Oconee County, GA Politics

Citizens for Oconee's Future, Inc. P. O. Box 1301 Watkinsville, GA 30677 The hearing to validate the $66,000,000 Oconee County bond issue for its 3.5 million gallons per day share will be held at 9:30AM Nov. 6th at the Walton County Courthouse, Monroe, GA. Citizens who wish to intervene should read the legal announcement published in the Oconee Enterprise 10/25/07 and proceed accordingly. The Tuesday night Board of Commissioners meeting was quite a spectacle, primarily for what was missing. While they spent a considerable amount of time congratulating themselves on how well they have handled the water "crises" and how much water consumption has dropped, not a word was mentioned about the fact that water revenue drops along with reduced water consumption. All that projected revenue used to justify spending so much on so little in Walton County will evaporate just as quickly as the Bear Creek water has evaporated. Not a word was mentioned about long term w...

Citizens for Oconee's Future, Inc. P. O. Box 1301 Watkinsville, GA 30677 Just when you think you have heard all the bad news about the Walton County reservoir, comes this. Some will remember that Oconee's cost share for the first phase of the project was originally estimated to be $43,000,000. Sometime later the number being used was $48,000,000. The number used during the very short discussion of the bond issue last night was $49,800,000. Not only that, the Citigroup bond salesman who did part of the presentation recommended the Board approve a bond issue of $66,000,000 at up to 15% interest which the BOC approved with little discussion. The vote was 3-1 with Hale, Luke and Norris voting for the issue. (Hale voted against the original motion, go figure) It now appears that Oconee will have to validate the bonds and the stated reason for the $66,000,000 issue at up to 15% interest was to avoid going back to court to validate each issue of bonds plus a significant amount o...

Citizens for Oconee's Future, Inc. P. O. Box 1301 Watkinsville, GA 30677 The Oconee Board of Commissioners did not vote on the water project tonight. The Chairman ran the meeting as a meeting to get more citizen input. It is probable that a vote could come at the next agenda setting meeting which is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 27th. Hold this on your calendars and I will let you know once I confirm that it is on the agenda. Thanks to all who came out tonight. The meeting room was full with some standing outside. Ten citizens made presentations. A representative from the Jasper County Water and Sewer Authority discussed the proposed South River (Snapping Shoals) project as a less expensive option. An Oconee citizen with an interest in the proposed Jacks Creek project discussed the project as a less expensive alternative and another Oconee citizen with extensive experience in the use of groundwater as a source presented a paper on the feasibility of meeting our needs with grou...