Wednesday, March 09, 2016

Mills And Thomas File For Post 1 On Oconee County Board Of Commissioners; Saxon Files For Reelection To Post 4

Three Wednesday Qualifiers

Retired educator Penny Mills and contractor Mark Thomas filed for the Republican primary for Post 1 on the Oconee County Board of Commissioners today, seeking to replace retiring Commissioner Jim Luke.

Mark Saxon, Post 4 commissioner, also filed today to run for reelection in the May 24 Republican primary. Saxon is retired from the U.S. Army.

Tuesday, March 08, 2016

Oconee County Commissioner Daniell Files For Commission Chair Position In Second Day Of Qualifying

Coroner Contest

Oconee County Commissioner John Daniell made it official today, filing to run as a Republican for the position of Chair of the Board of Commissioners.

Upon filing, Daniell had to resign as Post 2 Commissioner. The county will need to hold a special election in November to fill that position.

Monday, March 07, 2016

First Day Of Qualifying Brings Out Oconee County Incumbents For General Assembly, Constitutional Offices

No BOC Qualifiers Yet

Oconee County’s three representatives in the Georgia General Assembly filed for reelection today, in the first day of qualifying for the May 24 primaries.

All four of the county’s constitutional officers also qualified, as did incumbent coroner Ed Carson and incumbent Board of Education Chair Tom Odom.

Sunday, March 06, 2016

Oconee County, Struggling With Limited Sewer Capacity, Approved Rezone For Commercial Development Anyway

Moved Money In 2014

Oconee County commissioners voted In May of 2014 to move $2 million out of the water and sewer account in the 2009 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax at a time when the county’s Utility Department desperately needed money for maintenance and expansion of its two wastewater treatment facilities.

The commissioners took the action after deciding the Utility Department could delay spending its SPLOST funds and that the county instead could transfer the water and sewer money to pay off the debt on the Jail/Emergency Operations Center/E911 Facilities and Tower.

Wednesday, March 02, 2016

Oconee County Commissioners Reject A Request For Delay In Rezone For Expansion Of Epps Bridge Centre

Traffic And Pollution Concerns

Oconee County commissioners, brushing aside concerns by Athens-Clarke County residents about the negative impact of the development on their residential neighborhoods, unanimously approved a rezone request last night for the expansion of Epps Bridge Centre.

The commissioners made minor changes to the proposed bylaws and establishing resolution for the Animal Control Board, after continued requests for more dramatic change.

Tuesday, March 01, 2016

Plurality Of Oconee County Republican Voters Chose Trump, While Majority Of Democrats Chose Clinton

Turnout 54%

Just more than 31 percent of voters in Oconee County who used the Republican ballot chose businessman Donald Trump as their candidate in presidential primary voting, while just more than 52 percent of those who cast a Democratic ballot chose former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio got just more than 28 percent of the vote, while Texas Senator Ted Cruz got just less than 26 percent.

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Oconee Commissioners Opt To Bypass Citizen Vote In Issuing Bonds To Build New Road For Epps Bridge Centre Expansion

Cost Of $4.9 Million

The Oconee County Board of Commissioners last week took final action to borrow $4.285 million to build a new road to promote further commercial development in the busy Epps Bridge Road corridor.

In order to avoid asking the voters to approve the bond sales, the commissioners agreed to have the county’s Industrial Development Authority do the actual borrowing.