The Oconee County Board of Commissioners last (Tuesday) night agreed to put a bid of $92,000 for demolition of the Old Jail located behind the Courthouse in Watkinsville on the agenda for final action at its Nov. 7 meeting.
County Administrator Justin Kirouac recommended that the Board accept the low bid from Complete Demolition Services Inc. of Carrollton to allow for both security and space upgrades to the existing Courthouse.
Responding to fixed questions they had received in advance, the six candidates running in the special elections for Georgia House District 117 and District 119 Monday night offered largely familiar responses on campus carry, redistricting and other issues.
One question not asked so simply and precisely in earlier forums did help to underscore the differences among the candidates in the Nov. 7 elections.
The owners of The Farm at High Shoals, the horse barn turned reception hall between Bishop and North High Shoals, filed an application for a business license last week, according to B.R. White, director of Oconee County Planning and Code Enforcement Department.
That was more than a month after the Oconee County Board of Commissioners approved a rezone for just less than 5 acres, including the horse barn, to allow the owners of the 306-acre horse farm to continue to operate the reception hall business.
Houston Gaines, running to replace Republican Regina Quick, who stepped down in August as representative from Georgia House District 117, had a warning for the Oconee County Republicans who attended the party’s meeting in late September.
“We’ve got to work hard to keep this seat,” Gaines said of the 117th, which is dominated by Clarke County but includes parts of Oconee, Barrow and Jackson counties as well.
Oconee County is exploring collaboration with Athens-Clarke County for future wastewater treatment, Oconee County Commission Chair John Daniell told a small group of citizens this week at a Town Hall meeting in Oconee Veterans Park.
“We’ve had different conversations since I’ve been in office,” Daniell said in response to a question asking if the commissioners had “met with Clarke County to discuss wastewater?”
Donald Trump played a role in the candidate forum for the Nov. 7 special elections for House Districts 117 and 119 held tonight (Tuesday) at the Oconee County campus of the University of North Georgia, as he did in a forum last week.
In response to a question about Trump’s behavior as President, the three Republican candidates in the race for House District 119 strongly endorsed Trump, though Steven Strickland did say he had problems with 5 percent of what Trump does.
Clarke County voters are dominant in Georgia House District 117 and make up a very slight majority of voters in the 119th Georgia House District, an analysis of voter registration data as of Oct. 1 shows.
Clarke County voters also differ demographically from those in Barrow, Jackson and Oconee counties, who share the 117th, and from voters in Oconee County, who share the 119th, the analysis of the registration data confirms.
