Neither Oconee County nor the Sheriff’s Office has made any purchases in the last five years from Dana Safety Supply, with which Sheriff Scott Berry disagreed publicly earlier this year because of the company’s decision not to sell some of its products to the general public.
The Sheriff said during that disagreement that he had made recent purchases from Dana Safety Supply, and he told me on Monday that those purchases had all been with personal, not county, funds.
Rose Creek Mitigation Bank, one of two such banks operating in the county, is awaiting a state permit to be able to violate the 25-foot stream buffer so it can modify restoration work done in initially setting up the bank.
James Parker, manager of Falling Springs, an environmental resource company in Richmond, Va., told me in a telephone conversation on Feb. 5 that his company is being “proactive” in asking the Georgia Environmental Protection Division for permission to modify the existing restoration structures.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously last night to accept Chairman Melvin Davis’ recommendation that former commissioner Chuck Horton be removed from two government boards, though Horton could have continued to serve on each as a citizen.
The commissioners decided to replace Horton with one of their own, rather than advertise for citizens to fill the positions.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners tomorrow night is scheduled to take up a rezone request by the new owner of Pebble Creek Subdivision, who wants to build smaller homes on slabs in the currently unoccupied 143-acre tract on SR 15 south of Watkinsville.
The Planning Commission has recommended that the BOC allow CAAT Holdings LLC to build the homes on slabs rather than with basements or crawl space, provided the slab construction meets current code standards.
Rep. Regina Quick of the 117th House District has received from the House Legislative Counsel draft legislation that would return Oconee County to a single district in the Georgia House of Representatives.
Quick told me on Thursday that she has shared the legislation with Rep. Chuck Williams, who currently represents the majority of Oconee County in the 119th House District.
More than 50 people showed up at the Civic Center on a Thursday evening to hear Oconee County Tax Commissioner Jennifer Riddle explain the complexity of House Bill 386, which eliminates what is referred to as the “birthday” tax on vehicles.
In its place, the bill passed by the General Assembly last year puts into effect on March 1 a Title Ad Valorem Tax, which everyone who registers a vehicle must pay.
Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis on Tuesday proposed a slate of appointments to four regional committees that would remove former commissioner Chuck Horton from the Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir Management Board and from the Georgia Bioscience Joint Development Authority.
Horton is serving as chairman of the four-county bioscience authority, having assumed that position last fall. The authority promotes development of the SR 316 corridor.
