Maxie Price let the deadline pass on Thursday without filing the threatened constitutional challenge to the decision by the Oconee County Board of Commissioners not to grant a rezone for a shopping center at the Oconee Connector and Mars Hill Road.
Angela Elder-Johnson, Clerk of Superior, Magistrate, and Juvenile Courts for Oconee County, confirmed on Friday morning that Price had not filed suit in Superior Court by the end of the day on Thursday.
Western Judicial Circuit District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez said on Friday that Oconee County Sheriff James Hale was incorrect on Monday when he said that she is unwilling to prosecute cases in the county.
Gonzalez was responding to a news release circulated by the Oconee County Republican Party after its meeting on Monday that claimed that Hale had said “he has a stack of cases that District Attorney Deborah Gonzales refuses to prosecute.”
Oconee County commissioners on Tuesday night took the first step to place a new 1 percent Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax on the ballot in November.
Following a presentation by Board of Commissioners Chair John Daniell, the three members of the Board present, without a formal vote, agreed that Daniell should meet on July 1 with representatives of the county’s four cities to outline the referendum.
At the meeting on Tuesday, Daniell said revenue from the tax would be used for four purposes: to cover transportation costs already being funded by the county by property tax, to create new revenue for multi-use paths, for intersection improvements, and for paving.
Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chair John Daniell used the summer Town Hall Meeting to highlight the Board’s decision to reduce slightly the county millage rate for next year, provide an update on road projects, and once again anticipate a transportation tax referendum.
Daniell and others on the Commission also responded to a dozen questions posed by four of the five citizens who turned out for the meeting.
Daniell said there is nothing new to report on Costco coming to the county, that he anticipates a “solution” to the U.S. 441 bypass before the widening of that highway reaches the town, and that restoration of the foundation of Eagle Tavern is now on schedule.
The Northeast Health District added 70 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Friday, and four confirmed deaths attributed to the disease.
The 70 added cases of COVID-19 and four deaths compare with the 91 cases and the five confirmed deaths added in the week ending June 18.
The average of 10.0 new cases per day for the week ending on Friday compares with the average of 13.0 new cases per day for the week ending on June 18.
The Oconee County Republican Party is scheduled to meet on Monday with Sheriff James Hale and party Executive Committee Member Julie Mauck as guest speakers.
Hale will talk about the state of public safety in Oconee County, according to the party announcement, while Mauck will talk about formation of a local chapter of Moms for Liberty.
The meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. at the Oconee Chamber of Commerce, 55 Nancy Drive, Watkinsville.
The Northeast Health District added 91 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Friday, and five confirmed deaths attributed to the disease.
The 91 added cases of COVID-19 and five deaths compare with the 107 cases and the nine confirmed deaths added in the week ending June 11.
The average of 13.0 new cases per day for the week ending on Friday compares with the average of 15.3 new cases per day for the week ending on June 11.
