The Oconee County Industrial Development Authority on Monday agreed to donate to the state a 13-acre parcel south of SR 316 for a new Georgia Department of Driver Services Customer Service Center.
Technically a part of the county’s Gateway Technology and Business Park, the acreage is south of SR 316 near Bogart with a small amount of frontage on McNutt Creek Road.
Oconee County voters on Tuesday decided to increase the tax they pay at cash registers in the county from 7 percent to 8 percent starting in April.
The vote was close to a mirror image of that of a year ago, with 51.3 percent voting in favor of the Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax. Last November, 52.8 percent had voted against the tax.
Turnout on Tuesday was 74.5 percent of active voters. Last November, it had been 10.7 percent.
Nearly half of Oconee County’s registered voters have already cast a ballot, either by advance voting or with an absentee ballot, before voting begins at the county’s eight polling locations on Tuesday morning.
The vast majority of those votes were cast in person, with 1,542 votes registered on the final day of early voting on Friday, bringing the total to 14,867, or 45.3 percent of the county’s registered voters.
The Georgia Hospital Association and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported on Friday that area hospitals had 19 COVID-19 patients, up from 11 last Friday.
The number of ICU beds in use on Friday was 69, down from 72 a week earlier, and the number of adult ventilators in use was 27, down from 32 on last Friday.
Oconee County Commissioners got a preview last week of master plans for the county’s four existing parks and two planned new parks--one at the current Land Application System site on Rocky Branch Road and the other on the Middle Oconee River.
The plans will be before the county’s Recreation Advisory Committee later this month and then back before the Board of Commissioners, probably early next year, for adoption.
With little fanfare, Oconee County last week released a list of road projects that will be funded over the next five years if voters approve the Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax referendum on the Nov. 8 ballot.
With current funding, County Administrator Justin Kirouac told the County Commissioners at their Goal Setting meeting on Thursday, the county will spend $2.5 million per year to pave 87 road projects or segments.
The Georgia Hospital Association and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency reported on Friday that area hospitals had 11 COVID-19 patients, down from 15 last Friday.
The number of ICU beds in use on Friday was 72, down from 76 a week earlier, and the number of adult ventilators in use was 32, up from 28 on last Friday.
