The Oconee County Library Board on Tuesday, in split votes, decided to leave a challenged book, My Rainbow, by Trinity and DeShanna Neal, in the children’s picture book section of the Oconee County Library in Wire Park.
The Board first voted down, 3 to 5, a motion to accept the recommendation of its own Book Action Committee to move the book, which tells the story of a mother and her transgender daughter, to the young adult nonfiction section of the library.
The Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST) voters are being asked to approve on the Nov. 4 ballot is largely about renovation and upgrades to existing infrastructure, Oconee County Schools Interim Associate Superintendent Debra Harden explained on Thursday evening.
Money from renewal of the 1 percent sales tax also will be used for purchase of replacement buses and other vehicles in the school system fleet, she said.
The Bishop Mayor and Town Council on Tuesday night voted 3 to 0 to approve a request by St. Aelred Catholic Church for a Conditional Use for its planned new church but voted 2 to 1 to deny a request for a variance to allow access from the church to Cemetery Road.
Only the three Council members voted on the zoning requests, as Council Member Hudson Holder did not attend, though his name plate was on the table at the front of the room during the meeting and his chair was empty.
Early voting starts on Tuesday for an off-year election that contains two state-wide races, a county-wide referendum on renewal of the Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST), and competitive city races in Bishop, Bogart, and Watkinsville.
The statewide race is for two members of the Public Service Commission, and while one of those represents Oconee County voters, each candidate runs statewide, meaning that Oconee County voters play a small role in the outcome.
The Oconee County Board of Education received 18 applications in response to its announcement of its intention to hire a new superintendent, not the 19 that Board Chair Michael Ransom had stated.
Those 18 applications included six females, including Melissa Butler, whom the Board ultimately hired and who was sworn in as superintendent on Monday night. She will assume her duties on Oct. 14.
The Oconee County Planning Commission quickly and unanimously approved four rezone requests before it last month after no one spoke in opposition and the only persons speaking in support were the applicants or their agent.
The Commission sent to the Board of Commissioners its recommendation that it approve a modification of the rezone for The Landing assisted living and life plan community on U.S. 78, approve a four-lot subdivision on Atlanta Highway west of Bogart, and allow a manufactured home as a second and temporary residence in the south of the county.
Oconee County commissioners on Tuesday night gave initial approval to spending $1.9 million to purchase 110 acres of undeveloped land to be incorporated into Heritage Park, located south of Farmington on U.S. 441.
The new purchase, when completed after the first of the year, will bring Heritage Park to 374 acres and add 579 feet of access to the Apalachee River, doubling the riverfront access in the park.
