Oconee County Board Of Education Told High School Classrooms And Sports Fields To Be Ready For Aug. 1 School Opening

***Road Work Delays At Elementary School***

Oconee County High School will have 12 classrooms ready for use when students return on Aug. 1, rather than the eight originally scheduled to be ready for the beginning of the school year, Jake Grant, director of facilities, told the Board of Education on Monday.

Grant also said that the replacement of the tracks at North Oconee High School and Oconee County High School and the installation of artificial turf at the stadium fields for the two schools is on schedule and will be completed for the first home football games of the year.

Oconee County Schools Holding Dove Creek Elementary Ribbon Cutting And Tours On July 24

***Open To Public***

The Oconee County School System is opening the doors of the new Dove Creek Elementary School to the public following a ribbon cutting ceremony at 10 a.m. on July 24, the same day teachers report back for duty.

The first day for students at the new school at 7921 Hog Mountain Road in the far west of the county is Aug. 1.

Excess Land At Proposed Site For New Oconee County Sewer Plant Could Be Used For Recreation

***Concept Plan Released***

A future sewage plant on acreage Oconee County is purchasing on the Middle Oconee River might include picnic areas and walking trails if a concept plan presented at a Board of Commissioners Town Hall meeting last (Tuesday) night is implemented.

Commission Chair John Daniell said the county is about to close on two parcels of land on the river off Rockinwood Drive for a sewage plant, but construction of such a facility is years away.

Oconee County Commissioners Reject Rezone Request For New Subdivision On Rocky Branch Road

***Slab Construction At Issue***

The Oconee County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously on Tuesday night to turn down a rezone request for a 77-lot subdivision on Rocky Branch Road across from Old Waverly subdivision.

Commissioners gave no reason for the denial, but they took the action after the attorney presenting the case for the rezone would not agree to construct the homes on foundations with crawl spaces or basements.

Corps Of Engineers Told Morgan County Intake Site No Longer Under Consideration For Hard Labor Creek Reservoir

***New Purchase Pending***

The Walton County Water and Sewer Authority has informed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that it is no longer considering a Morgan County site for a possible Apalachee River intake facility for the Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir.

The Authority asked the Corps to go ahead with consideration of its request for a permit extension for the intake facility and assume that the Authority would be successful in its efforts to purchase the original site for the intake on the river in Walton County.

Candidate Repeats His Pitch For Secretary of State Office In Meeting With Oconee County Republicans

***Early Voting For Runoff Underway***

Brad Raffensperger, running for Georgia secretary of state, had the same message for the Oconee County Republicans at their meeting last week as he had when he spoke to the group in January in the runup to the May Republican Party Primary.

Now competing in the primary runoff set for July 24, Raffensperger said he is motivated to seek the office to make sure only Americans vote in Georgia elections, to make sure the state is a great place to find a job, and to guarantee that the state is a great place to build a business.

Oconee County To Spend Nearly $9 Million In SPLOST Monies In Fiscal Year 2019

***Facilities Spending Detailed***

Oconee County will spend $275,000 out of Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax revenues for a variety of facilities projects in the upcoming fiscal year, including for heating and air conditioning replacement at the Oconee County Library and at the Government Annex.

Alex Newell, management analyst with the county, released details of facility projects to be funded by SPLOST to the public and the Board of Commissioners at the Board meeting on Tuesday evening.