Oconee County Commissioners Agree To Decommissioning Of LAS Wastewater Treatment Site In Preparation For Construction Of Park

***Work Should Be Completed By Fall***

Oconee County commissioners on Tuesday night, at their agenda setting meeting, gave tentative approval to spending $1.4 million on the decommissioning of the Rocky Branch Land Application System (LAS) wastewater treatment site.

The decommissioning of the 246-acre site on Rocky Branch Road should begin four to six weeks after the commissioners give final approval to the agreement at their meeting on June 2 and can be completed two months later, according to Water Resources Department Director Adam Layfield.

Oconee County Voters Approve Renewal Of SPLOST; Primary And Nonpartisan Election Turnout Fails To Match Level Of Four Years Ago

***Tight Race Locally For Republican State Senate***

Oconee County voters approved renewal of the county’s Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) on Tuesday, by a lower margin than they approved the tax six years ago.

Oconee County Republican voters gave a tiny edge to Marc McMain as their choice to represent them in the state Senate District 46 race and picked Gary “Ward” Black Jr. as the preferred candidate for House District 120.

Campaign Finance Reports Show Candidates in Oconee County’s Competitive State Legislative Races Had Different Financial Resources

***McKillip Fully Self-Funded His Campaign***

The seven candidates in competitive races in tomorrow’s election to represent Oconee County in the Georgia General Assembly entered the final weeks of the campaign in very different financial positions, according to their Campaign Contribution Disclosure Reports.

Marc McMain, one of three Republicans running for the party’s nomination for Senate District 46, was sitting on $201,023 in unused money, having spent $113,710 since the first of the year, more than three-quarters ($87,908) of that going to campaign consultant War Room Strategies.

Early Voting For May 19 Party Primary and Nonpartisan Elections In Oconee County Ahead Of 2022 With Increase In Democratic Votes

***Precincts Open At 7 a.m. To 7 p.m. On Tuesday***

One in five of Oconee County’s 34,013 registered voters (20.0 percent) has cast a ballot for the May 19 Party Primary and Nonpartisan elections as of the end of early voting on Friday, up from 16.7 percent at that same point four years ago.

The increase in voting compared with 2022 is largely the result of increased voting in the Democratic Party Primary. Democratic Ballots at this point make up 27.8 percent of the ballots cast.

Oconee County Sheriff Focused On School Safety And Immigration In Presentation To County Democratic Party

***Praised Collaboration With Oconee County Schools***

When the Oconee County Democrats invited Oconee County Sheriff James Hale, a Republican, to speak to them last week, they asked him to talk about two issues, school safety and immigration.

Hale obliged, spending more than 50 minutes talking and answering questions about various aspects of those two topics.

Oconee County Board Of Education Approves Tentative Fiscal Year 2027 Budget With Cuts In Staffing, Drop In Millage Rate

***Told Proposed Cuts Reflect Declines In Enrollment***

The Oconee County Board of Education on Monday night gave approval to a $122.5 million preliminary Fiscal Year 2027 budget, up 1.6 percent from the $120.5 million budget for the current fiscal year.

Revenue is projected at $120.7 million, and the budget is balanced by a transfer of funds from the General Fund Balance, or money held in reserve.

Oconee County School Board Told Proposed Route For SR 15 Truck Bypass Will Not Adversely Affect Colham Ferry Elementary School

***Route Could Impact School In Future***

One of the three alternate routes the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) has proposed for a truck bypass linking SR 15 with U.S. 441 south of Watkinsville would pass near the property line for Colham Ferry Elementary School, but it would not require any changes at the school.

If the Board of Education decides to expand the school or do updates or repairs, it will have to get state approval, and the state Department of Education could require construction of a berm and modifications of such things as windows to accommodate the dangers of truck traffic.