On Sept. 1, the 3.6 acres on which the Oconee County Civic Center sits at 1661 Hog Mountain Road will be reincorporated into the surrounding campus of Oconee County High School, with the Oconee County Board of Education having full control over operation of the facility.
Both the Board of Education and the Oconee County Board of Commissioners approved the transfer unanimously in a joint special meeting at the Oconee County Schools Instructional Support Center on Monday (July 6).
The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), in its update last week on construction on SR 316 in the county, said bridge construction is actively underway at the Jimmy Daniell Road interchange and crews have begun constructing mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls to support the new roadway structure.
Significant earthmoving operations and grading activities are ongoing as the new alignment takes shape, GDOT said.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday (June 30) cleared the way for approval on July 6 in a special meeting with the Oconee County Board of Education of transfer of ownership and operation of the Civic Center to Oconee County Schools.
In a brief discussion at the end of its agenda-setting meeting on Tuesday, Board members reviewed the details of the proposed Intergovernmental Agreement released on June 26 without raising major concerns.
Oconee County Schools will take over full administration of and ownership of the Oconee County Civic Center as of Sept. 1 of this year, even gaining the right to change the name of the facility, according to a proposed Intergovernmental Agreement released by the county on Friday afternoon.
In return, Oconee County will assume ownership of 42.7 acres of undeveloped land between U.S. 441 and Union Church Road north of Bishop for future use as a park.
The Oconee County Board of Elections and Registration, meeting on Monday (June 22) for certification of the June 16 Primary Runoff Election, voted to tell the county’s two representatives in the Georgia House of its opposition to legislation passed in the Senate a few days earlier.
The Senate had passed Senate Bill 3 EX on Saturday (June 20) that would have required Election Boards in the state’s 159 counties to hand count prior to certification the results for the top two elected offices in each election.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners will have a draft of an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with the Board of Education spelling out the details of transfer of the Civic Center to Oconee County Schools at its June 30 meeting, Commission Chair John Daniell said on Tuesday (June 16).
The Board of Commissioners will discuss the agreement at that meeting, Daniell said, before meeting with the Board of Education on July 6 and voting on approval of the document.
A group of children cut the ribbon on Friday (June 19) on the newly completed Watkinsville Mulberry Street Covered Bridge, reflecting the stated goal of Mayor Brian Brodrick that the structure be one that children will know and remember.
“We want to build communities that our children want to come back to,” Brodrick told the more than 100 people who gathered for the ribbon cutting. “That's how communities thrive.”
