Only 11 citizens showed up at the final Oconee County Commissioners Town Hall Meeting of the year on Tuesday night, but Commission Chair John Daniell gave his usual updates on county projects before opening the floor for questions.
The Town Hall was designated as an opportunity for citizens to ask questions about the Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (TSPLOST) referendum on the Nov. 3 ballot.
The federal and state Constitutions give citizens protection from surveillance by governments, but they do not provide protection against surveillance by individuals or nongovernmental agents.
At present, there are few restrictions in Georgia on how individual companies, such as Flock Safety, manage the data they gather through Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) or other devices, such as video doorbells.
After the first week of early voting for the Nov. 3 election, 4,984 Oconee County voters had cast a ballot, down from 5,556 after the first week of voting in the comparable election of 2022.
The drop in voting reflects in part the fact that only five days of early voting took place in the first week of early voting this year, compared with six days four years ago. But decreased use of absentee ballots this year also played a role.
The three Democrats seeking to represent Oconee County in the General Assembly in January took critical stands on data centers in a forum with representatives of the local scientific community last week.
Suzanna Karatassos, running in House District 120, and Ray Smith, running in Senate District 46, said they want a moratorium on building data centers.
In the first day of early voting on Tuesday for the Nov. 3 election, 1,105 Oconee County voters cast a ballot, up by 282 from the comparable election four years ago and up by 392 from the November election in 2018.
The 1,105 voters on Tuesday represents 3.2 percent of the eligible voters, while the 823 first day voters in 2022 represented 2.5 percent of the then eligible voters, and the 713 first day voters in 2018 represented 2.8 percent of the then eligible voters.
Shelia Edwards and Peter Hubbard made it clear in their meeting with Oconee County Democrats earlier this month that they are running as a team with the goal of taking control of the state Public Service Commission from the Republicans.
“I tell everybody that there's no win for us if you elect Peter and don't elect me,” Edwards said, “because we'll be in the same situation in 2027 where the Democrats are a minority.”
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved a $275,000 contract with WSP, an international professional services company with offices in Kennesaw, for a traffic study of downtown Watkinsville.
Included will be the collection of data on traffic corridors and congestion in the city, including average daily traffic and turning movement counts at key intersections, vehicle classifications, and crash patterns.
