Week in Review
April 7 to April 13, 2007
--The City of Thomasville indicate that bringing water service to the area just outside the City of Thomasville is a 20-to-30 year plan and providing sewer services was a much more expensive proposition.
--Freezing temperatures on Easter cause problems.
--There are several fire calls of interest.
--The Thomasville City Council passed a rezoning issue on second reading that will allow for a commercial plant nursery.
--Two of four red-light cameras are operational at the intersection of US-319 and US-19 near Wal-Mart.
--The Legislature struggles with its final days.
--A political poll has been released of 800 likely Georgia voters is released.
CITY OUTLINES SERVICE TO THE USA
Thomasville City Manager Steve Sykes told a meeting of the Thomas County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday, April 10, that bringing water service to the area just outside the City of Thomasville is a 20-to-30 year plan, saying, "This will not happen overnight." Sykes said providing sewer services was a much more expensive proposition.
--The plan outlined Tuesday would double the number of households and businesses served in the Urban Service Area, the area designated by the city and county for development of water and sewer services. In order for the city to provide sewer services for the entire USA, Sykes said it would cost $50 million and that was "not cost-effective." Instead, Sykes said about $6 million in sewer expansion is being considered to serve 6,000 units. Then sewer services could expand as development grows. Sykes said the city's waste-water treatment plant has a capacity of 6.5 million gallons a day and the average is about 4.5 million gallons a day.
--Sykes said the plans were for water mains of 8, 12 or 16 inches to be installed in the USA. He said a water main has already been extended to the airport via the Dillon Road. A top priority, according to Sykes, is to tie the airport back into the rest of the city water system. He said the city has three water tanks with two more planned.
FREEZE LOSSES
Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin said Thursday, April 12, that he hoped to have an estimate of the monetary losses next week from the cold temperatures that caused significant damage to peach and apple crops in the state. Irvin said it was too early to determine if farmers qualify for federal disaster assistance from the Easter freeze. Irvin's latest damage assessment, based mostly on a county-by-county survey by agricultural Extension agents, shows the following losses: Peaches, 100% loss in North Georgia, 55% to 60% loss in Middle Georgia, and 75% loss in South Georgia; Pecans, grown mostly in southern Georgia, 70% to 80% loss; North Georgia wine grapes, 100% loss; Blueberries, grown mostly in southeastern Georgia, 90% loss; Strawberries, grown mostly in southern Georgia, 90% loss.
--There was good news: the freeze did not damage Georgia's $75 million crop of Vidalia onions. Irvin said the tobacco crop was not far enough along to be hurt by the freezing temperatures, and growers are still assessing damage to corn. Peanuts and cotton have not been planted yet.--Sunday morning's low temperature in Thomasville was 32-degrees. The record low for the date was 30-dregrees in 1950.
FIRE CALL
A house in the county was heavily damaged in a fire Friday, April 6. Thomasville Fire-Rescue units were called at 5:40PM to BJS Road, off of Old Cassidy Road. The single-story wood frame house was already heavily involved in flames on the arrival of fire units. A debris pile nearby the house had indications of being burned and fire personnel noted a fire path from the pile to the house. A shed was also destroyed. The vinyl siding on a house next door was melted on the side facing the burning house. No injuries were reported.--The Thomas County Fire Department was called to 1753 Rogers Road Monday, April 9, at 5:50PM, on a fire call. On arrival they found food cooking on a stovetop had burned and the resident had put it out with flour. Flame damage was reported to the stove and a microwave above the stove and there was smoke in the rest of the residence. No injuries were reported.
--Fire calls have been reported by the Thomasville Fire-Rescue Department. A malfunctioning dishwasher at 201 Charnie Drive brought fire units about 9:30PM Tuesday, April 10. The fire in the dishwasher was out of arrival of fire units but there was considerable smoke in the residence that was cleared by fire personnel.
--About 10:30PM Tuesday fire units went to a residence at 1656 Hall Road when smoke began backing up from a malfunctioning fireplace. Fire personnel extinguished the fire and pulled the smoke from the house. They advised not to use the fireplace until it had been repaired.--A mobile home in the county was destroyed in a fire reported about 10AM Tuesday, April 10. County Fire Department reports say the single-wide structure was at 95 Bulloch Road, Ochlocknee, and it was already fully involved in flames on arrival of the first units. There is no indication of the cause of the fire.
--The Thomasville Fire-Rescue Department burned a house Thursday, April 12, in a training exercise. The fire was started about 8:20AM and was at 626 Hardaway Street. No injuries were reported during the exercise.
ZONING ISSUES AT CITY COUNCIL MEETING
The Thomasville City Council passed a rezoning issue on second reading that will allow for a commercial plant nursery at 415 Fletcher Street. The council also acted on other zoning issues during a regular meeting Monday night, April 9.
--After a delay where the applicant and neighbors worked out differences over the appearance of the nursery, the council passed the second reading to allow the nursery by changing the zoning from R-2 to C-1, Limited Use, Commercial Plant Nursery Only. The property is bordered by Fletcher Street, Victoria Place and Lester Street. Jason Little of Jacksonville says he wants a "high-end" retail nursery sales location where the plants will be grown elsewhere. Concerns of neighbors resulted in negotiations to limit the view of the nursery, especially from Fletcher Street. The neighbors had presented the results of the negotiations to the council to make it part of the rezoning ordinance, but council members said those were best as part of a private agreement between the neighbors and the developer. The only point the council agreed to make part of the rezoning ordinance was to have no commercial access to the property from Fletcher Street. During the discussion of the issue at workshop before the meeting, Duane Treadon, the City's Planning and Zoning Administrator, said there was a meeting planned in May to begin the process of establishing a Fletcherville Historic District.
--The council passed on first reading a rezoning of 510 North Crawford Street from R-1 to R-2, Limited Use, Professional Offices. The applicant, Stanley Smith, wants to establish his architectural office at the location. Smith will be able to put in a paved driveway at the location.
--The council passed on first reading the rezoning of property at 1907 Martin Luther King Boulevard from M, manufacturing, to R-2, Limited Use, to allow the establishment of 14 lots of single-family housing. The applicant is the New Generation Christian Center. The property is near the old Warner's factory.
--The council approved a final plat for Grove Pointe, Phase II. The development is 189 lots in phase one and two off of Cassidy Road near Cassidy Pond.
--In other action, council member Roy Campbell said the council needed a standing committee to help it keep track of planning and zoning issues that would be coming up. He urged Mayor David Lewis to appoint the committee and Lewis appointed Campbell and council member Max Beverly to the new Planning and Zoning committee.
REDLIGHT CAMERAS INSTALLED
Two of four red-light cameras are operational at the intersection of US-319 and US-19 near Wal-Mart. The cameras are designed to take the pictures of cars and their license plates that run the red-lights at the intersection. Thomasville Police say the intersection is the worst in the city with 46 wrecks in 2006. Thomasville Police Capt. Mark Scott said, "If somebody goes through that intersection after the red light, it triggers the camera, it records a video of the car going through and it also takes a still shot, and zooms in and gets the license plate." After review by a police officer, offenders will get a ticket through the mail with pictures of the incident. The fine is $70. The system is installed at no cost to the city by a private company which will operate the system. The fines will cover the expense of the company. The entire system will be operational in two weeks with a 30-day grace period after that when violators will get warnings.
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
As Legislators come back Tuesday, April 19, from a week break, there are seven days left in the legislative session and the House and Senate still have to approve the amended supplemental budget for 2007 and the 2008 budget. This in addition to the substantial legislation still to be acted on. There is no real plan for how the Legislature will work things out. It looks like large-scale tax reform, a solution to metro Atlanta's traffic problems and changes to the state's hospital regulatory system – the certificate-of-need reform – may have to be dropped this session.
--The supplemental 2007 budget with an increase of $711 million is caught in a dispute between the House that has plans for spending the money and the Senate that wants to pay down the state debt with $181 million and use another $20 million to add to the state's reserve fund. That means several programs approved by the House has to be dropped.
--Meanwhile, without an approved amended budget, PeachCare is essentially out of money, but state officials say the program will get what it needs to stay viable. The state public defender's office is in a similar situation, needing extra money to finish out the 2007 fiscal year. That office is still making payroll but has been holding other bills until it gets more money from the amended budget.
SUPPLEMENTAL BUDGET ACTED ON
An agreement has been reached among Legislative leaders on a supplemental mid-year budget, leaving a short amount of time for finding agreement on the larger $20.2 billion 2008 budget. Meanwhile, key legislation has yet to make it to a floor vote with just six days left in the 40-day session.
--The supplemental budget agreement would give homeowners a $142 million dollar one-time tax break with each average homeowner getting a property tax refund of about $100. The plan also provides $81 million dollars for the state's PeachCare health insurance program for poor children, more than $8 million for the public defenders program and about $40 million to aid the startup of a KIA car plant in west Georgia.
--Because of various constitutional requirements on how many times budget bills have to be read, and the number of legislative days it takes to do that, the House needs to pass its version of the 2008 budget by Thursday. That will be the 36th legislative day. House Speaker Glenn Richardson House Speaker said Tuesday that the final day of the session, would be April 20, or Friday week, no matter if a budget was passed or not. Governor Sonny Perdue has indicated that if the session ends without a budget, he will call a special session for the next Saturday.
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Wednesday was the thirty-fifth day of the 2007 session and 5 days remained. Governor Sonny Perdue said he has "concerns" about a tax break for Georgia homeowners that state lawmakers put together as part of an effort to resolve a impasse over the state budget. Senate and House Republican leaders agreed to the $142 million tax cuts late Tuesday night. The deal is expected to give the state's homeowners a one-time payout expected to average $100. Among the consequences of the proposed budget is a possible layoff of state literacy workers and a $1 million shortfall in the funding of state District Attorney offices. The compromise 2007 supplemental budget will move forward Friday, when the House and Senate are both expected to vote to send it to the Governor. The 2008 budget is expected to be voted on by the House Appropriations Committee today.
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
The House is expected to take up the proposed $20.2 billion dollar budget for the 2008 fiscal year Friday, April 13. A House committee Thursday passed the budget which includes an additional $40 million dollars for the state education funding formula that supporters say will help alleviate the austerity cuts schools suffered. There is also a pay raise for state troopers, more money for the ethics commission, extra money for schools, and funding for Governor Perdue's "Go Fish" initiative to boost tourism. Still, while the House gave him $18 million of the $19 million dollars he wanted for "Go Fish," it cut completely the $50 million he wanted for land conservation grants. The House budget also puts more money into school construction and provides $5 million for the the development of charter schools, which are allowed to operate free from traditional constraints.
POLITICAL POLL
A political poll has been released of 800 likely Georgia voters conducted by Strategic Vision, a public relations company in Atlanta that is associated with Republicans in the state. The poll was conducted April 5 to April 7, 2007, and has a margin of error of 3%. In the poll, 368 (46%) Republican voters were surveyed; with 328 (41%) Democratic voters surveyed; and 104 (13%) Independents and other party affiliation polled.
--When Republicans were polled on whom they would support in 2008 for the Republican Presidential nomination, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani received 23%; Senator John McCain received 17%; Former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson received 12%; Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich 10%; Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney received 5%; Congressman Tom Tancredo 3%; Kansas Senator Sam Brownback received 3%; former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson received 3%; former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee received 2%; Senator Chuck Hagel 1%; former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore 1%; Texas Congressman Ron Paul received 1%; California Congressman Duncan Hunter 1%; and 18% undecided.
--For Democrats side, New York Senator Hillary Clinton led with 25%; Illinois Senator Barack Obama 22%; former North Carolina Senator John Edwards received 20%; New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson received 4%; former General Wesley Clark received 3%; Delaware Senator Joseph Biden received 3%; Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd received 1%; Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich 1%; and 21% were undecided.
--The poll found that 57% of respondents approved of Governor Sonny Perdue's job performance, with 34% disapproving, and 9% undecided. Senator Saxby Chambliss received a 53% approval rating with 38% disapproving, and 9% undecided. Senator Johnny Isakson received a 54% approval rating, with 32% disapproving, and 14% undecided.
--In a potential Senate match-up between Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss and Democrat DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones, Chambliss led 57% to 29%; with 14% undecided.
--President Bush's overall approval was 38% approving, 48% disapproving, and 14% undecided. When asked if they approved of the President's handling of the economy, 46% approved; 42% disapproved; and 12% were undecided. When asked if they approved of the President's handling of the Iraq War, 33% approved; 52% disapproved; and 15% were undecided. When asked if they approved of the President's handling of the war on terrorism, 49% said approved; 39% disapproved; and 12% were undecided.
--When asked if they thought Georgia was headed in the right direction or wrong direction, 56% said right direction; 31% said wrong direction; and 13% were undecided.