Oconee County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard said at the beginning of an hour-long hearing last week on the suit filed by the Townley Family Partnership LLLP against the Town of North High Shoals that he would not make a decision at the end of the session.
He told attorneys for Townley and the Town of North High Shoals that he would be reviewing the materials already submitted after the hearing and would follow up on “things that you think are important.”
The Oconee County Board of Elections and Registration on Tuesday voted not to proceed with a challenge filed by Stephen Aleshire of 45 Oconee County voters “due to lack of probable cause.”
Aleshire addressed the Board during the public comment section of the meeting, which was before the Board vote, and said he was challenging the registration of the voters, not their “ability to vote.”
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday night turned down a rezone request for a commercial development on Mars Hill Road at Julian Drive and approved a large strip development on U.S. 441 just north of Watkinsville.
The vote against the Mars Hill Road development represented an attempt to keep that section of Mars Hill Road residential. Commissioner Mark Thomas was the sole negative vote on the rezone denial.
The Oconee County Elections and Registration Office on Monday began verifying the petitions with Oconee County signers to put Kalki Yalamanchili on the November ballot as an independent candidate for Western Judicial Circuit District Attorney.
The Georgia Office of the Secretary of State has given the election offices in both Oconee and Clarke counties until July 26 to complete the verification process.
The Oconee County Board of Education on Monday voted to set the millage rate for the collection of property taxes for Oconee County Schools at 14.25, representing a 2.27 percent property tax increase.
The Board took the unanimous vote after completing the last of three required public hearings on the tax increase.
The Oconee County Board of Education is poised to vote on Monday to set the millage rate at 14.25 for Oconee County Schools, down from the originally proposed 15.0, and to compensate for the lost revenue from the lower rate by drawing down the school system’s savings account, or Fund Balance.
Oconee County Chief Financial Officer Peter Adams revealed the strategy of spending reserves to allow for the reduction in the millage in two tax hearings on Monday and in a revised budget he released at the second of those hearings.
The Oconee County Board of Education will hold two of its three required public hearings on a planned 2.27 percent tax increase at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday (July 1) at the new Instructional Support Center at 71 North Main Street in Watkinsville.
The third hearing will be held at 6 p.m. on July 8, and the Board will be able to vote on its millage rate after that hearing.
