Only 54 voters had cast a ballot at the end of the second day of early voting on Wednesday for the Nov. 2 elections.
Early voting continues from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday until Oct. 29 at the Civic Center, 2661 Hog Mountain Road, west of Butler’s Crossing.
Saturday voting, also at the Civic Center, will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Oct. 16 and 23.
Oconee County Schools Superintendent Jason Branch, in a brief work session last week, asked the Board of Education to spend $357,408 in federal emergency pandemic relief funds for purchase of 876 additional Chromebook computers.
The new computers will be distributed to new students and will be used as loaners during repairs of already issued devices, according to the request.
The 10-county Northeast Health District added 959 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on Friday, down from 1,367 a week earlier, and 37 new confirmed deaths from the disease, up from 25 last week.
Four of the confirmed deaths were in Clarke County.
The average number of added cases in the District was 137.0 per day, compared with 195.3 per day in the week ending Oct. 1.
This is the fifth week in a row that the average number of cases per day has dropped.
With 8,434 students and a governing body elected by the citizens, Oconee County Schools dominates K through 12 education in the county.
In a program organized by the Oconee Chamber of Commerce last month, however, Oconee County Schools was one of four equal presenters.
Westminster Christian Academy, Athens Academy, and host Prince Avenue Christian School, all private schools with fewer than 1,000 students each, had equal time at the podium.
Oconee County commissioners on Tuesday night will be asked to give final approval to a Regional Solid Waste Management Plan that requires Oconee County to provide assurance that it has solid waste handling capability and capacity for at least 10 years.
The plan covers the 10-county jurisdiction of the Northeast Georgia Regional Solid Waste Management Authority and includes a facility inventory, an analysis of land designated as not suitable for solid waste handling facilities, a report of accomplishments, and a community work program for the next 10 years.
Mostly, it was a very polite affair.
Kim Argo, chair of the Oconee County Board of Education, thanked the members of the Board of Commissioners at the beginning of the joint meeting of the two boards on Wednesday night “for coming and breaking bread with us and sitting down to have a conversation.”
Facilitator Keith Everson, executive director of the Northeast Georgia Regional Educational Service Agency, said “you all should be commended for getting together like this and talking about what you do. This doesn't happen everywhere.”
The two Board avoided the many topics that have divided them over the last several years, such as the construction of the entrance to Dove Creek Elementary School, roundabouts at Malcom Bridge Middle School, and fees the school system is charging the county for use of its athletics facilities.
Sixty people participated in two public informational meetings this week held by the federally-mandated local metropolitan planning organization MACORTS as it considers a request to launch a scoping study of a truck bypass link between SR 15 and U.S. 441 south of Watkinsville.
The first of these meeting was on Monday evening and was virtual, with 12 people participating.
On Thursday evening, 48 people turned out at the community center in Oconee Veterans Park to ask questions of MACORTS transportation planners.
