Early voting starts on Tuesday for an off-year election that contains two state-wide races, a county-wide referendum on renewal of the Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST), and competitive city races in Bishop, Bogart, and Watkinsville.
The statewide race is for two members of the Public Service Commission, and while one of those represents Oconee County voters, each candidate runs statewide, meaning that Oconee County voters play a small role in the outcome.
The Oconee County Board of Education received 18 applications in response to its announcement of its intention to hire a new superintendent, not the 19 that Board Chair Michael Ransom had stated.
Those 18 applications included six females, including Melissa Butler, whom the Board ultimately hired and who was sworn in as superintendent on Monday night. She will assume her duties on Oct. 14.
The Oconee County Planning Commission quickly and unanimously approved four rezone requests before it last month after no one spoke in opposition and the only persons speaking in support were the applicants or their agent.
The Commission sent to the Board of Commissioners its recommendation that it approve a modification of the rezone for The Landing assisted living and life plan community on U.S. 78, approve a four-lot subdivision on Atlanta Highway west of Bogart, and allow a manufactured home as a second and temporary residence in the south of the county.
Oconee County commissioners on Tuesday night gave initial approval to spending $1.9 million to purchase 110 acres of undeveloped land to be incorporated into Heritage Park, located south of Farmington on U.S. 441.
The new purchase, when completed after the first of the year, will bring Heritage Park to 374 acres and add 579 feet of access to the Apalachee River, doubling the riverfront access in the park.
Oconee County Schools had 259 fewer students enrolled on the first day of classes this school year than on the first day of classes in 2024.
Enrollments dropped at eight of the 12 schools in the system, with the largest drop at Oconee County High School, which had 82 fewer students counted on the first day of classes in 2025 than in 2024.