The Oconee County Board of Education on Monday approved $150,000 in emergency funding to fix a sink hole at a storm water drain on the North Oconee High School campus.
Chief Operations Officer Ryan White told the Board that the sink hole was discovered last week at the rear of the campus behind the baseball stadium and tennis courts caused by a corroded storm water pipe and recent heavy rainfall.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners approved in quick order and with very little discussion a long list of rezone requests on Tuesday night after no one turned out to speak in opposition to any of the requests and the only ones speaking in favor in each case were the applicant or the applicant’s representative.
Included was a downzone of 203.7 acres in the triangle of Oconee County on the northeast side of the Oconee River squeezed between Clarke and Oglethorpe counties.
Oconee County Board of Education Chair Michael Ransom said on Friday morning that he anticipates the Board will be able to name a finalist in its search for new school superintendent by the end of the month, and possibly as early as the week of Aug. 18.
Citizens will have 14 days after that announcement to comment on the selection, Ransom said.
Oconee County Schools administrators on Tuesday released an expanded list of athletic projects at the system’s two high schools to be funded if voters approve a new Education Local Option Sales Tax (ELOST) on the November ballot.
Included are video scoreboards at the North Oconee High School stadium, converting the existing two practice fields at the school to turf and adding lights, adding a wrestling room and athletic storage, and resurfacing the tennis courts.
The Oconee County Board of Education on Monday night voted to ask the Oconee County Board of Elections and Registration to put a referendum for a new Educational Local Option Sales Tax (ELOST) on the November Ballot.
The referendum, if approved by voters, would begin as soon as the current ELOST reaches its cap of $48.5 million and continue the sales tax at the current 1 percent rate.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners, at its agenda setting meeting on Tuesday (July 29), tentatively agreed to pay the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) $184,550 for the costs of utility relocation required for reconstruction of the interchange at Dials Mill Extension and SR 316.
GDOT will include the utility relocation costs in its contract for construction of the full interchange, currently scheduled to begin 2026.
Republicans Bill Cowsert, who represents Oconee County in the Georgia Senate, and Houston Gaines, who represents one of the county’s four precincts in the Georgia House, have amassed large campaign caches that they won’t be able to use in the 2026 elections.
Cowsert had $332,226 net cash on hand in his Senate District 46 campaign fund, according to his most recent Campaign Contribution Disclosure Report for June 30.
