The Oconee County Board of Education would like to keep it a secret, but it is nearly certain to extend Superintendent Jason Branch’s contract another year--until June 30, 2027--following an executive session at either its Aug. 5 or Aug. 12 meeting.
The Board voted on Aug. 14, 2023, to extend Branch’s contract to June 30, 2026, with a base salary of $253,071 and added benefits that were budgeted to bring that amount to $284,810.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday night took a big step toward creating its new park on Rocky Branch Road when it gave initial approval to spending up to $1 million for a design firm contract and related services for the first phase of the project.
The plan is to utilize 50 acres out of the 240-acre site for sports fields, parking, restrooms, and a gymnasium that contains four basketball courts with restroom facilities and staff support areas.
Oconee County’s two libraries are facing financial problems, as projected revenue is not sufficient to sustain current levels of staffing and programming.
Athens Regional Library System Executive Director Valerie Bell says the libraries need to find new sources of revenue for the future.
UPDATE: As of 7/30/2024, the Georgia Secretary of State is listing Yalamanchili as "Qualified-- Signatures Accepted," as an Independent candidate for the November ballot.
Kalki Yalamanchili has turned in 9,967 accepted petitions, or just more than twice the number the Secretary of State Office has determined he needs to have his name placed on the ballot on Nov. 5 as an Independent candidate for Western Judicial Circuit District Attorney.
That determination comes from a report filed with the Secretary of State Office dated Friday (July 26) by the Oconee County Office of Elections and Registration and the Clarke County Office of Elections and Voter Registration.
The metropolitan transportation planning organization that has responsibility for Oconee County is in the final stage of modifying its documents to reflect the addition of $1.9 million in right of way funds for construction of the new interchange at SR 316 and the Oconee Connector.
The new money brings to $3.4 million the amount for right of way and preliminary engineering of the multi-grade interchange in the current Fiscal Year 2025. Of that, $2.8 million is federal funding.
Tim Bryant, whose radio program on Cox Media Group’s WGAU was ended on June 18, said on Monday night that he expects to be back on the air “in the next few weeks.”
Bryant said he also expects to resurrect his podcast, but his primary focus is getting back on radio, and he said he expects to be able to make an announcement soon.
Oconee County Schools received $4.5 million more in revenue over the just-completed Fiscal Year 2024 than it had anticipated when the Board of Education adopted that budget in May of 2023.
The largest part of that increase resulted from $2.4 million in Investment and Interest Income. The budget approved by the Board in May of 2023 had listed only $50,000 in expected income in that category.
