Blog Topic: Government

In the Loop: Shopping Center Proposed in Oconee County

By Lee Becker | June 20, 2016 10:42am

The location of the proposed shopping center, Ray's Corner.

The Oconee County Planning Commission will hold public hearings on four different rezoning requests tonight, including one that will have impact on everyone who uses the already busy intersection of Hog Mountain Road and U.S. 441.

ABE Consulting, on behalf of property owner Toccoa 85 LP, is asking the county to rezone 1.7 acres, with frontage on and access to both Hog Mountain Road and U.S. 441, to allow development of a small commercial shopping center.

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In the Loop: New Cedar Shoals Principal, ACC Manager Hired

By Blake Aued | June 10, 2016 12:02pm

Jestin Johnson.

The Clarke County School District has hired a new principal for Cedar Shoals High School, and a new assistant manager starts work with Athens-Clarke County next month.

The Clarke County Board of Education approved DeAnne Varitek as CSHS principal Thursday night, effective at the start of the 2016–17 school year.

ACC’s new assistant manager, Jestin Johnson, has managed the city of Bisbee, AZ since 2014.

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In the Loop: Leisure Services Director Pam Reidy Is Leaving

By Blake Aued | June 7, 2016 12:03pm

Photo Credit: Photo via Facebook

Athens covets a lot about Greenville, SC, but Greenville apparently has coveted our Leisure Services director—and now they got her.

Pam Reidy has been named director of the Greenville Parks and Recreation Department and is resigning from ACC Leisure Services effective June 24, Athens-Clarke County announced this morning.

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In the Loop: Survey: Athens Is Pretty OK, We Guess

By Blake Aued | June 3, 2016 12:08pm

Survey says!

To channel my inner Richard Dawson, “Things you say to the local government when they ask you what you think about Athens.”

Athens-Clarke County recently contracted with National Citizen Survey for $15,000 to send surveys to 1,800 randomly selected Athens households. The results were a resounding “meh.”

Out of 364 respondents, 28 percent said Athens is an “excellent place” to live, and 59 percent rated it as “good.” Which is good! But almost all of the results were pretty much on par with what NCS has seen in other communities.

And if you drill down a bit deeper, there are some troubling divisions based on age, race and geography.

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In the Loop: ACC Tax Commissioner Mitch Schrader Has Died

By Blake Aued | May 31, 2016 10:48am

Clarke County Tax Commissioner Mitch Schrader died Sunday after a long illness, the Athens Banner-Herald reports. He was 54.

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In the Loop: Athens Transit Wins National Award

By Blake Aued | May 26, 2016 12:42pm

Photo Credit: Joshua L. Jones/file

People have lots of complaints about Athens Transit: Buses don’t come often enough; it doesn’t go enough places; it’s too expensive.

While those are legitimate concerns—and a study is underway to examine those issues—let us remember that Athens Transit, whatever its flaws, is really an excellent system, especially for a city this size.

In fact, on Wednesday the Community Transportation Association of America, at its annual conference in Portland, OR, named Athens Transit the Urban Community Transportation System of the Year.

In particular, CTAA cited:

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In the Loop: Commissioners Met With Car Dealer Prior to Vote

By Lee Becker | May 24, 2016 3:50pm

The location of the proposed dealerships.

All three of Oconee County’s voting commissioners acknowledge meeting with the representative of the developer seeking to rezone properties on Highway 316 at Virgil Langford Road for auto dealerships—at least one of which is currently located in Clarke County—but each said he has not yet decided how to vote on the request.

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In the Loop: Athens Nonprofit Closes on CCSD Headquarters

By Blake Aued | May 24, 2016 1:12pm

Advantage Behavioral Health Systems has closed on a $2.8 million deal to buy the Clarke County School District’s former headquarters on Mitchell Bridge Road, the nonprofit announced today.

The school board approved the sale earlier this month.

“This property will allow us to consolidate three of our locations in one space, enabling us to reduce our overhead costs while expanding access to those we serve,” CEO O.J. Booker said in a news release.

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In the Loop: CCSD Will Follow Letter on Transgender Students

By Blake Aued | May 17, 2016 4:46pm

Attorney General Loretta Lynch has harshly criticized North Carolina's "bathroom bill."

Gov. Nathan Deal issued a statement today criticizing a recent Obama Administration letter to school districts urging them to allow transgender students to use the restroom corresponding to the gender they identify as, but the Clarke County School District will comply with the letter.

The U.S. justice and education departments provided “guidance” to districts last Friday that discriminating against students whose gender identify differs from the biological sex they were assigned at birth violates the federal Title XI law.

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In the Loop: Openness Is an Issue in Oconee Races

By Lee Becker | May 17, 2016 1:17pm

Photo Credit: Lee Becker

Oconee County Commission Chairman said the idea of building a sewer line for a poultry plant was merely hypothetical, but a poultry company has in fact expressed interest in locating in Oconee.

The two candidates running as outsiders in the Oconee County Board of Commissioners contest have made transparency and openness in government a key issue.

At the last Board of Commissioners meeting on May 3, Commission Chairman Melvin Davis gave them the perfect illustration of the problem they are addressing.

With the other three commissioners sitting by, Davis told what is certainly a fabrication to a citizen who also made a misstatement about a poultry processing plant.

Davis told Barb Carroll that references to a poultry plant were just an “example” and that nothing concrete has come before the county.

That clearly is incorrect, as Oconee County Utility Department Director Wayne Haynie told the county's Industrial Development Authority in April, with Davis present, that the county was in discussions with a poultry concern.

Haynie said the same thing to the Board of Commissioners on several occasions, starting as early as Jan. 26.

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