Oconee County Board of Commissioners member William “Bubber” Wilkes emerged victorious from the Republican Party Primary on Tuesday, with 71.9 percent of the vote to John Laster's 28.1 percent.
Incumbent Board of Education Member Amy Parrish also won the Republian Party nomiation for her Board seat, getting 71.0 percent of the vote to 29.0 percent for Adam Spence.
The nonpartisan race for two Superior Court judgeships dominated the Oconee County Democratic Committee meeting this past week, with both candidates Allison Mauldin and Eric Norris in attendance.
Mauldin and Norris are both seeking the judgeship held by Norris in the Western Judicial Circuit, which includes Oconee and Clarke counties.
Construction of the planned entranceway to the new Dove Creek Elementary School off Hog Mountain Road in the far west of Oconee County has hit a major snag.
The county has discovered that a gas pipeline owned by the City of Winder is along and possibly under Hog Mountain Road, making it impossible to build the entranceway as originally planned without relocating the pipeline.
Despite objections from the Morgan County Board of Commissioners, the Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir Management Board and the Walton County Water and Sewer Authority are still considering an intake facility on the Apalachee River in Morgan County.
Kevin Little, vice-chair of the Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir Management Board, made that announcement Friday at the end of a called meeting of the Management Board and the Water Authority.
The Oconee County Board of Education agreed at its work session on Monday to consider changing its meetings times to accommodate the needs of parents.
The action followed a request by Brandi Herndon, moderator of the Facebook group, Parents Improving Oconee Schools, who asked the Board at its April 16 meeting to consider changing the times of its meetings to accommodate parents and to hold town hall meetings.
Steven Strickland and Marcus Wiedower are competitors in the Republican Primary on May 22, but they made it clear in comments to the Oconee County Republic Party late last month that they share the goal of taking back Georgia House District 119 from the Democrats in November.
Both blamed “complacency” for their and the party’s defeat in the four-person special election held last November to fill the unexpired term of Republican Chuck Williams. The election was won by Democrat Jonathan Wallace.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved a list of changes, some small and some consequential, to the 2018 Comprehensive Plan before sending it on to the state for final review.
The new language approved by the Board clarifies that a land use objective of the county is to make sure that development is consistent with county pre-existing plans for provision of water and sewer services rather than allow development to dictate provision of those services.
