Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis is at center stage as the county orients itself for next year’s Board of Commissioners elections.
Davis, who is 75, has until noon on March 11 to decide if he wants to seek a fifth term as a party candidate or until noon on July 1 should he choose to run as an independent.
The Georgia Department of Transportation has decided to build the bypass of Bishop and widen U.S. 441 from the Morgan County line to Watkinsville entirely with state funds, bypassing the normal processes associated with federal highway funding.
That decision moves the timetable forward so that project engineering will begin in 2019 and right of way acquisition and actual construction is now slated for 2022.
Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis’ attempt to get himself named as an equal to county Administrative Officer Jeff Benko in the county’s Human Resources Policies and Procedures manual ran into opposition last night.
Commissioner John Daniell, in a methodical analysis of the 42-page document, asserted repeatedly that the reference to the chair should be removed in all but one place to leave Benko as the person in charge of administration of the policies spelled out in the document.
The public and the Oconee County Board of Commissioners will get an overview tomorrow night of a revised Human Resources policy document that solidifies the power of the chairman of the Board of Commissioners in terms of job classification, pay, dismissals and other personnel matters.
Contrary to the Organizational Policy adopted by the Board of Commissioners in August of 2009, the document makes the chair of the Board of Commissioners and the county administrative officer equals in key personnel matters.
Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis has taken steps to distance himself from the county’s decision to spend nearly $10,000 for design work to reconnect Old Mars Hill Road to Mars Hill Road proper.
That is true even though Davis has been exonerated of any wrongdoing for his involvement in the proposal under the county’s ethics ordinance and although the email correspondence indicates Davis initiated the discussion more than a year ago and has been involved from that point forward.
Oconee County voters cut a nearly blank check for $850,000 to the Oconee County Industrial Development Authority when they approved the 2015 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax last November.
The language on the resolution for the 2015 SPLOST merely said the money should be used for “Economic Development Facilities,” and the voters, probably without giving it much thought, accepted the deal.
The Oconee County Citizen Advisory Committee on Recreational Affairs reversed course on Tuesday evening and voted to recommend to the Board of Commissioners that it move forward with a greenway project along the Oconee River at Barnett Shoals.
The Recreational Affairs Committee said the BOC should begin negotiations with two key landowners over easements and use Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax revenue for securing public access to the property.
