Construction will begin soon on expansion of the Oconee County Library at Wire Park in Watkinsville to create additional study space and a children’s activity room.
Toby Mayfield, Assistant Director, Regional Services at Athens Regional Library System, told the Oconee County Library Board of Trustees at its October meeting that she is finalizing plans with Oconee Construction Services, which has been awarded the contract for the $400,000 expansion.
A rush of Advance In Person voting on Friday in Oconee County brought the total number of votes cast at the end of early voting for the Nov. 3 election to 16,401--up by 445 from the number cast at this point four years ago.
With a decline in Absentee By Mail voting and an increase in the number of registered voters in the county, the turnout percentage at this point is lower at 47.4 than the 48.6 percent who had cast a ballot at the end of early voting four years ago.
The three Republicans seeking to represent Oconee County in the Georgia General Assembly in January raised $216,138 among them in the 11 weeks following Aug. 1, compared with the $126,392 raised by the three Democrats in those races in that time period.
The three Republicans spent $219,250 of their campaign money in the period leading up to Oct. 20, compared with the $125,769 spent by the three Democrats, according to Campaign Contribution Disclosure Reports due to the State Ethics Commission on Tuesday (Oct. 27).
The Nov. 6, 2018, election is casting a shadow over the Nov. 3, 2026, election.
In that 2018 election, voters in House District 121 rejected Democrat Jonathan Wallace, who won a special election in November of the previous year and had served only one legislative session, and replaced him with Republican Marcus Wiedower.
After two weeks of early voting, 31.1 percent of Oconee County’s registered voters have cast a ballot, down from 33.0 percent of the registered voters who had cast a ballot at this point four years ago.
Included in the count of votes cast as of the end of the day on Saturday were 10,236 Advance In Person ballots and 531 returned Absentee By Mail ballots, for a total of 10,767 votes.
Georgia Transportation Board Member Jamie Boswell will respond to a letter from Georgia House District 121 Rep. Eric Gisler asking for assistance in obtaining information about the proposed Truck Bypass of Watkinsville, the executive secretary to the Transportation Board said on Thursday.
Gisler sent a letter to Boswell’s Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) office in Atlanta dated Oct. 1 asking Boswell to help ensure that data, analysis, and studies supporting “any alignment decision” for the proposed bypass be released to the public.
Oconee County Schools has begun planning for the potential launch of a Georgia Pre-K program for the 2027-2028 school year, Jennifer Whitaker, Chief Academic Officer for the system, told the Oconee County Board of Education at its meeting on Monday.
The district plans to submit an application to the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) in January requesting approval to operate Pre-K classrooms, Whitaker reported.
