Oconee County Schools Superintendent Jason Branch is asking the Board of Education to adopt a tentative Fiscal Year 2025 budget on Monday that increases spending by $8.9 million over the current fiscal year.
Much of that increased spending results from dictates from the state and is covered by increased state revenue, the bulk of it for teacher pay raises.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners Tuesday night will review and almost certainly approve a concept plan for the future IMI Corporate Campus on Aiken Road in the Gateway Technology and Business Park on the edge of Bogart.
The Conceptual Site Plan shows an eight-building complex for IMI Industrial Services Group that includes a corporation office, a fabrication building, a machine shop, a stainless steel shop, and buildings for future expansion.
Only 635 of Oconee County’s 33,143 registered voters cast a ballot in the first six days of Advance In Person voting for the May 21 General Primary/Nonpartisan General Election.
The Oconee County Elections and Registration Office received and accepted another 34 Absentee By Mail ballots in the first week of early voting, meaning that only 2.0 percent of the county’s voters have cast a ballot to date.
Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) Engineer Marvin Gavins said in late March that the Department had picked Dials Mill Extension over Dials Mill Road for its preferred full interchange at SR 316 in part because of the existence of a historic house on the northwest corner of Dials Mill Road and SR 316.
The owners of that property literally have removed that justification.
UCS Dials Mill Road LLC applied for and received a permit in the middle of January to demolish the historic home, and the site is now cleared of what was the Lee Daniel Farm homestead, built in 1910, according to county tax records.
In the March 12 Presidential Primary, Oconee County was sixth from the bottom among Georgia’s 159 counties in the percentage of Republican Party vote going to former President Donald Trump.
The only counties in the state ranking lower than Oconee County in terms of the percentage of Republican vote for Trump were Chatham, Cobb, Clarke, Fulton, and DeKalb, in that order.
The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) showed plans at its In-Person Public Meeting in Statham last week for a Right-In, Right-Out Access to SR 316 from McNutt Creek Road and for closing access to SR 316 at both Mars Hill Road and Julian Drive.
The presentation was labeled as “Initial Findings of the SR 316 Planning Study,” and those in attendance at the meeting were advised that “access point improvements may be refined during preliminary engineering.”
Voters participating in early voting for the 2024 General Primary/Nonpartisan General Election starting at 8 a.m. Monday will confront a long and complex ballot.
Those selecting the Republican Ballot will see contests for County Commission Chair and County Commission Post 4, Board of Education Post 1 Chair, Post 4 and Post 5, eight nonbinding Party Questions, and, for those in six of the county’s eight precincts, a contest for House District 121.
