Bogart City Council gets ugly

Bogart City Council
March 6, 2006
Oconee Living Section
Athens Banner-Herald

Bogart Mayor questioned about son’s engineering firm
By Daniel J. Matthews, Jr.
Correspondent

“We are pretty much stagnant in the water here, guys,” said Mayor Jan Thurmond to the lack of business growth reflected in an identical budget this fiscal year, but she might as well had been describing the tenor of the meeting with the Bogart City Council Monday evening.

Bogart Council member Gary Gunter garnered an addition to the agenda that caught Mayor Jan Thurmond off guard.

“City Engineers, what’s that about?” asked the Mayor Thurmond?

“I had that added on there,” answered the soft-spoken council member. He explained his discomfort with the engineering decisions made by Armentrout, Roebuck and Matheny and in particular, the mayor’s son Bret, who has been sitting at the table for the last several months. Council members Terri Glenn and Woody Bruce echoed Gunter’s sentiment, as did a member of the audience after the meeting had closed.

Many of the frustrations stem from tardy reports due to the EPD in Dec. 6, 2005 and a beautification grant that went by as well.

Developer Donnie Kittle threatened to remove his pending business relocations over disputes with engineering firm’s approval of the plans.

Bret Thurmond responded to the allegations of favoritism by saying that this firm plays both sides of the fence.

Mayor Thurmond suggested each of the members of the council could come up with their own engineering firms for the city to do business with in the future and to submit their suggestions individually.

North Oconee Fire Department chief Charlie Hoag spoke about how there was an unreported accident involving hazardous materials on the CSX Railroad Saturday morning near the town hall. A tanker car crumpled but was offloaded without incident, according to Hoag.

He is the husband of former Bogart mayor Robin Hoag. The North Oconee Fire Department is spending their budget building a mobile command unit for just such an emergency in the future. Hoag also reported three tornadoes came through Bogart last year, skirting some trees on one end and turning toward Statham on another. The third twister did not touch down.

The 14-foot response trailer – costing an estimated $3,000 - will be equipped with emergency response equipment and meals-ready-to-eat for 72 hours. That is what FEMA authorities suggested local governments should plan for a crisis. Communications could work with pre-existing equipment including cell phones and radios.

There is a contract between the city of Bogart and the Oconee County Sheriff’s Department for the enforcement of codes and violations to be delivered by the sheriff’s department with a letter from Sheriff Berry proving it.

The council also was supposed to have the third reading and vote on the new ordinance revisions and amendments, but instead opted for submitting them to the Northeast Georgia Regional Development Center. The council had been working on the revisions for more than two and a half years, and they have passed muster with city attorney David Wages. Wages also suggested that public input be factored in before the city submits the revisions to the RDC.

Council member Woody Bruce has found 34 different culverts under the road than indicated on a map to EPD.

Terri Glenn said the Bishop Spring Clean-Up will be April 28, 29 and 30th.

Iraqi war veteran Rusty Giles is coming back to Bogart March 20 and Mayor Thurmond approved his mention on the town sign.

The lone motion approved by the council was to submit the revisions to the RDC via Bret Thurmond, who works across the street at Armentrout, Roebuck and Matheny.

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