Few photos of a few council meetings

The various members of the municipal councils in Oconee County are to be quite commended for their dedication to public service as well as their city's well being and best interests. Each town has its own flavor for meetings, making a distinct and unique taste to the local governmental gatherings.

Bishop's town council meetings are like a gathering of old friends to discuss the weather (and politics). No one gets too upset when the attorney or a new member of council arrives a few minutes late to a meeting. The big news there this past week was of a book signing at the local Trade-A-Book for the reprinting of Celeste Gentry Sharp's book about Bishop March 3. Frustrations remain over lack of funds for their 441 By-Pass and no one going to bat for them on the state level.

Sometimes I get handed fruits and vegetables when I attend their monthly meetings, and I always get invited back to their town suppers no matter what I wrote to make Nedra Johnson mad at me.

We share an affinity for history and the Iowa State Fair even if my choice of words does not always thrill her. But I salute her for her continued service and basketball ability. Mayor Johnny Pritchett and his wife/clerk Carolyn are always welcoming and friendly with a smile on their face and a story on their lips. Even though I do not live in Bishop, they always make me feel like family at every event I have ever attended in this historic community. I think in some ways Bishop is the best kept secret in Oconee County as a community to raise your kids or keep a family growing.

I did get to bat for Bishop in a slow pitch softball game against North High Shoals a few years back and nailed one over the fence off of Bishop council member (and Georgia's longest {?} consecutive serving elected official) Harold Parsons, who pitched for both teams

North High Shoals city council meetings have been extremely packed recently with all the discussion and information gathering for possible recall elections and even unincorporating the tiny local government. (Turns out it will take an act of the State Government to begin the process to dissolve the government).

As I had to squeeze in next to council member and former Duke wrestler Fred Johnson the other day at a standing room only meeting, he was being lambasted by a concerned resident over her musically-based noise complaint. The Mayor Jeff Thomas allowed this woman to give him the names of the offending musicians after the meeting to then deal with as they may in the city where 13 votes could ostensibly get you elected to the council. I heard tell of an editor chewing out a council member for his blaming the media for making the recall thing a whole lot bigger than it should have been. If North High Shoals kept counsel on retainer, they might not needed to fork out a reported $10,000.00 in legal fees.

Watkinsville's town council meetings are always run more like a nonadverseral military tribunal with ex-Marine Jim Luken of Cincinnati by way of Roswell in command. Even when the members disagree on something as contentious as a pouring license, the dissenting voters will ask their questions politely and move on to the next important topic. Floyd's Grill gets to pour some suds to their patrons at the diner on Main Street despite Messrs. Brodrick and Link's objections.

I find it difficult to believe that the entire south side of Watkinsville remains on septic tank service. It will take a miraculous agreement between several governmental entities and the private sector to get the sewer shared with industry on that side of town (and a few well placed lift stations).

The Board of Commissioners will vote on water next week and it will go a long way toward determining our future debt burden among other things. I am not certain as to what the answer is, but I approach this matter as a fiscal conservative not wanting to mortgage our children's future. We need to get sewer service to the Orkin tract yesterday.

That tract is near Bogart, and I have not been to one of their meetings recently enough to make commentary about their goings-on. Suffice to say some of the more heated statements have been made in Bogart's meetings. The disagreement with Mayor Jan Thurmond over the use of her son Bret as city engineer was the last major storm on my radar over there.

I cherish my time having covered council meetings in Oconee County's municipalities over the last decade and the familiar faces and friends I have made along the way.
Kudos to the Bishop family for taking on the thankless task of trying to get governments to agree on a sewer system for the industrial sector of the south side of Watkinsville. The soil no longer percolates in a lot of areas down there, and many businesses are reporting trouble with their septic systems. To say that the septic tanks are full of crap might be oversimplifying a complex waste problem, but it gets the idea across. We are at a critical crossroads in Oconee's future.