The crowd that turned out for a listening session on the desired characteristics of the next superintendent of Oconee County Schools on Wednesday night came well prepared to pass along insights to the Oconee County Board of Education.
They also clearly were pleased to have a chance to talk about the topic.
The Oconee County Board of Education has placed an opt-in questionnaire on the Oconee County Schools web site asking community members, parents, and students for their input on its search for a new superintendent.
All of the 32 items on the survey instrument are closed-ended, meaning there is no opportunity for participants to make any comments.
The crowd on Monday filled the rows of seats on the Oconee Veterans Park gymnasium floor and the bleachers on the side as, for the second year in a row, the Memorial Day Program was moved indoors because of rain.
Guest speaker Dr. Henry Heard, a retired United States Air Force Colonel, focused on memory in his presentation, telling the audience that “if you don’t remember something, it’s as if it never happened.”
Only one persons showed up to speak at the first of two required public hearings on the $120.5 million General Fund Budget the Oconee County Board of Education has tentatively approved for Fiscal Year 2026.
Pam Hendrix used the three minutes she was allowed to complain about increased spending when student enrollments are deceasing and about the size of the system’s cash reserves.
The chairs of the Oconee County Democratic and Republican parties sent out emails to their followers on Friday encouraging them to vote in the upcoming Public Service Commission elections–something voters have not had a chance to do since 2020.
Early voting in the June 17 party primaries begins at 8 a.m. on Tuesday (May 27) at the Oconee County Administrative Building, 7635 Macon Highway, north of Watkinsville, and runs through June 13.
Oconee County commissioners on Tuesday decided to postpone a decision on the county’s 2025 millage rate pending further details on the size of the county tax digest.
As a result, the Annual Assessment Notice that goes out from the Oconee County Tax Commissioner, usually in May, will use the current millage rate in estimating property taxes for the county, as it has in the past.
Daniel Shaver was given the opportunity by Oconee County Republican Party Chair Kathy Hurley on Monday night to make the case for Tim Echols, who is seeking re-election to the Public Service Commission from District 2, which includes Oconee County.
Echols has opposition in the June 17 Republican Party Primary, but neither Echols, challenger Lee Muns, nor incumbent District 3 Commissioner Fitz Johnson had accepted an invitation to appear at the May 19 meeting, Hurley said.
Community Works Oconee has firmed up its plans to hold a listening session from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on May 28 at the Community Center in Oconee Veterans Park to give citizens a chance to say what they are looking for in the next superintendent of Oconee County Schools.
Ann Hollifield, who is organizing the event, said at the meeting of the Oconee County Democrats last week that the session is nonpartisan and open to all members of the community.
The three candidates appearing before the Oconee County Democratic Party last week were competing with each other for the party’s nomination for District 3 on the state Public Service Commission.
Each made it clear, however, that the real opponent is the existing Public Service Commission itself and incumbent Fitz Johnson.
Sports facilities dominated the Oconee County Board of Commissioners Town Hall meeting on Tuesday night, with citizens asking for additional sports fields, tennis courts, gymnasiums, and a swimming pool.
Sixteen citizens addressed the Board, and all but one of those lobbied for added recreational facilities. Just fewer than 50 people were in attendance.
The Oconee County Industrial Development Authority (IDA) has decided to hold a strategic session to consider what role it can play now that Gateway Technology and Business Park on the edge of Bogart is completed and that the county has transferred development responsibility to the Oconee Chamber of Commerce.
The IDA decided at its May 9 called meeting to hold a future strategic session after approving a $100,000 budget for Fiscal Year 2026 that reflects little expected activity on the part of the Authority.
Five speakers on Monday night asked the Oconee County Board of Education to conduct mold testing at Oconee County Elementary School, even offering to pay for an independent firm to do the work.
The five, speaking in the Public Communication section of the meeting, made their request after Oconee County Schools Chief Operations Officer Ryan White said analysis of data from moisture meters and humidity sensors indicated conditions were not sufficient for mold to grow at the school.
The agreement the Oconee County Board of Education has signed with Georgia Leadership Associates (GLA) lists a wide range of services that the Folkston company will provide to help the Board select the next superintendent of Oconee County Schools.
The contract lists phases of the search, beginning with meeting with the Board to explain the search process, establishing time lines, developing a leadership profile for the superintendent, and then planning surveys to get public input.
Although the U.S. Constitution sets up three equal branches of government--the executive, the legislative, and the judicial--the judiciary is the “least equal” of the three, former Congressman Jody Hice told Oconee County Republicans last month.
“They’re not elected,” Hice, a Republican, said in justifying his distinction.Oconee County Finance Director Melissa Braswell released the first draft of the Fiscal Year 2026 General Fund Budget at the Board of Commissioners meeting on Tuesday night showing an increase of $694,695 in projected spending over the Amended Budget for the current fiscal year.
Revenue is projected to increase over the Amended Budget largely as the result of growth in sales tax, but the General Fund Budget requires the use of $310,000 in Fund Balance to be balanced at $45.7 million.
The Oconee County Board of Education on Monday approved a contract with Georgia Leadership Associates (GLA) of Folkston to help it find the next superintendent of Oconee County Schools.
Board Chair Michael Ransom said after the meeting that he expects Allan McCannon from GLA to join the Board next week in executive session to begin the process.
Parents of children in Oconee County Elementary School have started a second petition offering to help fund professional mold testing at the school.
Mandy Moreira, president of the Parent Teachers Organization at the elementary school, presented an earlier petition to the Board of Education at its meeting on April 21, asking the Board to conduct mold testing at the school.
The Oconee County Water Resources Department expects to begin this week replacing 1,000 feet of the force main sewer line that runs along an unnamed tributary to McNutt Creek that separates Tanglebrook subdivision and the Pinewood Estates South mobile home park.
The line, a crucial part of the county’s sewage infrastructure, has experienced three breaks in the last year resulting in the discharge of untreated sewage into the tributary.
Republican 10th District Congressman Mike Collins was in Oconee County three times in late April, but Oconee County Democrats missed out on opportunities to see him, while Oconee County Republicans had a different experience.
Collins was a featured speaker at the Republican Party’s Congressional District 10 Convention held at the Oconee County Civic Center on Saturday (April 26). Just more than 200 people attended.
