This is the tale of three work sessions of the Oconee County Board of Commissioners.
It is a short tale with only three chapters.
And it has a simple lesson:
Not all citizens and citizen comments are equal in the eyes of the members of the Commission.
At the Oconee County Board of Commissioners work session on Jan. 14, county Utility Department Director Wayne Haynie said he was prepared to move forward with purchase of a refurbished sewerage treatment plant to expand the treatment capacity of the existing Calls Creek facility to 1 million gallons per day.
Last night at the Board of Commissioners meeting, Haynie changed course and proposed that the county break its contract to purchase the used plant and instead build a new facility on the Calls Creek property.
Oconee County Public Works Director Emil Beshara told the county’s commissioners last week that the county will fall further behind in maintenance of its 400 plus miles of road unless the Board changes the way the county funds roadway maintenance.
The county stopped putting general fund revenue into road work in Fiscal Year 2009, Beshara reminded the commissioners, relying instead on state revenue and money from the county’s Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax.
Oconee County Utility Department Director Wayne Haynie will ask the Board of Commissioners tomorrow night to change the county’s allocation of sewer capacity so that 40 percent is allocated to residential use.
The proposal represents a change in policy put into place by the Commission in 2008 but never actually implemented.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners Tuesday will give second reading to and hold a public hearing on a new Solid Waste Management Ordinance that combines two existing ordinances to regulate the disposal of litter and license the collection of residential and commercial waste in the county.
It will be the first time citizens have a chance to comment on the completed ordinance, since County Attorney Daniel Haygood made changes in the document after the Commission gave first reading to the ordinance on Jan. 5.
For those who ever have wondered how Oconee County prepares for the threat of winter weather, Public Works Director Emil Beshara yesterday afternoon had the answer.
With the threat of snow and icy roads in the forecast, Beshara told county commissioners that the county had its two salt and sand spreaders on the trucks “and ready to go.”
The 22 people who gathered at the Oconee County Community Center in Veterans Park Thursday night to discuss the proposed widening of U.S. 441 in the south of the county mostly agreed on two important things.
First, a bypass of Bishop is needed for the economic survival of the city and the safety of its residents.
