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.
The county is expecting to meet with representatives of the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) in August to discuss what GDOT has learned from the public comment on its proposed three routes for a bypass of Watkinsville connecting SR 15 and U.S. 441, Daniell said.
Commissioners also are planning to meet with Watkinsville leaders, possibly in the next 30 days, to try to find common ground in plans to address traffic congestion in the city, according to Daniell.
The Board of Commissioners will discuss its plans for renewal of the Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (TSPLOST) at its meeting on July 7, Daniell said, with the expectation that it will vote on July 28 to put the issue on the November Ballot.
Current plans are to drop funding in TSPLOST for expansion of the county’s multi-use trail system in favor of providing more money for intersection improvements, Daniell said.
These were some of the announcements that Daniell made at the start of the Commission’s Town Hall Meeting on Tuesday. Only 19 people attended the meeting, and only five addressed the Board, two voicing concerns about the plans for the Watkinsville bypass and another raising questions about the transfer of the Civic Center to the Board of Education.
Announcements
As is usual at Town Hall Meetings, Daniell began on Tuesday with a review of county projects.
He said that “We plan to have dirt moving into the fourth quarter of this year” on the new tennis courts at Oconee Veterans Park.
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| Daniell 6/16/2026 |
A $3 million grant from the state for Heritage Park in the south of the county will be used “to expand the park, helping pay for the 110 acres we just added,” Daniell said.
At the planned new Dawson Park on Rocky Branch Road “we are on schedule for a fourth quarter awarding of the contract” for grading, he said.
“Road improvements outside the park, they're at 30 percent” design, he said.
“County Services Building construction documents and permitting in the third quarter of this year,” he said. “Then our gym. Construction documents we expect by the third quarter of this year as well,” he added.
Turning to road construction projects, Daniell said “New High Shoals (Road) and Union Church (Road) has a functioning roundabout. We're doing some punch list items, but that is complete.”
The Astendale Road and Colham Ferry Road roundabout is “under construction now,” he said. At Cole Springs Road, Snows Mill Road, Aycock Road “we're in right of way acquisition for that roundabout,” he said.
“Moores Ford (Road) at Lane Creek (Road), it's the next roundabout and it's in the design phase right now,” he said.
“We're also working at Cole Springs (Road) and State Route 53 and Clotfelter Road for a roundabout,” Daniell said. “Those plans have been submitted to the state and approved, and they're currently at 30 percent design and doing utility coordination, and then we'll head into the right of way phase.”
“And then (SR) 316 is now under construction,” Daniell said, “so just stay away from there.”
Watkinsville Bypass
“GDOT's currently reviewing and assessing the input from the community,” Daniell said of the SR 15 bypass of Watkinsville. GDOT held a Public Information Open House in April at which it revealed three alternate routes for a bypass
“We expect a meeting sometime August with GDOT for an update on what they learned from the conversation, and then talk about next steps for that,” Daniell said.
“I've had a meeting with a couple of the (Watkinsville) city council members kind of talking about different ideas for downtown Watkinsville,” Daniell continued.
“As you know, the mayor's interested in having the Board of Commissioners and the city sit down and work--come up with some plans, and so we're working on a plan to develop a plan now.”
“So you'll see some stuff coming from us in the next 30 days to the city on how to move forward there,” he said.
Civic Center
Daniell told the citizens at the Town Hall Meeting in the Commission Chamber of the County Administrative Building that “the Board of Commissioners and Board of Education will have a joint meeting on July the 6th, and this will be at 4 p.m. at the Instructional Support Center.” That is at 71 North Main Street in Watkinsville.
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| Daniell 6/16/2026 |
“And we'll be discussing and considering a property swap,” Daniell said. The county now owns the Civic Center, but the plan is transfer that property to the Board of Education.”
“In exchange, they will give us 42.7 acres of property right outside of Bishop,” Daniell said. “So once that transfer is complete, the Board of Education will be in charge of the operations” at the Civic Center.
“What makes it a good deal for us and them is that they use up more than 50 percent of the usage time that's available for the Civic Center,” Daniell said.
“And we will have that property that's in Bishop,” he said. (It is north of the Bishop city limits on U.S. 441.) “It will be held for a future park, and it won't turn into another subdivision,” Daniell said.
Elections will remain at the Civic Center for the full length of the IGA that we come up with,” he said. The county’s large Central Precinct uses the Civic Center as its polling location.
After the meeting ended, Daniell said the proposed property swap came about after he had been approached by Board of Education Chair Michael Ransom after the School Board had been approached by two potential buyers of the property.
Daniell said Ransom asked if the county was still interested in the 42 acres that the School Board purchased in 2007 but never used. Discussion of the county obtaining that property had taken place in the past.
The Board decided to reject the two recent outside offers, saying that they were not reflective of market value of the property.
TSPLOST
Daniell said he will be meeting with the mayors of the county’s four cities on June 22 to create an IGA with each for sharing of revenue from a future TSPLOST, as is the case with the current tax.
“If all the cities approve the IGA,” Daniell said, “we'll do a call for the election, and the Board of Elections will meet on August 3rd and do their part of that.” The county Board of Elections and Registration must vote to put the referendum on the Nov. 3 ballot.
We already have an October 20th, 2026, Town Hall planned,” Daniell said, “and that will be a TSPLOST focused event.”
Daniell said the county is expecting the 1 percent sales tax to generate $72 million over its six-year run.
“As you know, last time we had TSPLOST, we dropped the millage rate by one mill,” Daniell said, “and we plan to continue to keep that drop.”
“We have $36 million set aside for paving to continue,” Daniell said of proposed TSPLOST spending. “That'll be around 24 or 25 miles of road, which is kind of what we need to keep up our 444 miles on this 20-year schedule.”
“And we have safety intersections at $9.5 million,” he said,
Current plans are roundabouts at both the north and south intersections of Rocky Branch Road and Malcom Bridge Road, he said.
“State Route 53 at Hebron Church Road,” Daniell said, “we'd like to put a roundabout there. Epps Bridge (Road) at Dowyer Road, we have a lot of accidents at that red light. We're going to try to figure out how to alter some of the traffic flow there to make that a little safer.”
“And then State Route 53 at Burr-Harris Road is another one that we hear a lot of comments about for improvement,” Daniell said.
The current TSPLOST includes funding for the county’s multi-use trail plan, but Daniell said after the meeting on Tuesday that the proposed TSPLOST will not.
Daniell said the next logical extension of that system is along Daniells Bridge Road from the existing path along Hog Mountain Road to Mars Hill Road, which currently has bike lanes.
That route will be expensive, Daniell said, because of the need for a bridge over Barber Creek.
Citizen Comment On SR 15 Bypass
Lori Breedlove, whose farm on Colham Ferry Road will be impacted by one of the routes GDOT has proposed for the SR 15 bypass of Watkinsville, was the first to come forward to speak when Daniell finished his updates.
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| Breedlove Before Board 6/16/2026 |
“GDOT doesn’t seem to be very helpful from what I understand at times,” she said. “But I was wondering, this August meeting that you mentioned,” she said, “is that going to be a public meeting, or is it a stakeholders meeting?”
“They're classifying it as a stakeholder meeting,” Daniell said.
“Over time, dealing with GDOT, they are very responsive to comments that we give them,” Daniell said. “I wouldn't say they're not helpful. When I call they talk to us.”
“They're going to make the decision they make at the end of the day,” he said. “But through the process, they generally have been receptive to hear what we've got to say.”
“Sort of like on McNutts’s Creek (Road) on (SR) 316. We've been fighting the way they want to do that, but they still make the decision,” he said. GDOT is proposing a right-in, right out design at that intersection rather than the full exchange the county has preferred.”
“I’m asking for the problem to be dealt with where it is,” Breedlove said in response to a question from Commissioner Chuck Horton. She proposed the route be through the industrial park inside the city limits of Watkinsville.
“I feel that the city needs to have money on the table,” Horton said. “Not push it off to other people to fix. They got to sit down and listen. Well, what have you done to help resolve this issue?”
“And not just say a road is to be built in the south end of the county, and you don't really care about how those people feel,” he said.
“It seems like there needs to be another road in the city,” Breedlove said.
The third speaker of the evening was Jason Smith, who said “I really appreciate you guys trying to help us out with what's going on with the bypass and trying to get to the bottom of all that.”
Smith asked if the data the county was gathering on traffic counts. County Administrator Justin Kirouac said the data were not yet analyzed but would be made available “pretty quick.”
Civic Center
Louise Langdale, a member of the Board of Director of the Friends of the Oconee County Library, followed Breedlove to the microphone, speaking between Breedlove and Smith.
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| Horton 6/16/2026 |
“I volunteer for the book sales every year,” Langdale said. “We have two days currently confirmed with the Civic Center, September and February. We're assuming those dates are still set during this transition to the School Board. Yes or no?”
“Anything that's already booked and locked in will stay that,” Daniell responded. “Whether both of those are considered locked in with us or not, we'll have to check on that. But anything that's programmed prior to the changeover on September 1st will be.
Daniell said that Civic Center Director Whitney Sperlik will no longer be in that position after that date.
“So they'll have different rules than we have, for sure,” Daniell said. “I don't think it'll impact you. The different rules will be related to alcohol and firearms, mainly."
“You won't be able to bring your guns in or serve wine while you're doing the book sale,” Daniell said with a smile.
“Do we know anything possibly about cost?” Langdale asked. “Because currently it's free to us now, and that impacts our sales, obviously.”
“You’ll just have to talk through that with them,” Daniell said.
Other Speakers
The fourth speaker, Dan Magee, said “Just want to thank you all for the work on Dawson Park.”
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| Malcom 6/16/2026 |
“Just a quick reminder, 2018, one of the Town Halls, we talked about rails to trails around the railroad tracks down (U.S.) 441,” he said. ‘Hopefully, one day it comes to fruition.’
‘And last thing is hopefully no one reaching out to you all about data centers,” he said. “Let's keep them out of Oconee. Please. Please. Please.”
Tommy Malcom, the final speaker, said “I just want to say thank you to you all for having these Town Halls.”
“I remember the purchase of the current track you're talking about in Bishop, and I think that's a great way that one Board was able to do something, and then time goes on, and instead of making an additional subdivision of that place, it's something that the community can benefit from.”
Malcom asked the Board to consider collaborating with the University of Georgia on use of acreage on Mars Hill Road that is part of the university farm.
“I would love to see us maybe try to coordinate through partnerships some sort of pocket park with that large retention pond” on the property, Malcom said.
Video
The video below is of the entire Town Hall meeting on June 16.
Breedlove came to the podium at 11:38 in the video.
The other citizens followed.
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