Just shy of 40 people gathered Tuesday evening at the Ruby Fulbright Aquatic Center in Clarkesville as Habersham County Commission Vice-Chairman Bruce Harkness and County Manager Alicia Vaughn delivered the State of the County Address.
Almost every seat in the room was full as they delivered the presentation, highlighting current county SPLOST projects like the new animal shelter, Habersham Emergency Services Central Station, courthouse improvements and 911 radio tower system, the county’s current finances and employment.
Habersham County Commission Vice-Chairman Bruce Harkness feels hopeful towards the future of community engagement in Habersham. (Hadley Cottingham/Now Habersham)
“I think we had had a large audience,” Harkness said. “I think it’s going to be good to get out the message to the people.”
Harkness and Vaughn were both pleased with the turnout. Their goal for the event was to inform the public of the county’s current position in its operations, as well as take questions from the community with the county commissioners present.
Harkness says that the current commission and county officials’ steps to make the county more transparent with residents are paying off, bringing forward community engagement.
“I think in the past, the problem was the community wasn’t engaged,” Harkness said. “Now, we’re really starting to engage the community and involve the community, and I think it’s very important, and that’s one reason why I was elected. Number one, people used to not know what the heck was going on, and number two, things were just being done that nobody had any input [in], and I feel like we have to have input.”
Vaughn echoed those thoughts, mentioning County Public Information Officer Carolyn Gibson’s work and the impact public information has in involving the Habersham community. She says that those communications are essential to keeping the community in the loop and giving them information and resources to connect with their local government— something that, in her opinion, is at the root of making an impact.
“Honestly, it’s just difficult sometimes to get people to take an interest in local government,” Vaughn said. “What I would like to tell those people, if I could get to them, is that if you want to make an impact, doing it at the local government level is the best way to do it. Because this group that I work with, the commissioners, they will listen, and you will be heard if you come to these things.”
Vaughn says she wants local government to be as accessible to the public as possible.
Habersham County Manager Alicia Vaughn wants local government to be as accessible to the Habersham community as possible, encouraging citizens to bring their questions and concerns forward to them. (Hadley Cottingham/Now Habersham)
“I know a lot of people get frustrated, and they’re like ‘it doesn’t matter,’ . . . but you can make a difference,” she says. “You have to take an interest in your local government and you have to come out.”
Four of the five county commissioners were present at the meeting to take citizen questions and hear their concerns, such as a growing senior center, public safety needs and pay for county employees. The commissioners and Vaughn were able to provide insight on some of those issues, as well as assure citizens that their concerns would be looked into.
“There’s always room for improvement,” Vaughn said. “I get encouraged when we do these, I feel like it’s baby steps [towards improvement].”
Baldwin Police Chief Jeff Branyon shared the department's progress with the council, reflecting on six months as the city's police chief. (Hadley Cottingham/Now Habersham)
After six months of serving as the City of Baldwin’s Police Chief, Jeff Branyon delivered an update to the Baldwin City Council Monday on the state of the department and reflected on the changes they’ve made.
Branyon recounted the police department’s rebranding efforts to have a community-centric approach to policing, their transparency goals, upgrades to weapons, taser systems andbodycams, updates to their policies to match current law enforcement standards, and training their officers in Narcan administration and crisis intervention.
The Baldwin City Council heard a progress report and update from Baldwin Police Cheif Jeff Branyon at their Monday night meeting. (Hadley Cottingham/Now Habersham)
“The goal was community policing,” Councilwoman Stephanie Almagno said. “It feels, with the change away from tactical dress, and more neighborhood patrols and knowing the officers, it feels like we’re heading in that direction. So thank you.”
The department has also made progress in tackling a backlog of criminal history reports for the Georgia Crime Information Center (GCIC) database, and Branyon expects to be caught up with those reports by the end of next month.
Branyon says he’s pleased with where the Baldwin Police Department is, but they still have room to grow.
“We’re not where we want to be, but I don’t know that we’ll ever be where we want to be,” Branyon tells Now Habersham. “I think if you get complacent, you’re not doing your job, so I think we’re going to always be evolving. What’s the next thing, how do we serve the community better?”
Even with all the progress Branyon had to report to the council, staffing for Baldwin’s Police Department, like in many public safety departments around the county, continues to be a struggle.
Branyon reported his department’s current status and six-month progress, citing their movement towards their goals and intention to keep progressing. (Hadley Cottingham/Now Habersham)
“Staffing is a challenge, people aren’t beating the doors down to be police officers right now,” Branyon says. “That’s the reality. Right now I have one opening that I’m trying to fill for a full-time officer. I’ve had a couple of officers we’re talking to, I’m hoping one of these is going to work out and we’ll land them.”
The department currently has four full-time officers and two part-time officers.
Staffing in the coming year is something the police department is determining as they go through their budget and determine what full-staff will look like for the city. But he says 24-hour police coverage, which they are currently relying on the help of the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office to cover, is in the near future for Baldwin.
“The goal is to make that happen as soon as we can possibly do that,” Branyon says. “I think that’s in the near future.”
The council was happy with his report, extending their appreciation for his leadership and the department as they make the changes they hoped to see in their city’s law enforcement.
“We absolutely appreciate you,” Councilman Maarten Venter said. “What the police department has done in conjunction with GCIC in the last few weeks here is nothing short of phenomenal, especially considering the state of law enforcement in America as a whole right now.”
WASHINGTON (GA Recorder) — The Biden administration announced Tuesday it will withdraw an emergency mandate that would have required employees at large businesses to get the COVID-19 vaccine or test regularly for the virus.
The decision from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which will take effect Wednesday, follows a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this month that blocked the rule from taking effect.
The Biden administration first announced last year that it would try to curb the rise in coronavirus infections by implementing stricter standards on workplaces.
The OSHA emergency mandate was one of several workplace mandates and would have required businesses with 100 or more employees to ensure that their workers had received the COVID-19 vaccine or were tested regularly and wore a mask during work hours.
Fines for violating the mandate could have ranged from a few thousand dollars for a first offense to as much as $136,000 for violations determined to be “willful.”
Republican attorneys general from 27 states challenged the OSHA requirement, arguing that Congress didn’t give the agency the authority to require vaccinations.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr is among the top state prosecutors who challenged the workplace mandate and he expressed vindication on Twitter soon after the withdrawal of the mandate.
🚨 BREAKING: In the wake of Georgia’s Supreme Court victory, the Biden administration has abandoned its effort to implement an emergency vaccination mandate for private businesses and their employees. The temporary rule will be withdrawn tomorrow.
A majority of the Supreme Court sided with that argument earlier this month, with Justices Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito writing that “The answer is clear: Under the law as it stands today, that power rests with the States and Congress, not OSHA.”
The court’s three liberal justices, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, dissented, saying COVID-19 “is a menace in work settings” and that OSHA’s emergency temporary standard falls “within the core of the agency’s mission: to ‘protect employees’ from ‘grave danger’ that comes from ‘new hazards’ or exposure to harmful agents.”
President Joe Biden said in a statement following the ruling that he would continue advocating for businesses and states to implement COVID-19 safety standards.
“The Court has ruled that my administration cannot use the authority granted to it by Congress to require this measure, but that does not stop me from using my voice as President to advocate for employers to do the right thing to protect Americans’ health and economy,” he said.
OSHA said Tuesday that while it will withdraw the emergency temporary standard, it will continue “prioritizing its resources to focus on finalizing a permanent COVID-19 Healthcare Standard.”
The City of Baldwin is moving forward with development at Airport Business Park now that a covenant between the city and Habersham County Development Authority are official, and a variance from the city’s minimum development standards has been granted for the business park.
The covenant details how development will move forward at the business park, which the city and Habersham County Development Authority agreed on during a joint meeting Thursday. The covenant states that the stormwater retention ponds will be held to the standards they were originally designed as and that the HCDA will have the ponds inspected annually.
Baldwin Mayor Joe Elam reads the city’s zoning map amendment into the record. The amendment was approved unanimously by the council, just after their unanimous approval of the covenant. (Hadley Cottingham/Now Habersham)
The Baldwin City Council voted unanimously on Monday night to approve both the covenant and second reading of the variance from the minimum development standards with Habersham County Development Authority Director Mike Beecham and Partnership Habersham Executive Director Charlie Fiveash present.
After the approval, members of the council breathed a sigh of relief, and even celebrated with applause, as they began the process of closing their part of the stormwater and business park development process.
Habersham County Development Authority Director Mike Beecham (front) and Partnership Habersham Executive Director Charlie Fiveash look on as city council members cast their unanimous votes. (Hadley Cottingham/Now Habersham)
The council’s passage of a zoning map amendment will grant developers at the business park a variance from the city’s minimum development standards regarding the stormwater ponds at the business park and hold them to their as-built standards instead.
“It’s always great to finish something, especially something that you’ve worked so hard on,” Elam said. “This has been an enlightening process for me, even though I’ve served on council for 10 years, you learn something new every day.”
Now that the covenant is official and the variance has had its second reading, development can move forward at the business park.
“We’re so thankful that is done,” Elam said. “It took a long time, but it was immensely important to this council as a whole that everything was done right— and sometimes it takes us a little bit longer to get it done right, but it’s better than coming back [to it].”
Titan’s 50,000-square-foot (plus room to expand) plant in Murrayville, Ga., is used to manufacturer both hollow metal doors/frames and other correctional industry products. (photo courtesy Correctional News)
Titan Steel Door will invest more than $11 million in expanding its operations to Gateway Industrial Park in Hart County. This expansion will create 90 new jobs in northeast Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Tuesday.
“Georgia’s highly skilled workforce is one of the key assets that not only attracts job creators from other states but also leads employers already here to expand,” said Kemp. “As Titan Steel Door continues to grow in the No. 1 state for business, I look forward to seeing the new opportunities they will bring to hardworking Georgians in Hart County.”
Titan Steel Door currently has manufacturing operations in Murrayville where it employs more than 30 people in Lumpkin County. As part of this expansion, the company will open a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility spanning more than 145,000 square feet, located at 2052 Knox Bridge Crossing Road in Hartwell. With production beginning this month, this investment will allow for increased capacities in both their current product line of detention doors/frames and windows, as well as their new product lines of detention walls and ceilings.
“Titan Steel Door is thrilled to be expanding our operations in Hartwell,” said Titan President Dick Treadwell. “We’re proud to be a part of the Hartwell community and look forward to expanding not only our business but also our presence in the local community.”
Titan Steel Door will be hiring for positions in welding, press brake and machine operators, finishing, painting, material handling, project management and design (Solidworks), along with others. Individuals interested in career opportunities with the company are encouraged to email [email protected] for additional information.
Lee Arrendale State Prison in Alto, Georgia. (NowHabersham.com)
Back in September 2021, an ad hoc committee of members of the Georgia House of Representatives, all Democrats, wanted to know more about what was going on in Georgia prisons.
They listened to a string of people ranging from civil rights attorneys, prison reform advocates, the formerly incarcerated, and calling into the hearing, a guard from Lee Arrendale State Prison in northeastern Georgia.
“At any given time, about how many people are on duty to supervise the whole prison?” asked Rep. Josh McLaurin, the leader of the session as he held up his phone to one of the tiny microphones sprouting from the conference table.
The guard’s voice came through the speakers in the ceiling.
“On a good day, six to seven officers,” the guard replied.
“And that’s for how many people incarcerated?” McLaurin asked.
“At the moment, it’s 1,200 or so,” the guard said to muted gasps around the room.
“When it comes to medical care, we lack the ability to get them into our medical facility due to the fact that we just we don’t have any officers,” the guard added.
Even something as basic for hygiene as menstrual pads can’t reliably be shared with so few guards, he said.
Ratios like that likely repeat across Georgia’s correctional system. People with loved ones in prison blame the lack of guards for everything from lapses in medical care to the skyrocketing homicide and suicide rates in the prisons. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice is almost six months into what is expected to be a yearlong civil rights investigation of the Georgia Department of Corrections. From the start, understaffing at the state’s prisons has been seen as a possible symptom of a greater dysfunction.
And while staffing prisons at a safe level has always been a challenge, there’s one date that really signals a watershed in that struggle.
Just ask former warden Jose Morales.
Georgia State House Member John McLaurin holds his phone to a conference room microphone so fellow members of an ad hoc committee of house members can hear the testimony of a correctional officer at Lee Arrendale State Prison in September 2021. (Grant Blankenship/GPB News)
Morales really has a mind for dates. For instance, there’s Aug. 24, 1976.
“I joined the Army on Aug. 24th of 1976,” he said during a conversation in Savannah, where he and his wife are now retired. “I was an Army Airborne Ranger, and I served 23 years before I retired from the Army.”
Though with full military retirement, Morales was only in his 40s then. So he looked for something new. At a job fair, a recruiter sold him on a corrections job — that the discipline he learned in the military would translate well for running a prison.
“I joined the Georgia Department of Corrections and I was hired on July 15 of 1999,” he said.
It was about halfway through that second, 22-year-long career when Morales lived through another important date: Dec. 7, 2010.
Back then, Morales was warden at Coastal State Prison near Savannah. He can still describe a perfect day there, at least for the people whose job it is to run the place.
“We start out the day by waking them up,” he said. “And they start cleaning the facility. And then around 9 o’clock, we conduct our inspections.”
Lockers are checked. Tidiness of bunks, too. It’s all part of the military-style discipline Morales said prisons need to function properly. And he said, when prisons work, it’s not only good for the staff, it’s good for the incarcerated.
For one thing, he said, it makes prison less violent. Then there are what may seem like more intangible things, at least in terms of day-to-day routine.
“We address their addictive needs — alcohol or drug or both,” Morales said. “And we also provide them with educational opportunities.”
All are things that can help people leave prison and never come back.
Today, though, Morales said a perfect day in a Georgia prison, at least from a correctional officer’s perspective, is almost unheard of. And here is why Morales has hung onto that date in December 2010.
“On Dec. 7, 2010, we had a multiple sit-downs,” he said.
It was a labor strike among the incarcerated, organized via text message from illegal, contraband cellphones.
“From one prison to the next, from one gang to the next gang,” Morales said.
Morales said the texting and planning went on for months, starting back in the summer of 2010.
The imprisoned would tell their guards to get ready for what was coming. Morales said not knowing actually what was coming kept staff on edge. But while some organizers may have threatened violence against their neighbors, the idea was a non-violent protest against prison staff across all Georgia correctional institutions.
“And so they actually sat down on their bunks or stairway or whatever, and they refused all of our instructions,” he said.
This lasted for over a week. Organizers talked about a lawsuit if the strike didn’t get them what they wanted.
“So when that happened, it completely stopped Corrections.”
By the time the strike ground the prisons’ day-to-day routine to a halt, Morales said correctional officer morale was already very low.
“They were very unhappy,” he said.
For instance, there had already been forced furloughs — unpaid days off — as the state attempted to close a budget gap.
“Which turned out to be, you know, for some people, a car payment,” Morales said of the money lost in the furloughs.
Others struggled more.
“Some of these officers had to supplement their income by getting on what we used to call welfare.”
And so, Morales said, many walked away.
We’ll never know if the strike was truly the last straw, but the record one-year loss of employees after the labor strike — over 2,000 by 2011 — has not been repeated in state data since. It would take another nine years for Georgia Corrections staffing levels to fall to the level posted that year.
Meanwhile, the number of incarcerated people barely changed and the homicide rate inside Georgia prisons has climbed to four times the city of Atlanta’s.
Tamika Streater said she witnessed the dangers of too few guards for too many incarcerated people in her time last year as a correctional officer cadet.
“Now, I’m gonna be honest with you,” Streater said. “It’s so short-staffed at Phillips State Prison. They were so short-staffed.”
As a cadet at Phillips State Prison, located in Gwinnett County, Streater said she was only allowed to shadow a more experienced correctional officer until she could go through the Department of Corrections training program for final certification. Department policy is that non-certified officers are not to supervise the incarcerated.
Streater said that rule got bent.
“Officers was giving us the keys,” she said. “You’re not supposed to give a cadet the key. I don’t care if that’s to unlock the sally port or the A side or the B side. But they [were] giving us the keys.”
By the time Streater had keys put in her hand, she’d already seen enough to realize this was risky.
“About two days prior to that, I walked in to work and a riot broke out; a fight broke out,” she said. About half a dozen rival members of the same gang, she said, were going after each other.
“And they [were] swinging shanks and everything,” she said. “And they only had one — they only had one guard, one guy that was on the CERT team with the guys swinging axes and knives and all that.”
The CERT team is made up of correctional officers specializing in emergency response. Streater said her certified mentor, a full-time officer, saw that the CERT team member needed help.
“She told me, ‘Come on, we’ve got to go down here,’” Streater remembered.
As a cadet, Streater knew to stay out of the fight. She kept to the side until other officers arrived and the brawl ended. The experience shook her up.
“God forbid, when you sign paper, you sign your life on the line,” Streater said.
Streater didn’t succeed in making it past cadet to certified officer last year. She has reapplied to the Georgia Department of Corrections and is trying again.
When Streater and people like her sign their life on the line, it’s for an average paycheck of $35,000 a year.
Guards from Lee Arrendale State Prison watch as the prison’s choir performs in Macon in 2017 during the signing of prison reform legislation by then-Governor Nathan Deal. (Grant Blankenship/GPB News)
Morales said from a recruitment standpoint, that is a tough sell. At times he said it isn’t even enough to get the officers already on the payroll to show up and clock in, not even for jobs he called “priority posts.”
“We have to fill this post in order to maintain safety and security,” he said. “At times, out of a 27-man-and-woman shift, three people would show up.”
What would help? Morales goes right back to pay.
“It should be in the neighborhood of $45,000 to $50,000,” he said. “And that would motivate them to come to work.”
Neighboring states Alabama and Tennessee already pay their correctional officers close to that.
In 2021, Morales finished out his career as warden of the high-security solitary confinement unit at Georgia Diagnostic Prison in Jackson, where the state also has its death row. There he saw one of the clearest examples of how people serving their prison sentences also suffer for lack of prison staffing.
A 2015 agreement made in federal court in the case Gumm v. Jacobs secured for prisoners in solitary at Georgia Diagnostic a minimum of three hours of sunlight a day, in something called a yard pen. That’s a 12-foot by 20-foot enclosure, open to the sky.
“It gives them the ability to see sunshine. It gives them the ability to release stress. It gives them the ability to interact with other offenders,” Morales said.
But for that to happen, Morales said safe movement from solitary cells to the yard pens has to be assured. Understaffing means it just isn’t. So prisoners in solitary do not get to see the sun.
The best relief Morales could manage for people who sometimes spend years with no mind but their own for company was a 5-minute shower, a few times a week.
This article appears on Now Habersham through a news partnership with GPB News
Habersham County Emergency Services respond to fire and medical calls through the county, saving lives every day. But first responder staffing shortages have proven to be a challenge county-wide, and HCES is looking for ways to bring on more staff.
To be fully staffed, according to HCES Chief Jeffrey Adams, the department needs to have 19 people on staff each day. Right now, they’re running eight people short.
The county has brought in incentives, like premium pay, for first responders to help bring in more workers with that staff shortage.
HCES Cheif Jeffrey Adams says that while HCES’s staff work hard to keep everyone safe, they need to grow their firefighter and EMS teams. (Daniel Purcell/Now Habersham)
“It’s extra money if you’ll come in and work, and to a degree, that helps some, but it hasn’t been filling all the needs,” Adams says.
Adams says that HCES is able to get the work they need to do done and that they’re able to keep the county safe, but it’s thanks to HCES staff being willing to work extra hours. At the same time, though, rewarding that hard work with promotions isn’t something the department can easily do with its staffing limitations.
“We’re holding off on some promotions just because in promoting people, then they come off of trucks,” Adams says. “There’s been times when, for instance, the captain hasn’t been able to ride in his vehicle because he’s a paramedic and he’s had to staff an ambulance.”
Solving the problem with job postings and premium pay is a start, but it isn’t the answer. Adams and former HCES Director Chad Black both say that the solution to staffing emergency services starts with investing in the community— specifically, in young people.
Being seen in schools
HCES is working on bringing EMS and firefighter programs to Habersham Central High School that would let high school students jumpstart their careers in emergency services, giving them an opportunity to walk across the stage at graduation and right into a career.
Black told Now Habersham that offering training opportunities like those proposed is “growing our own” emergency services workforce in Habersham County. He believes giving local citizens the opportunity to train and join the force is the way to grow their staff to the size they need.
“If we start growing our own and training them as an EMT, firefighter and medic, and they sign contracts that they have to work here for an extended period of time or they have to pay the county back, that’s going to help,” Black said.
Adams agrees, saying that bringing those new graduates onto the force will help the community and emergency services grow. He hopes that getting HCES involved in schools can start even sooner than high school, though.
Adams says that being involved in area schools and planting seeds in children for a future in emergency services is a way to solve staffing shortages in the long run. (Hadley Cottingham/Now Habersham)
“I think that if we start getting back into the elementary schools, and those kids start seeing us, and seeing the firemen, and seeing the firetruck and seeing the ambulance, and you stay with them and you stay involved with them all the way up to their high school careers, you might plant some seeds,” Adams says.
He hopes to start a program where fire stations throughout the county, including city departments, “adopt” a school where emergency services can be involved in young students’ lives. He says that could be mentoring, eating lunch with students or even reading to them would all make an impact— it’s about being seen.
“The sheriff’s department, they’ve got the school resource officers, and I think they’ve got a special relationship with the kids in the school,” Adams said. “And we need to be there, we need to be invested in those kids.”
One person was killed when fire swept through this house on Rose Creek Lane north of Dahlonega on Jan. 23, 2022. (State Fire Marshal's Office)
The State Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the cause of a fatal weekend house fire near Dahlonega, but officials say it appears it was accidental. A male, who has yet to be identified, was killed in the fire on Rose Creek Lane.
According to officials, the fire broke out around 8:18 a.m. on Sunday, January 23, and completely destroyed the 16-year-old, 200-square-foot residence.
“Upon extinguishing the fire, the victim’s body was found inside the structure,” says Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John King. “Due to the severity of the fire, no exact cause has been pinpointed at this time, and the deceased has been transported to the GBI crime lab for autopsy and identification.”
The State Fire Marshal’s Investigations Unit is assisting Lumpkin County Emergency Services, the Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Office, and the Lumpkin County Coroner’s Office in this investigation.
This marks the 17th fire death in Georgia this year. Several of those deaths have occurred in North Georgia, including the January 21st death of Demorest resident Johnny Higginbotham and two people who died in a fire on January 13 in Rabun Gap.
Anthony Keith Bellotte, age 62, of Lula, passed away on Monday, January 24, 2022.
Born on August 10, 1959, in Atlanta, he was a son of the late James Gilbert Bellotte, Sr. and Mary Elizabeth Shelnut Bellotte. Mr. Bellotte was a self-employed painter who enjoyed attending church at Mainstreet Gospel. He also enjoyed spending time with his family, whom he dearly loved and cared for. In his spare time, he was an outdoorsman who was especially fond of hunting for arrowheads. Described by his family as the life of the party, he loved life and greatly enjoyed making others laugh. Mr. Bellotte was a classic example of a good neighbor, and his family is grateful to all the neighbors who returned the love and care during his recent illness.
He is survived by daughter, Heather Bellotte of Lula; son Josh Bellotte of Lula; grandson, Parker Bellotte of Lula; brothers and sisters-in-law, James Gilbert Bellotte, Jr. (Kathy) of Homer, Herbert Bellotte (Shelby) of Alto, and Tony Wilson of Cornelia; sisters and brothers-in-law, Brenda Aldridge (James Turpin) of Gillsville, Marlene Kingsbury (David) of Clearwater, Florida, Teresa Mote of Lula, Loretta Meeks of Lula, and Tammy Greenway or Raleigh, North Carolina; numerous nieces, nephews, other relatives, friends, and neighbors.
Funeral services are 2 pm on Thursday, January 27, 2022, in the Chapel of McGahee-Griffin & Stewart with Rev. David Chapman and Rev. Grady Saxon officiating.
The family will receive friends from 12 noon until the service hour on Thursday, at the funeral home.
Those in attendance are asked to please adhere to public health and social distancing guidelines regarding COVID-19.
Habersham County residents who want to learn more about their local government are welcome to attend a State of the County presentation tonight. The event is scheduled for 6 p.m., Jan. 25 at the Ruby C. Fulbright Aquatic Center in Clarkesville.
County Commission Vice-Chair Bruce Harkness and County Manager Alicia Vaughn will deliver a PowerPoint presentation followed by a question and answer session. Harkness says the event will provide residents with an overview of the county’s current financial situation and operations.
“We’ve got at least four major projects going on right now that we plan to discuss – employment opportunities with the county, and all the county financials,” he says. “We also plan to discuss the census data.”
Projects to be discussed include:
Habersham’s new 911 cell towers and public safety radio system
Construction of the new central fire station/911 center and “state-of-the-art” animal shelter
Completion of the top floor of the county courthouse
“We are quite busy raising the funds and getting grants and securing the bonds through SPLOST to pay for all of these projects,” says Harkness.
Harkness and Vaughn delivered a similar presentation to the county’s economic development council in December. The public is encouraged to attend the State of the County address this evening. The Aquatic Center is located on Highway 17 in Clarkesville.
A livestream and recording of the meeting will be available here.
Editor’s Note: The following legislative update is from Rep. Victor Anderson (R-Cornelia) who represents the 10th State House District of Georgia. The District includes portions of Habersham and White counties. Anderson presently serves on the House Energy, Utilities & Telecommunications Committee, Governmental Affairs Committee, and State Planning & Community Affairs Committee. He also chairs the study committee on annexation and cityhood issues.
Rep. Victor Anderson (R-Cornelia)
Greetings from under the Gold Dome!
Tuesday, January 18, marked the beginning of what we refer to as, “budget week.” The only thing that we are constitutionally required to do during our 40-day session is pass a balanced budget. While balancing a budget seems simple enough, when dealing with billions of dollars, it can be quite challenging. As many states continue to find themselves under stressful budget cuts, our fiscal conservatism, and the fact that our state remained open for business through the pandemic, have made it possible for us to stay on par with pre-pandemic budget allocations.
Over the last week, House and Senate Appropriations Committees held a series of joint budget hearings, which gave us the chance to closely examine Governor Kemp’s recommendations. As our state’s fiscal year begins July 1, we are in the first stages of crafting two budget bills: The full 2023 Fiscal Year budget and the 2022 Amended Fiscal Year budget. Please see below an outline of budget happenings.
As always, I will be updating you weekly on all happenings concerning your government at work. If you have concerns or questions regarding legislation, I ask that you reach out to our office directly. Thank you for allowing me the honor and privilege of serving our home under the Gold Dome. May God bless you, and may He continue to bless the great state of Georgia.
2022 Fiscal Year- Spending Changes
The 2022 budget will be amended to reflect a more accurate estimate of state revenue and accounts for discrepancies between the projected estimate that was passed last year, and actual revenue obtained.
Governor Kemp began the week by presenting his recommendations to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. Highlighted below are a few spending changes, which include a taxpayer refund, proposed by Governor Kemp for the 2022 amended budget, which will end June 30 of this year:
$1.6 million in undesignated regular surplus to be used to provide refunds for all taxpayers for the 2021 tax year between $250 and $500.
$382 million to restore the Quality Basic Education (QBE) program and $5.5 million to restore other programs directly supporting K-12 instruction.
$56 million for transportation projects per HB 170 (2015 Session).
$4 million for the Integrated Eligibility System costs for the implementation of the Patients First Act (2019 Session).
Source: Georgia Budget & Policy Institute
2023 Full Fiscal Year Budget
In his State of the State Address last week, Governor Kemp announced that the 2023 fiscal year budget proposal is set for an estimated $30 billion. The governor listed his funding recommendations, and as expected, education and healthcare remain at the forefront of budget funding, receiving approximately 73% of the state’s overall budget. Public safety, transportation and general government round out the top spends collectively taking most of the remaining budget allocations.
Below is a highlight of Governor Kemp’s 2023 FY budget proposals:
Education
$2,000 pay raise to our K-12 teachers, assistant teachers, and pre-k teachers.
$1.4 billion in direct funding for our K-12 schools
Restores $388 million in both fiscal years to eliminate the austerity cuts that were made at the start of the pandemic.
$79 million to fund program growth to allow the HOPE programs to cover at least 90 percent of tuition at the state’s public institutions.
Restores more than $271 million in austerity cuts that were previously made to our higher education systems.
$35 million for the State Commission Charter Schools supplement to recognize a 23.79 percent increase in enrollment at state charter schools.
Healthcare
$139 million to implement the state’s reinsurance program and online health insurance portal to keep insurance plans and premiums more affordable.
Adds $85 million for improved provider rates to stabilize the state’s Medicaid system
$33.5 million to fund the state’s mental health crisis networks and services that benefit individuals with behavioral and developmental disabilities.
$27.8 million to provide a 10 percent provider rate increase, which would offset the rising costs of caring for our state’s foster children.
Public Safety
$1.6 million to establish a gang prosecution unit in the attorney general’s office and expand the state’s human trafficking unit.
Several million dollars for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s medical examiners and forensic services, which have experienced backlogs in processing criminal evidence.
$600 million to purchase a newer prison facility and build a 3,000 bed facility to house medium and high-security prisoners.
Rural Initiatives
$1.8 million for the Georgia Agricultural Trust Fund generated through agricultural tax exemption fees to provide funding for the maintenance and operations of state farmers’ markets and marketing and promotion of Georgia agricultural products.
$2.5 million for 136 residency slots and $1 million to Mercer University to address rural physician shortages.
Transportation
$48 million for the Department of Transportation to reflect FY 2021 motor fuel revenue collections.
$20 million for the Transportation Trust Fund for transportation projects, result of HB 511 (2021 Session).
$8 million for the Georgia Transit Trust Fund for transit projects, result of HB 511 (2021 Session).
What’s Next?
Although budget week has technically come to an end, our work is far from over. House Appropriation subcommittees will further study budget proposals, eventually passing portions of the suggested budget out of their respective committees. Following this process, those individually passed budgets will then go before the full House Appropriations Committee. Soon after, the budget will receive a full vote on the House floor.
When passed by the House, it then moves over to the Senate, where the process begins all over again. During Senate budget hearings, we will either approve or change House recommendations. If both Chambers agree on the budget, it goes to the Governor’s desk for his approval and signature. We will keep you updated on anything specific to our region.
Budget links
Here are some budget links you may find helpful in researching and understanding the state’s budget process:
Marvin M. Black, age 97, of Habersham County, Georgia passed away January 14, 2022, of natural causes. He lived a full and accomplished life and will be missed by all who knew him.
Mr. Black was born on August 2, 1924, in Atlanta, Georgia to Joseph J. Black and Mazie Mae Black (the former Mazie Allison of White County, Georgia). Marvin was the third of seven sons.
Mr. Black graduated from Atlanta’s Tech High School in 1942, and later that year was accepted into the Navy’s flight training program. He later obtained his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Georgia State University in 1958.
In 1944, during advanced flight training for combat in World War II, Lt. Marvin Black met the love of his life, Joeanne Rothwell, of Los Angeles, California, at a USO Club dance in El Centro, California. They were later married in nearby Yuma, Arizona, prior to Marvin’s deployment to the South Pacific as a Marine Corps fighter pilot. Joeanne and Marvin were married for 75 years before her passing in 2019. In 1945-46, Joeanne and her baby son would await Marvin’s return from the war while living with his parents in Atlanta. Marvin’s younger brothers referred to Joeanne as “Miss Hollywood” because she was so pretty! Marvin and Joeanne would go on to have four children: Michael, Laurel, Stephen, and Jennifer; nine grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. Son Stephen, a Vietnam Marine veteran, passed away in 2010.
During the war, Marvin was assigned to Marine Fighter Squadron VMF-115, part of Marine Aircraft Group12. In January 1945, he flew the illustrious Corsair in support of MacArthur’s retaking of the Philippine Islands. He flew 84 combat missions during World War II. His wartime decorations for valor and heroic achievement against the enemy included 3 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 9 Air Medals, a Presidential Unit Citation, a Navy Commendation Medal, and the Philippine Liberation Ribbon with bronze star.
At the close of World War II, Marvin’s squadron, as part of the 1st Marine Air Wing, was sent directly to China to aid in the surrender of the Japanese, and to support Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist Government in their efforts against the Chinese Communists. Marvin flew 25 missions while serving in China. He was ordered to return to the United States in February 1946, after serving 15 months away at war.
In 1950, Marvin was recalled to active duty upon the outbreak of the Korean War and served another 25 months in active service. He then returned once again to civilian life, and the Marine Corps Ready Reserve at NAS Atlanta. He was promoted to Lt. Colonel in 1961 and became commanding officer of Marine Reserve Squadron VMF-351, serving as CO until June 1965, when he was promoted to full Colonel. He was then relieved from his ready reserve flight status, and later the Reserve Forces in 1971; having served his country for 29 years in the armed forces. He officially retired from the Marine Corps in 1984. Marvin obtained his first civilian aircraft in 1965 and continued with his love of flying outside the military until 1989 at the age of 64.
After his war service, Marvin joined his father’s Atlanta-based construction company, J.J. Black & Company. Upon his father’s retirement in 1964, Marvin started Marvin M. Black Company. Over time, sons Michael and Stephen came into the business with their father. Marvin stressed to his sons not to ever burn any bridges, and not to write and send letters or emails in anger. Honesty and integrity were his watchwords, and to “do what you say you will do”. The Georgia company grew and expanded over the years, building projects such as the Sanford Stadium Addition at the University of Georgia in Athens, a major addition to the Atlanta Merchandise Mart, an 800-inmate medium security prison, the Burruss Correctional Training Center in Forsyth, Georgia, the HQ/Admin and Command Center for the U.S. Navy at the Trident Submarine Base at Kings Bay, the 40-story Park Place Residential Center in Buckhead, and modifications to the ancient Baltimore City Jail for the State of Maryland.
Over its history, the Georgia-based company’s operations extended from Texas, into the neighboring states of Florida, Tennessee, and South Carolina, and up into Maryland and Ohio. Besides general contracting, Marvin also developed real estate.
In 1973, the company constructed its first wooden roller coaster ride, the “Great American Scream Machine” for Six Flags. This unique building experience ultimately led the company into the international construction market, with its affiliate, Roller Coaster Corporation of America (RCCA). The company designed, manufactured, and constructed wooden amusement and theme park rides in Japan, Brazil, Spain, and Germany. RCCA designed, manufactured and constructed one of the largest and highest wooden structures in the world for Paramount in 2000, at 218 feet high!
Marvin, following in his father’s footsteps, was elected as president of the Georgia Branch, Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) in 1973. Continuing in the service to his industry, he was elected president of the national association in 1991.
In 1992, Marvin and Joeanne retired to their mountain home of 30 years in Habersham County, Georgia, where Marvin raised cattle for several years. During these years, Marvin enjoyed reading and sitting on his front porch, overlooking his green pastures and the picturesque North Georgia mountains. He enjoyed having a scotch and an occasional cigar with family and friends. Marvin also enjoyed boating on nearby Lake Chatuge, riding around his property in his Gator, and trout fishing on the Soque River.
Four days before he died, he watched the Georgia-Alabama National Championship game with his son and exclaimed “33—18!” several times when Georgia won.
A Celebration of his long and meaningful life will be held on Sunday, January 30, 2022. The Family will receive friends prior to the service at 2 pm. The service begins at 3 pm in the chapel of Cleveland Funeral Home: address 2721 Hwy 129 S, Cleveland, Georgia 30328. A reception will follow the service.
In the event of inclement weather, the service will be scheduled for the following Sunday.
In lieu of flowers, the family would like to memorialize Marvin’s lifelong dedication to his country. Anyone who would like to make a donation in his honor, please give to Wounded Warrior Project at www.woundedwarriorproject.org.
To leave an online condolence, view the memorial video, and additional service updates, please visit www.cleveland-funeralhome.com.
Arrangements by the professional staff of Cleveland Funeral Home 2721 Hwy 129 S Cleveland GA, 30528. 706-865-1500
