The next phase of discussion of the future of the Courthouse in Watkinsville and of the county’s need for additional space will take place behind closed doors.
Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis announced at the beginning of the BOC meeting last night the schedule for three executive sessions, on March 9, March 19 and March 26.
Oconee County long-range planner Wayne Provost went out of his way last week to argue that the proposed widening of Daniells Bridge Road and construction of an extension of that road with a flyover of SR Loop 10 is to manage traffic, not to promote development.
Much of the discussion that followed, however, focused on development of a section of the county that currently is landlocked and that would be made more accessible if the flyover were built.
The Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir Management Board has turned down a request by its general contractor for a time extension for completion of the dam in southeastern Walton County.
Construction of the reservoir originally was to be completed by Jan. 20 of this year, and the Board already had given Layne Heavy Civil Inc. an extension of 71 days. The current official expected completion date is April 1.
Commercial development has its downside, District Attorney Ken Mauldin told the Oconee County Board of Commissioners during a recent work session.
“The more stores you have out there, you’re going to have more shop lifting,” Mauldin said.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners tonight got a primer on the operation of the Madison Athens-Clarke Oconee Regional Transportation Study (MACORTS), the regional transportation planning body of which the county has been a member since 1980.
Next they heard from the county director of strategic and long range planning, who moved project by project through the county’s listings in the MACORTS planning documents.
Oconee County has found a fix to its Internet problems that bypasses the two commercial providers of Internet service in the county, AT&T and Charter.
The fix is not perfect–“not a silver bullet”–according to Brian Thompson, director of electric and telecommunications for the city of Monroe in neighboring Walton County.
Oconee County may have only a little more than a year before it needs to find space in the Courthouse for a Superior Court judge, the judge’s secretary and a law clerk.
That was the message Chief Superior Court Judge David Sweat delivered to the Oconee County Board of Commissioners last night in the second of four scheduled work sessions the Board is holding to deal with pressing issues before the county.
