Sunday, March 01, 2015

Hard Labor Creek Reservoir Board Turns Down Request From Contractor For Time Extension For Dam Completion

Discusses Additional Costs

The Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir Management Board has turned down a request by its general contractor for a time extension for completion of the dam in southeastern Walton County.

Construction of the reservoir originally was to be completed by Jan. 20 of this year, and the Board already had given Layne Heavy Civil Inc. an extension of 71 days. The current official expected completion date is April 1.

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Commercial Development Leads To More Crime, District Attorney Told Oconee County Commissioners

Crime Costs Money

Commercial development has its downside, District Attorney Ken Mauldin told the Oconee County Board of Commissioners during a recent work session.

“The more stores you have out there, you’re going to have more shop lifting,” Mauldin said.

Monday, February 23, 2015

Oconee Commissioners Discuss Daniells Bridge Road Projects During Primer On MACORTS

Cancel Final Session

The Oconee County Board of Commissioners tonight got a primer on the operation of the Madison Athens-Clarke Oconee Regional Transportation Study (MACORTS), the regional transportation planning body of which the county has been a member since 1980.

Next they heard from the county director of strategic and long range planning, who moved project by project through the county’s listings in the MACORTS planning documents.

Sunday, February 22, 2015

City Of Monroe Has Partial Solution For Oconee County’s Internet Problems

On Tuesday Agenda

Oconee County has found a fix to its Internet problems that bypasses the two commercial providers of Internet service in the county, AT&T and Charter.

The fix is not perfect–“not a silver bullet”–according to Brian Thompson, director of electric and telecommunications for the city of Monroe in neighboring Walton County.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Courthouse Needs Quick Fix, Judge Tells Oconee County Commissioners In Work Session On Space Needs

July 1, 2016 Deadline

Oconee County may have only a little more than a year before it needs to find space in the Courthouse for a Superior Court judge, the judge’s secretary and a law clerk.

That was the message Chief Superior Court Judge David Sweat delivered to the Oconee County Board of Commissioners last night in the second of four scheduled work sessions the Board is holding to deal with pressing issues before the county.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Three Historic And Scenic Sites To Be Presented To Oconee County Citizen Committee Tomorrow Night

Called Hidden Treasures

Russ Page, a tireless advocate on behalf of historic sites in the county, will get a chance tomorrow night to make a case for funding from current and future Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax revenue of three projects in the county .

The first is preservation of the historic mill on Rose Creek just downstream from the iconic Elder Mill Covered Bridge off SR 15 (Greensboro Highway) southeast of Watkinsville.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Oconee County Board Of Commissioners Confronts Long List Of Issues Needing Resolution

Three More To Come

The Oconee County Board of Commissioners spent 90 minutes last night reviewing a long list of issues facing the county with the goal of winnowing and prioritizing, but it had only limited success with the task at hand.

Jim Dove, executive director of the Northeast Georgia Regional Commission (NEGRC), began the Monday session by presenting a nine-page, single-space list of issues raised in the two-day planning meeting the Board held in January.