 23.
Oconee County Schools experienced a slight drop in enrollments as the school year began, according to a report given the Board of Education at its work session on Monday.
Enrollment growth has been moderate for the last five years, according to the counts from the fourth Wednesday of the new school year.
State Representative Houston Gaines has told Oconee County Republicans that they have to reach out to people they don’t ordinarily talk to if they want to defeat Western Judicial Circuit District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez at the ballot box next year.
That outreach includes to people who never attend Republican party meetings, to Independents, to Democrats, to students at the University of Georgia, Gaines, a Republican, said.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 345 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Sept. 6, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The Department of Public Health reported 424 new cases in the week ending on Aug. 30, down from 519 new cases in the week ending on Aug. 23.
Western Judicial Circuit Superior Court Chief Judge Eric Norris wants Oconee County to create its own misdemeanor probation system or join with Athens-Clarke County to form a circuit wide misdemeanor probation system.
Norris told the Oconee County Board of Commissioners last week that he does not intend to allow the county to renew the contract it currently has with CSRA Probation Services Inc. for probation services.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 424 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Aug. 30, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The Department of Public Health reported 519 new cases in the week ending on Aug. 23, 266 new cases in the week ending on Aug. 16, and 230 new cases in the week ending on Aug. 9.
State Rep. Houston Gaines, half way through the 2023 non-election year, has $456,586 net balance on hand in his campaign account.
Half way through the 2022 election year, Gaines, who represents part of Oconee County in the General Assembly, had $251,041 net balance on hand.
On June 30 of 2021, which was not an election year, Gaines had $108,514 net cash balance on hand, or less than a quarter of what he has on hand at this time.
The Oconee County Industrial Development Authority on Wednesday agreed to sell the 52.8 acre western most parcel in Gateway Technology and Business Park to IMI Industrial Services Group, which plans to relocate to the new site from the Watkinsville Industrial Park.
The contract sets the sale price at $37,500 per acre, which, based on the existing survey, would total to $1,981,012.
The large, currently empty parcel, is the last accessible acreage in the Gateway Technology Business Park, which runs west, mostly north of SR 316, from McNutt Creek Road on the southwest side of Bogart.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 519 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Aug. 23, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The Department of Public Health reported 266 new cases in the week ending on Aug. 16 and 230 new cases in the week ending on Aug. 9.
Oconee County Schools last week released a detailed budget for Fiscal Year 2024 documenting a $3.9 million increase in teacher salaries and a $4.9 million increase in healthcare costs for certified employees.
Those increases and the others spelled out in the July 2023 Budget Report explain in detail the $15.8 million increase in spending in the Fiscal Year 2024 budget adopted by the Board in June.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 266 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Aug. 16, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The Department of Public Health reported 230 new cases in the week ending on Aug. 9 and 224 in the two weeks ending on Aug. 2.
The Oconee County Library Board of Trustees, at its meeting in October, is expected to consider the requests of five citizens who have asked that the Oconee County Library in Watkinsville change the shelving of five different books the citizens say are inappropriate for children.
The five Requests for Reconsideration of Material currently are being reviewed by a committee of professional librarians of the Athens Regional Library System, of which the Oconee County and Bogart libraries are a part.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 230 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Aug. 9, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The Department of Public Heath did not issue a report two weeks ago, and the number of cases added last week after a two-week gap in reporting had been 224.
Oconee County Schools will hold a Community Engagement Session from 6 to 9 p.m. on Sept. 19 at the Oconee County Civic Center as part of its new Strategic Planning Timeline, school Chief Academic Officer Susan Stancil told the Board of Education at its meeting on Monday.
Oconee County Schools also will conduct stakeholder surveys in September and October before joining with the Georgia School Boards Association to develop goals, initiatives, and action steps for review by the Board of Education in May and June of next year.
Oconee County Schools reported to the Georgia Department of Education six incidents at its schools involving weapons during the last academic year in the required Discipline Incident Type Count due at the end of the school year.
Two of the six incidents involved knives, two involved rifles, and two involved other unspecified weapons.
Oconee County Schools has provided to the public no information on any of the incidents, though open records requests indicate that it did communicate via email internally about three of the incidents.
Oconee County’s planned new park on the 246 acre Land Application System site on Rocky Branch Road will be named the Wendell and Betty Dawson Park following action taken by the Oconee County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday night.
The Board passed a resolution naming the future park for the Dawsons early in the meeting, citing Wendell Dawson’s service to “his country, state and county in a long and honorable career” and stating that “his wife Betty Dawson has been a constant support and help in all of his service.”
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 224 new cases of COVID-19 in the two weeks ending on Aug. 2, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The Department of Public Heath did not issue a report last week, and the number of cases added in the week ending on July 19 had been 63.
After hearing from 13 speakers who opposed the proposed 15.0 mill school property tax rate or at least the way the Board managed it, the Oconee County Board of Education adopted that rate unanimously on Monday evening.
Opponents focused on the 9.53 percent tax increase the rate represents, the way the Board handled the budget process, and questions about the need for the $34.8 million budget surplus in the Fiscal Year 2024 Budget for Oconee County Schools.
The Oconee County Board of Education and school administrators received a report on the size of the county’s tax digest in late June or early July, and they revised the Fiscal Year 2024 Budget for Oconee County Schools sometime after that date.
The new budget shows a reduction of the millage rate to 15.0 from the 15.5 in the budget the Board passed on June 5.
Because of the exceptional growth in the tax digest, however, the 15.0 mills produces $2.1 million more in revenue from local property taxes than the original budget the Board approved.
Decisions by the Georgia Secretary of State Office and by the Georgia Department of Transportation last week have had reverberations in Oconee County.
Secretary Of State Brad Raffensperger announced on July 18 that he was sending a mailed notice to 677 registered Oconee County voters who have been on “inactive” status for two general elections and have failed to update their voting records within that time.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday will hear requests from two petitioners, each seeking permission to build a gymnasium.
Core Blend Training LLC wants to change the conditions of an earlier rezone for 2.1 acres on Jamestown Road off Hog Mountain Road west of Butler’s Crossing to allow for an office building and a gymnasium.
The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) has changed its plans for the three western most SR 316 interchanges in Oconee County and is now proposing to build a full access interchange at McNutt Creek Road, to close access at Dials Mill Road, and to build a full access interchange at Dials Mill Extension.
Earlier plans had called for a full access interchange at Dials Mill Road and flyovers at McNutt Creek Road and Dials Mill Extension.
A lively crowd of local government leaders, county employees and their families, former employees, and local residents filled the atrium of the new Oconee County Administrative Building on Tuesday afternoon for the building’s official ribbon cutting.
County Administrator Justin Kirouac did the honors, at the request of County Board of Commissioners Chair John Daniell.
“We’re going to ask Justin to do the ribbon cutting for all of his hard work on everything he has done,” Daniell said.
Only four persons spoke on Monday at the first two public hearings on the proposed 9.53 percent increase in property taxes for Oconee County Schools.
All four asked the Board to reduce the millage rate below the proposed 15.0 mills.
The two who spoke on Monday evening also were strongly critical of the Board for embargoing the legal advertisements announcing the increase in the county’s legal organ, The Oconee Enterprise.
Oconee County Attorney Kevin Epps, who has filed a writ of mandamus directed at Western Judicial Circuit District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez, will be a featured speaker Monday at the July meeting of the Oconee County Republican Party.
The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. in the Lobby Meeting Room at the main building of the Piedmont Oconee Health Campus, 1305 Jennings Mill Road. A half-hour social precedes the meeting.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 63 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on July 19, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The number of cases added a week earlier in the Northeast Health District had been 71.
The Department of Public Health reported no new confirmed deaths from COVID-19 in the Northeast Health District in its report on Wednesday.
Oconee County Schools begins the school year on Aug. 2 with 126 new hires, including 93 new certified employees, 78 of whom are teachers, Justin Cofer, Chief Human Resources Officer, told the Oconee County Board of Education on Monday.
More than half of those new teachers have six or more years of teaching experience, he said, and 64 percent of the certified new hires have advanced degrees.
In a wide ranging talk to the Oconee County Democrats last month, Greg Bluestein, political reporter at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, reflected on his career, lamented the decline of newspapers, commented on the 2020 election, and presented an analysis of Georgia politics since that time.
He also speculated on future political developments, saying he doesn’t think Republican Gov. Brian Kemp will run for president this year but also that he doesn’t think Kemp has fully ruled it out.
The Oconee County Library in Watkinsville featured prominently in the beginning and ending of the Board of Commissioners meeting on Tuesday.
Three citizens addressed the commissioners in the citizen comment section as the meeting got underway, raising concerns about the library and its programming, all referencing the packed-hall meeting of the Library Board of Trustees the day before.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 71 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on July 12, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The number of cases added a week earlier in the Northeast Health District had been 32. That week had included the holiday. The number of added cases had been 74 the week before that.
The Oconee County Board of Education on Wednesday afternoon announced the dates for three public hearings on a proposed 9.53 percent increase in school property taxes for the current year.
The announcement includes a surprise proposed drop in the millage rate for the schools from the current 15.5 mills to 15.0 mills.
The meeting room at the Oconee County Library in Watkinsville was standing room only at 4:10 p.m. on Monday, though the meeting of the Oconee County Library Board of Trustees wasn’t scheduled to start for another 20 minutes.
By the time Library Board Chair Mark Campbell called the meeting to order, the room was filled way beyond capacity.
Eric Eberhardt, representing QuikTrip, was emphatic in telling the Oconee County Planning Commission last month that the gas station and convenience store his company wants to build opposite the intersection of North Main Street and U.S 441 Bypass north of Watkinsville has truck bays but is not a truck stop.
Ben Qualls, real estate manager for QuikTrip, told the Commission that QuikTrip knows what a truck stop is since it operates them elsewhere, and what is being proposed at that site is not a truck stop.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 32 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on July 5, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The number of cases added a week earlier in the Northeast Health District had been 74. The number of cases had increased just slightly in each of the last three weeks prior to the July 5 report.
The Oconee County Library Board of Trustees, in its meeting on Monday, is scheduled to respond to a citizen request from March that the Oconee County Library reclassify or relabel a book because of its discussion of sex and use of language.
Board Chair Mark Campbell also anticipates that the Board will discuss possible responses to a controversy regarding programming at the Watkinsville Library in June that included a reading from the children’s series Little People, Big Dreams about RuPaul.
Oconee County commissioners are set to approve a new millage rate for the vast majority of property owners in the county that represents an 8.4 percent cut in property taxes.
The millage rate of 4.824 reflects a larger cut than the 1 mill drop in property taxes the commissioner promised when voters approved the Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax last November.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 74 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on June 28, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The number of cases added a week earlier in the Northeast Health District had been 42. The number of cases has increased in each of the last three weeks.
Median household income in Oconee County in the last Census was $95,064, up from $74,352 in 2010.
A third of those 16 years and older in the county holding jobs were in professional and related occupations (33.4 percent), up from 30.1 percent 10 years earlier.
Only 190 of the employed in the county were in farming or forestry (1.0 percent), but the figure was an increase from 96 (0.6 percent) in 2010.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 42 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on June 21, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The number of cases added a week earlier in the Northeast Health District had been 39. The number of cases has increased just slightly in both of the last two weeks.
QuikTrip wants to open a new gas station and convenience store with bays for truck refueling on U.S. 441 west of the exiting RaceTrac and across U.S. 441 from the Oconee County Administrative Building now under construction north of Watkinsville.
Access to the proposed gas station and convenience store would be via a fourth side to the existing three-sided traffic signal at the intersection of U.S. 441 and SR 15 (North Main Street).
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 39 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on June 14, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The number of cases added a week earlier in the Northeast Health District had been 17. The number of cases added had fallen four weeks in a row prior to the increase in the report released on June. 14.
Oconee County Schools has received accreditation with glowing scores, Susan Stancil, Chief Academic Officer for the school system, told the Board of Education at its final meeting of the year last week.
The accrediting body Cognia assigned Oconee County Schools an overall score of 326, considerably above the score of 300 that signifies a system meets expectations for accreditation.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 17 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on June 7, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
None of those cases was in Oconee County.
This is the first time that the Department of Public Health has not reported a COVID-19 case in Oconee County since the Department began releasing weekly rather than daily reports in April of 2022.
Oconee County commissioners on Tuesday night turned down two requests to convert residential lots on Mars Hill Road to commercial development.
The Board of Commissioners, in a 3 to 1 vote, turned down a request to rezone 6.0 acres at the corner of Mars Hill Road and Julian Drive for an office park.
In a 2 to 1 vote, the Board rejected a request to rezone 3.1 acres on Mars Hill Road at Hollow Creek Lane for a dental office.
Oconee County commissioners and Board of Education members seem to have worked out an agreement for use of county and school sports facilities that basically rolls back the arrangement between the two governing bodies to where it was in 2010.
Neither Oconee County Schools nor the county will charge the other for use of its sports facilities.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 22 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on May 31, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The number of cases added a week earlier had been 42. The number of cases added has fallen three weeks in a row.
Oconee County Board of Education Member Tim Burgess, in discussing earlier this month the Fiscal Year 2024 Budget the Board is expected to adopt on June 5, expressed concern about the “substantial debt” Oconee County Schools is facing.
Burgess praised Chief Financial Officer Liz Harlow for setting aside $11 million in the Budget to help retire the bonds the Board of Education sold in 2021 to build a new middle school, add classrooms at three elementary schools, and build a new administrative building.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 42 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on May 24, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The number of cases added a week earlier had been 65. The number of cases added on May 10 had been 84.
More than 100 people turned out for what the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) had billed as a Public Meeting on SR 316 at the Bogart Community Center on Thursday.
No seating was provided, and no one from GDOT gave a presentation, though a large number of representatives were present to answer questions.
The Georgia Transportation Board last week approved a Joint Resolution with the State Road and Tollway Authority for construction of three bundles of road projects along SR 316, including the Oconee County interchanges at Jimmy Daniell Road, Virgil Langford Road, and the Oconee Connector.
While the State Road and Tollway Authority (SRTA) is a state-level, independent Authority created by the Georgia General Assembly to operate tolled transportation facilities within Georgia, Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) officials told the Transportation Board no tolls will be collected for the SR 316 projects.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 65 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on May 17, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The number of cases added a week earlier had been 84. The number of cases has been up and down slightly in recent weeks.
The Oconee County Planning Commission, in a 4 to 2 vote Monday night, recommended that the county commissioners reject the request by Dr. Brent and Mary Lynn Nail that they they be allowed to move their dental office to a 3.1 acre residential lot in the Oakridge subdivision on Mars Hill Road.
Commission Member Chris Herring, who made the motion to deny the request, said the county should not allow the Nails to tear down an existing home on the lot so they can build a commercial facility particularly when other commercial property is available to them.
When the Oconee County Industrial Development Authority decided late last year to donate 13 acres on McNutt Creek Road south of SR 316 to the state, it set in motion a series of events likely to have significant positive impact on the county.
The Industrial Development Authority said at the time that the state Department of Driver Services would build a new Customer Service Center on the property, but soon the Georgia State Patrol was interested in relocating to the property as well.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 84 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on May 10, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The number of cases added a week earlier had been 60. The number of cases has been up and down slightly in recent weeks.
The Department of Public Health reported one new confirmed death from COVID-19 in the Northeast Health District in its report on Wednesday.
The Department of Public Health had reported two new deaths in the Northeast Health District on Wednesday of last week.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has discontinued its reporting of community level COVID-19 data, such as Transmission Rates.
Weekly Report
Although the Department of Public Health is releasing a report only weekly, it is gathering data on a daily basis, and the weekly report includes a data file containing case counts each day, ending on a Wednesday.
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The Department of Public Health switched to weekly, rather than daily, case counts in April of last year in part because of a concern that its counts under-represent the actual number of cases.
At-home test results are not included in the electronic reporting system.
The average number of added cases per day in the last seven days ending on May 10 in the Northeast Health District was 12.0, up from 8.6 last week.
Oconee County added five new case in the seven days ending on Wednesday. The county had added seven new cases in the seven days ending on May 3.
Clarke County added 22 new cases in the seven days ending on May 10. It had added 15 cases in the week ending on May 3.
The unstandardized rolling average of added cases in Oconee County on May 10 was 0.6. It had been was 0.4 on May 3.
The unstandardized seven-day rolling average of added cases in Clarke County on May 10 was 2.7. It had been 1.9 on May 3.
Deaths
The confirmed deaths from COVID-19 in the Northeast Health District in the May 10 report was in Jackson County.
The Northeast Health District now has recorded 1,759 confirmed deaths from COVID-19 since February of 2020, or 331.8 deaths per 100,000 population.
Clarke County has the lowest rate of deaths per 100,000 population among the 10 counties in the Northeast Health District (195.1), followed by Oconee County, with 253.6 confirmed deaths per 100,000 population.
The Northeast Health District reported 195 “probable” deaths from COVID-19 on Wednesday, the same as last week.
The Georgia Department of Public Health’s 10-county Northeast Health District includes, in addition to Oconee and Clarke counties, Barrow, Elbert, Greene, Jackson, Madison, Morgan, Oglethorpe, and Walton.
The Oconee County Planning Commission on Monday will hear three rezone requests for property in the northeast of the county where the owner is seeking to convert parcels currently zoned for residential use to office and business uses.
Dr. Brent and Mary Lynn Nail are seeking to rezone a 3.1 acre single family residential lot on Mars Hill Road near its intersection with the Oconee Connector so they can remove the existing residence and build a new dental office.
The Oconee County School Board on Monday adopted a tentative Fiscal Year 2024 General Fund Budget that shows a 13.0 percent growth in revenue over the budget the Board adopted a year ago and a 17.5 percent growth in expenditures.
The revenue growth includes 11.0 percent growth in local funds, including a projected 11.1 percent increase in Property and Ad Valorem Taxes and a 14.8 percent growth in state revenue for Oconee County Schools, including for teacher pay.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 60 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on May 3, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The number of cases added a week earlier had been 76.
Opponents of the court settlement allowing for construction of Oconee Crossing Shopping Center turned out in the Commission Chamber at the Oconee County Courthouse on Tuesday night, but they didn’t change the minds of the needed two commissioners.
After detailed arguments by two residents of Oconee Crossing subdivision, the vote was unchanged from March 7.
Oconee County Schools released its tentative budget for Fiscal Year 2024 on Monday, showing revenue of $103.9 million, up from $91.9 million in the current fiscal year, and expenditures of $106.0 million, up from $90.2 a year ago.
The revenue projection is based on growth in the tax digest of 7.3 percent and an unchanged millage rate of 15.5 mills.
The tax digest grew by 15.4 percent last year, and 5.6 percent the year before that.
Opponents of the new plans for the Oconee Crossing Shopping Center are hoping that their presence, their arguments, and their red T-shirts on Tuesday will persuade at least two members of the Oconee County Board of Commissioners to change their minds.
Commissioner Chuck Horton is seeking another opportunity to voice his opposition to the plans by the Oconee County School Board to increase the fees it charges the Oconee County Parks and Recreation Department for use of school sports facilities.
Oconee County Sheriff James Hale is not in favor of putting deputies in Oconee County Schools.
He does not rule out changing that position in the future, but he does not believe the current situation in Oconee County Schools warrants inclusion of a security officer.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 76 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on April 26, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The number of cases added a week earlier had been 67.
Young Democrats from Oconee County High School, North Oconee High School, the University of Georgia, and the state, in their meeting with Oconee County Democrats last week, had some tips for those in the audience less young than they are.
They said that the party should pay more attention to gun control, to climate change, to affordable housing, to issues facing the LGBTQ+ community--and to them.
The new site plan released last week for the Oconee Crossing Shopping Center on U.S. 78 at Hog Mountain Road moves the proposed grocery store and increases the size of the buffer with the adjoining Oconee Crossing subdivision.
It also reduces the number of drive-through restaurants and moves the car wash.
Oconee County Commissioners on Tuesday night delayed until next week a decision on and further discussion of an agreement with the Board of Education on the increased fees Oconee County Schools wants to charge the county for use of school sports facilities.
The Commissioners delayed the decision at the request of Commissioner Chuck Horton, who said he probably will support the agreement but he wants to discuss it further at the next Board meeting before doing so.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 67 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on April 19, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
That number of cases added a week earlier had been 80. The week before that it was 58.
All six members of the local steering committee asking Oconee County Schools to set aside an hour in the school day for independent, off-campus religious instruction appeared before the Oconee County Board of Education on Monday.
They offered consistent but somewhat different arguments for putting the issue on the agenda for future discussion by the Board or simply for adopting the plan and Bible-based curriculum developed by LifeWise, an organization in Ohio.
The 10,600 square foot building proposed for the vacant lot at Manders Crossing on Cliff Dawson Road and Mars Hill Road could house retail stores.
The three separate units shown on the site plan also could be medical offices.
The building could have three tenants, as shown, or two tenants, or one.
And a single tenant could be a Dollar General store.
Groundbreaking events are always ceremonial and symbolic.
Even by that standard, as Mark Campbell, Chair of the Oconee County Library Board of Trustees, had announced in advance, the Friday Groundbreaking Ceremony for the new Oconee County Library at Wire Park in Watkinsville was unusual.
No ground was broken for the 25,000 square building, which was very much in evidence behind the line of participants as they donned white hard hats, grabbed shovels with a gold painted blade, and smiled for photos.
Oconee County filed its response on Tuesday to the lawsuit seeking to overturn its denial of a rezone request for a shopping Center at Mars Hill Road and the Oconee Connector, saying that the claims are barred by applicable statutes of limitations.
Deferred Tax LLC, which filled the suit against the county on March 6, also failed to use and exhaust remedies afforded by state law to address the claims it has made, the response by the county states.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 80 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on April 12, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
That number of cases added a week earlier had been 58.
The Department of Public Health reported one new confirmed death from COVID-19 in the Northeast Health District in its report on Wednesday.
The Hard Labor Creek Reservoir Management Board on Tuesday voted to award an $18.6 million contract for a construction manager for a water treatment plant at the Walton County reservoir.
The Board also voted to award a nearly $600,000 contract for design of the water transmission line from the planned treatment plant to Walton County’s water distribution system.
Oconee County Schools will no longer rely on the county to cover the costs of hiring the deputies who direct traffic in front of the system’s schools, but rather it will pay those expenses out of its own budget starting with the next fiscal year.
Associate Superintendent Dallas LeDuff made that announcement at the Board of Education meeting on Monday as part of his school safety update.
Bob Bishop wants to rezone parts of the 17.8-acre parcel he owns abutting the Oconee Campus of the University of North Georgia to create two lots for residential development.
The Brothers Company of Atlanta wants to rezone the vacant lot at the corner of Cliff Dawson Road and Mars Hill Road at Manders Crossing to build a single-story, 10,600 foot retail building serving between one and three tenants.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 58 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on April 5, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
That number of cases added a week earlier had been 78.
The Department of Public Health reported two new confirmed deaths from COVID-19 in the Northeast Health District in its report on Wednesday.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners voted last month to accept a settlement under which drug manufacturers Allergan and Teva and CVS, Walgreens and Walmart pharmacies have agreed to pay $20 billion nationwide to settle an opioid mass tort lawsuit.
The state of Georgia will receive $181 million, and Oconee County will receive a yet-to-be determined part of that amount.
Oconee County added 563 residents from July 2021 to July 2022, according to the March 30 release by the U.S. Census Bureau of what it terms its Vintage estimates of population change.
That 563 is a little more than half the 1,102 estimated increase in the county’s population from July 1 of 2020 and July 1 of 2021.
Jeff Wilkes, having been unsuccessful in his attempt to get the Oconee County Board of Education to discuss his proposal for incorporating religious instruction into the school day, says he will next make a direct appeal to the Board at its April 17 meeting.
Wilkes said he expects others from the seven-member local steering committee championing the request to join him.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 78 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on March 29, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
That number of cases added a week earlier had been 135.
The Department of Public Health reported no new confirmed deaths from COVID-19 in the Northeast Health District in its report on Wednesday.
The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office got eight new law enforcement vehicles, properly equipped, a year ahead of schedule.
Fire Station Number 1 will get its ordered Air Truck at an additional cost of $20,259, bringing the total cost to $269,810.
Supply chain problems forced the county to find a new supplier of the chassis for the truck, which is now being outfitted for the station on the north of Watkinsville.
In the last two days of the legislative session, which ended on Wednesday, the Georgia House and Senate agreed to create an oversight commission for district attorneys, with the support of Oconee County’s legislators, who had championed the effort.
The General Assembly didn’t agree to make district attorney races nonpartisan, to make it easier to recall the district attorney, or to move Banks County from the Piedmont Judicial Circuit, perhaps putting into motion transfer of Oconee to the Piedmont Circuit.
Oconee County voters will confront a hodgepodge of 10 ballot items next May when they vote on efforts to revise the county’s homestead exemptions and freeze property tax assessments for homeowners who have turned 65.
Four of the 10 items repeal or change existing laws, and six enact new ones.
The Georgia House of Representatives passed 11 pieces of local legislation last week sponsored by Oconee County representatives Houston Gaines and Marcus Wiedower with votes in each case of 162 to 0.
The House sent the bills immediately to the Georgia Senate, where they have been reviewed favorably by that body’s State and Local Government Operations Committee.
Land Planner Ken Beall, appearing before the Oconee County Planning Commission on Monday evening, told that group something that those who drive along the Oconee Connector as it crosses SR Loop 10 toward Epps Bridge Centre know quite well.
Beall said that his clients' 22.7 acre property east of the Connector between Virgil Langford Road and the Loop had been clearcut and is sitting undeveloped. The wood piles and open space are hard to miss.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 135 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on March 22, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
That number of cases added a week earlier had been 105.
One could score the Town Hall Meeting that the Oconee County Board of Commissioners held on Tuesday evening at the Civic Center this way:
Horses: 10 speakers
Sports Fields: 7 speakers
Pool: 5 speakers
Rails to Trails: 3 speakers
Pickleball and Oconee Parks Foundation: 2 speakers each
The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) is considering changes to its plans for the McNutt Creek Road intersection with SR 316, switching from a flyover to a full access multi-grade intersection.
At the same time, GDOT is re-evaluating, in response to citizen input, its proposed intersection designs for Dials Mill Road and Dials Mill Extension with SR 316.
The planned flyover of Julian Drive of SR 316 also is being reassessed.
As the General Assembly heads into its final five days on Monday, decisions on legislation for which the Oconee County delegation has played prominent roles remain to be resolved.
Included are laws designed to create an oversight body for district attorneys and legislation to legalize some form of sports betting.
Terry Radford, representing the bus drivers of Oconee County Schools, told the Board at its meeting on Monday that he was before them to talk about something he did not think they wanted to hear.
“We're the number one county in the state as far as the schools go,” Radford said, repeating a statement Superintendent Jason Branch makes often and made in his report to the Board at its work session a week earlier.
Oconee County Sheriff James Hale said on Friday afternoon his office is investigating the distribution of anti-Semitic flyers early Thursday in subdivisions in the county.
Residents of Daniell Plantation, Twelve Oaks, Lake Wellbrook, and Welbrook Farms all reported having the flyers thrown on their driveways or porches and put into the mailboxes over night.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 105 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on March 15, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
That number of added cases each of the previous two weeks had been 165.
Oconee County reported nine fewer cases than it reported a week earlier, while Clarke County reported two more cases than a week earlier.
Houston Gaines and Marcus Wiedower, who represent Oconee County in the Georgia House of Representatives, will be able to introduce legislation on Monday allowing county voters to decide whether to increase the homestead exemption for county and school property taxes.
They also will be in a position to allow voters to decide if they want to freeze property tax assessments for persons once they turn 65 years of age.
***Enterprise Reports Move Expected In Early 2024***
In 2015, Zaxby’s proposed to build a $42 million corporate campus on Daniells Bridge Road just west of its current corporate offices on Founders Boulevard.
The campus was to include corporate offices, test kitchens, educational areas, a cafeteria, a Zaxby’s private restaurant, employee gymnasium, and employee daycare facilities.
Athens commercial realtor Jamie Boswell has been reappointed as District 10 Representative to the Georgia Transportation Board.
A caucus of state representatives and senators whose districts include at least part of the 10th Congressional District selected Boswell in a meeting on February 21 or Feb. 22.
No record of the deliberation or candidates considered is public.
Dr. Brent Nail, whose existing Virgil Langford Road dental office is in the path of the planned new westbound on-ramp to SR 316 from the Oconee Connector, is holding an open house on Thursday to outline plans for his replacement facility.
The location that Nail has selected for his new office is a nearly three-acre lot at 2521 Mars Hill Road that currently has a single-family home on it and is zoned residential.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 165 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on March 8, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The number of added cases a week earlier–on March 1–also had been 165.
Oconee County reported adding two more cases than it reported adding a week earlier, while Clarke County reported adding 17 fewer cases.
As threatened, attorney David Ellison, representing Deferred Tax LLC, has filed suit in Oconee Superior Court asking the Court to overturn the denial of a rezone request for a shopping center with a Publix at the Oconee Connector and Mars Hill Road.
Ellison argues in the suit that Deferred Tax LLC, owned by Maxie Price, has a right to have a full commercial access to the property as a result of agreements with the county and the Georgia Department of Transportation.
Oconee County Schools Superintendent Jason Branch recommended on Monday that the School Board accept a construction bid of $14.5 million the new Instructional Support Center in Watkinsville.
The recommended bid for the Instructional Support Center is $6.2 million more than the estimated cost of the facility in 2019 and $1.8 million more than the cost estimate given to the Board in January of 2022.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners, in a 3 to 1 vote on Tuesday night, approved a settlement with Donald Hammett that will allow construction of Oconee Crossing Shopping Center on U.S. 78 at Hog Mountain Road.
Hammett will have to return to the Board of Commissioners with a new concept plan for the shopping center, and the Board will have to vote again on the rezone request by Hammett it turned down in October.
Oconee County Rep. Houston Gaines on Monday voted for a bill that would increase the weight of some types of commercial trucks on the local and state roads from 80,000 to 88,000 pounds, while Oconee County’s Rep. Marcus Wiedower voted against the bill.
Gaines and Wiedower voted in favor of a bill to set up an oversight commission for district attorneys and in favor of a bill limiting the ability of city and county governments to impose a temporary moratorium on zoning decisions or issuance of permits.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 165 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on March 1, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
That number of added cases a week earlier on Feb. 22 had been 470.
Both Oconee County and Clarke County reported decreases in cases.
Georgia House Bill 71, introduced on Jan. 24 by Thomasville Republican Darlene Taylor, generated a lot of attention by groups around the state seeking to protect the Okefenokee Swamp from nearby mining.
The Georgia River Network, based in Athens and with many followers in Oconee County, urged its members to write their legislators in support of the bill.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners at its agenda-setting meeting on Tuesday night decided to move forward with postponed plans to reconstruct Malcom Bridge Road at the entrances to Malcom Bridge Elementary and Malcom Bridge Middle schools.
The goal of the changes, Board Chair John Daniell said, is to remove the deputies from the roadway at the entrances to the schools for the safety of the deputies.
The project will add a median along Malcom Bridge from the roundabout at the bus driveway north and south past the entrances for the elementary and middle schools.
Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chair John Daniell said on Tuesday that legislation introduced in the Georgia General Assembly last week, if passed, would “nullify” Oconee County’s Comprehensive Plan.
Oconee County Commissioner Chuck Horton called the legislation “an attack on local control.”
The two were reacting to House Bill 517, called the Georgia Homeowner Opportunity Act, introduced by Rep. Dale Washburn, Republican from Macon.
Given the panel that Marvin Nunnally assembled for his presentation on Sunday on African-American History in Oconee County, it was almost inevitable that school desegregation would become the focal point of much of the discussion.
The four female panel members all had links to Oconee County Schools as students, teachers, or the children of teachers.
Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chair John Daniell said on Friday that he remains opposed to House Bill 189, which has been revised to allow commercial trucks with only specified types of cargo to exceed the current weight limit on roads throughout the state.
Daniell had sided with the Georgia Department of Transportation in opposing the original version of Georgia House Bill 189 that would have increased the weight limit of all commercial trucks on state and local roads from 80,000 to 90,000 pounds.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 470 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Feb. 22, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
That number of added cases a week earlier on Feb. 15 had been 353.
Both Oconee County and Clarke County reported an increase in cases.
Kirk Shook, the Republican Party representative on the Oconee County Board of Elections and Registration, told his colleagues that he wants to review the policy and procedures that resulted in the Board voting to put the names of two Independent School Board candidates on last November’s ballot.
Shook said “it was a big shock” for him to be asked back in July of last year to vote to allow Ryan Repetske and Melissa Eagling to run following a review by the staff of the Office and Elections and Registration and County Attorney Daniel Haygood of the separate petitions submitted by the two Independents.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added 353 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Feb. 15, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
That number of added cases on a week earlier on Feb. 8 had been 400.
Both Oconee County and Clarke County reported a decrease in cases.
In 2015, Halloran Masonry, an Athens construction contractor, told the county it planned to move its corporate offices to one of three lots in a business park it proposed to develop at the southwest corner of U.S. 441 and New High Shoals Road.
Halloran Masonry has changed its plans, and now it wants to build a self-storage facility consisting of up to four interior or external loaded building that could be up to two stories in height.
One in five of the Oconee County students who requested a different school assignment for next year from the one they were given through redistricting opted to move to Dove Creek Elementary School.
Nearly the same ratio opted not to attend High Shoals Elementary School and not to attend Malcom Bridge Elementary School, as they would have under the new redistricting plan adopted last year by the Oconee County Board of Education.
About halfway through her hour-long presentation to the Oconee County Board of Education, Oconee County Schools Chief Financial Officer Liz Harlow paused and asked a question.
Harlow had just reviewed the current fiscal year budget and presented a slide showing the calendar for the Fiscal Year 2024 Budget.
“Are there any goals that the Board would like to consider for the FY 24 Budget?” Harlow asked.
The Hard Labor Creek Reservoir Management Board on Monday approved an $8.3 million proposal from Jacobs Engineering Consulting Group Inc. of Atlanta for design of the water treatment plant at the reservoir jointly owned by Oconee and Walton counties.
The Board also agreed to shortlist and request competitive pricing from the three highest ranked firms for engineering design services for the transmission system from the plant to Walton County’s currently existing water distribution system.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported three new confirmed deaths from COVID-19 in the Northeast Health District in its report on Wednesday, including one in Clarke County.
The Department of Public Health reported four confirmed deaths from the disease in the Northeast Health District on Wednesday of last week.
Oconee County Schools has received and approved a whopping 379 applications for School Choice, meaning that the student requested and was granted transfer to a different school in the system than the one assigned as a result of redistricting.
Last year, by comparison, Oconee County Schools received 84 applications and seven of those were denied because the applications were made to schools, North Oconee High School and Malcom Bridge Middle School, where no space was available.
