The Habersham County Commission and Habersham County Board of Education (BOE) both met for their July 19 meetings at 6 p.m. in Clarkesville.
Each year, the county’s millage rate is set by the commission and the BOE. At their meeting, the Habersham school board voted to approve a rollback millage rate for the 2021 tax year and 2022 fiscal year at their meeting. The millage rate for last year was set at 13.414 mils, and the county and BOE both voted unanimously to roll back the millage rate to 12.566 mils.
Commission meeting highlights
The commission met for their regular monthly meeting in the Habersham County Courthouse; a recording of the meeting is available online. The meeting agenda is available here.
The commission considered a few development-related items tonight, including a downtown development program for Clarkesville and the demolition of the old courthouse in their work session. The commission seems interested in preserving the courthouse and repurposing it, however, these discussions are in very early stages.
An applicant approached the planning commission regarding a zoning change to a ten-acre land parcel in Cornelia to develop 64 townhomes, and the zoning change appeared before the commission today. The planning commission had only recommended the zoning change to the commission on the basis that last year’s commission had approved a similar development in the area this past December.
The planning commission and several citizens expressed concerns about traffic and road safety, saying the land parcel on Lawrence Street in Cornelia, which is accessed by Chase Road, is too treacherous for medium-density development.
Commissioner Bruce Palmer made a motion to accept the zoning change against citizen’s overwhelming requests to deny it. The motion died due to lack of a second, which was met with applause.
Interim County Manager Alicia Vaughn served on her first commission meeting tonight. While the search for the interim manager has concluded, the commission is still looking for someone to take the county manager position permanently. The commission voted to enter into an agreement with the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institution of Government (CVIOG) to conduct a county manager executive search.
BOE meeting highlights
The BOE met across the street from the courthouse at the school district building in Clarkesville, and also streamed their meeting online. The meeting agenda is available here.
The BOE had much to discuss as the first day of school, Aug. 6, quickly approaches. Superintendent Matthew Cooper presented what he called “the big four,” his focuses for the school system this upcoming year. Cooper says safety, attendance, discipline and quality instruction will be the system’s top priorities. He believes these focuses will bring student achievement to the forefront of the upcoming academic year.
“I’m looking forward to this school year as much as any other for lots of reasons,” Cooper said at the meeting. “I really believe we have the team in place to have the best school year in the history of this entire system– going all the way back to 1872.”
Attendance trophies will be back this year, with the board awarding the first attendance awards in over a year this September.
The board approved the first reading of a policy to give teachers with more than 15 years of service to the school system more personal days. Teachers with 15 to 19 years of service will receive four personal days, and those with 20 or more years will receive five.
The board also approved the first reading of IDE (3) for Competitive Interscholastic Activities, which would allow homeschooled students in grades 6-12 who are enrolled in at least one class in the Habersham school system the opportunity to participate in extracurricular and athletic activities.
Finally, the board approved amendments to the Habersham Central High School attendance policy that would allow students to earn credit for classes they have low attendance in without an appeal process if they are passing the class.
The Habersham Commission will meet again on Aug. 9 for their monthly meeting. The Board of Education will next meet Aug. 9.
