Mark Thomas, a businessman and member of the Oconee County Board of Education, got a slot on the county’s Industrial Development Authority tonight, but only after two rounds of balloting by the Board of Commissioners.
In the end, BOC Chairman Melvin Davis broke the deadlock, casting his support for long-time IDA member Larry Benson, owner of Benson Bakery in Bogart, at the expense of Robin Chasman, a realtor and Tanglebrook subdivision neighbor of Benson.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners, if all goes to plan, will make appointments to five citizen committees or boards on Tuesday night in what normally is a routine procedure.
Eight of the citizens applying for appointment appeared before the Board at last week’s meeting, and two others sent word they wanted to be considered but could not attend the session because of scheduling conflicts. One of those had applied for two different assignments.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners tonight voted to move forward with design work for an extension of Parkway Boulevard, which will run behind Wal-Mart and Lowe’s parallel to Epps Bridge Parkway and open up more land in the area for development.
Oconee County Administrative Officer Jeff Benko told the commissioners that he, County Attorney Daniel Haygood, and county Public Works Director Emil Beshara had reviewed the submitted proposals and their costs.
Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax revenues increased 10.1 percent in Oconee County following the opening of a cluster of stores, including Marshalls, PetSmart and Gap, in Epps Bridge Centre in the third quarter of 2013.
But Clarke County also increased its revenue from its SPLOST tax during that same period even while it was losing stores to Epps Bridge Centre.
The contract for design of the extension of Parkway Boulevard is back on the agenda for the Oconee County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday night, but this time there is no indication that the county is prepared to award the contract.
The BOC tentatively agreed at its meeting on Aug. 26 to accept the low bid of $96,925 submitted by ABE Consulting of 2410 Hog Mountain Road but reversed course a week later–on Sept. 2-- and decided to review the five submitted bids another time.
A Massachusetts biopharmaceutical company with roots at the University of Georgia has signed a lease for two buildings being completed at Gateway Technology and Business Park in Bogart.
One of the two buildings will be used for production and the other for research, according to plans distributed Monday to the Oconee County Industrial Development Authority, which developed the park and sold the 12-acre site to Rooker Properties LLC last year.
The developer of The Falls of Oconee commercial complex on Old Macon Highway just inside the county line has submitted slightly revised preliminary site plans as the project moves through the review process.
The Bloomfield Hills, Mich., company turned in the latest plans for the five-building center to house restaurants and small shops on Aug. 29. Those plans have not yet been approved by the Oconee County Planning Department.
