Georgia and American History
On June 22, 1633, Galileo Galilei recanted his published theory that stated the sun was the center of the world and the earth was not.
Georgia’s Trustees voted on June 22, 1737 to seek bids for building churches at Savannah and Frederica.
Georgia Whigs voted on June 22, 1775 to join a boycott against British goods. That same day, the Continental Congress approved the issuance of $2 million in debt-backed currency.
The donut was invented on June 22, 1847.
The Battle of Kolb’s Farm was fought near Marietta, Georgia on June 22, 1864.
The United States Department of Justice was established on June 22, 1870.
On June 22, 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the G.I. Bill.
On June 22, 1970, President Richard M. Nixon signed a law extending the 26th Amendment Right to Vote at age 18 to all federal, state, and local elections.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
Brace yourselves for 17 months of “Hillary Clinton can do what Michelle Nunn didn’t.” From the AJC:
Georgia has quietly become part of Hillary Clinton’s general election plans, even as her campaign accelerates its focus on key primary states.
Clinton’s advisers won’t talk publicly about anything beyond the Democratic primary. But they are telling local politicos that Georgia is a “Tier Two” state. As in, it’s not a swing state, but it could be.
That’s a steep climb in a state that saw Democratic hopes rise on the backs of a legacy ticket for governor and U.S. Senate in 2014, only to see neither Jason Carter nor Michelle Nunn surpass 45.2 percent. Democrats, however, see new opportunity in big presidential-year turnout as the state’s demographics slowly shift their way.
Georgia has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since another Clinton won the state in 1992. For 2016, Georgia Democrats are eagerly hoping for — though not expecting — serious money and manpower.
The Clinton campaign has hired a full-time staff member in Georgia, Ramone Rushing, and staged eight organizing meetings across the state, in what is billed as a play for Georgia’s Democratic primary but could be general election spadework, too.
Clinton’s director of state campaigns and political engagement, Marlon Marshall, and senior policy advisor Jake Sullivan also have traveled to Atlanta to brief Georgia Democrats on campaign strategy.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said he thinks Clinton’s appeal to women makes her a stronger candidate in Georgia than Obama. And because the state has not been tapped by a sophisticated get out the vote operation, like the Obama campaign unleashed in North Carolina and elsewhere, Reed argued Georgia has a lot of potential.
This will be the first time that all 14 sculptures in by Atlanta artist Hans Godo Fräbel’s The Seven Sins and Virtues collection will be displayed in their entirety.
“We believe that art enhances quality of life and helps distinguish Suwanee from all of the other great communities in metro Atlanta,” said city spokesman Lynne DeWilde.
The sculptures will be available to view during City Hall’s regular operating hours, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The city will hold an open reception from 5 to 7 p.m. on June 25, and Fräbel will speak at the North Gwinnett Arts Association meeting that night at 7 p.m. The reception and speaking event will be open to the public.
A study by Johns Creek suggests future needs for an aging population.
Johns Creek Community Development Director Sharon Ebert presented a report on the graying of Johns Creek as part of her research into a proposed assisted living facility on Medlock Bridge Road that was eventually approved June 1.
However, Ebert’s research shows the city did have statistics that indicate the number of aging residents will rise as baby boomers already in the city get older, and that while the frail elderly represent only 3 percent of the population, the city is demographically getting older quickly.
Currently the city has 3 percent of its population over age 75. But it has an additional 17 percent ages 55 to 74 who are waiting in the wings.
These demographics – assuming many of these residents will want to stay in Johns Creek – will become more likely to want to down-size as they become empty nesters, and perhaps join the frail population as well, seeking a higher degree of care offered in assisted living.
“Right now the city code does not distinguish between active adults and frail adults, but they have quite different needs and it may be more appropriate to place the frail in institutional uses,” Ebert said.
Five out of six Cobb County municipalities will see higher revenue without raising tax rates, according to the Marietta Daily Journal.
The city of Acworth is a prime case of what is occurring across the county and the U.S., according to Roger Tutterow, economist and professor at Kennesaw State University’s Coles College of Business. Within the past few fiscal years, property tax revenue for local governments is increasing again, largely due to recovering property values that had fallen during the recession.
Austell’s fiscal 2016 budget, adopted June 6, balances general fund revenue and expenses at about $7.6 million, up about $629,000, or 8 percent, compared to fiscal 2015. Marietta, in its budget, adopted balances general fund revenue and expenses at $52.7 million for fiscal 2016, up $2 million or 4 percent compared to fiscal 2015.
Despite these increases in revenue for their general funds, which pay for most basic government services such as police and road maintenance, none of these six budgets called for increases in property tax rates or cuts to those city’s services.
Property values are traditionally a stable tax base, Tutterow said, giving some protection to local governments from economic volatility. That was not the case during the recession in the late 2000s, however.
“During the Great Recession and the early part of the recovery, it forced these municipalities and counties into a tough situation to where they had to choose between raising millage rates or further reductions in the services they provided,” Tutterow said. “And I think all that is starting to reverse over the last fiscal year and I think that most municipalities are looking at their FY16 budgets as being the first time in a while where they really felt like they were seeing revenue recover.”
Garden City Council approved pay raises for more than a third of the city’s 100 employees.
McDonough City Council approved a budget that includes a millage rate increase, according to the Henry Herald.
Carroll County Board of Education approved a budget that halves furlough days from four to two.
Former State Representative, Senator, and Commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs Mike Beatty was appointed by Gov. Deal to the State Workforce Development Board. Senators Charlie Bethel (R-Dalton) and Jeff Mullis (R-Chickamauga), and State Reps. Brian Strickland (R-McDonough) and Butch Parrish (R-Swainsboro) were appointed by Deal to the Georgia Film, Music and Digital Entertainment Advisory Commission.
Speaking of movies, the Athens-Ben Epps Airport will play a supporting role in a film with Robert Redford and Nick Nolte, according the the Athens Banner-Herald.
“A Walk in the Woods” is the latest film to utilize some of the resources Athens has to offer and reemphasizes the importance — on a number of fronts — the entertainment industry in the state of Georgia.
According to the Motion Picture Association of America, there are some 24,161 film-related jobs (more than 9,000 of those jobs production-related) in the Peach State representing $1.68 billion in wages.
Floyd County Sheriff Tim Burkhalter and Floyd County Commissioners are at odds with respect to raises for Sheriff’s employees, according to the Rome News-Tribune.
Billboards paid for with private money have appeared over town stating “Honor the Badge, Pay our Officers.” Burkhalter’s penned one of the posts on the movement’s honorthebadge.org website.
A committee made of county commissioners and law enforcement has been formed to examine the issue. A recommendation to the full commission is expected by autumn.
“They decide where it goes,” Burkhalter said of the County Commission’s budget. “They dole it out. They have not in the past decided law enforcement was a priority.”
The sheriff’s budget, however, has increased over the past few years.
The sheriff’s office had a budget of $1.2 million in 2012. That’s grown to $1.34 million this year.
The jail budget, separate from the sheriff’s office, was $7 million in 2012. It’s currently $7.55 million.
County Commissioner Rhonda Wallace, chairwoman of the pay study committee, said she’s unsure if law enforcement pay can be increased without a tax hike. However, she’s quick to say that’s a last resort.
“That’s what the commission is going to have to decide,” she said. “We cannot keep doing nothing. That’s just not acceptable. We were elected to make tough decisions for our community, and our community demands to be safe.”
The Decatur County Board of Education voted last week to become a charter school system.
Becoming a charter system does not mean that county schools would become charter schools, but that the system would have a charter, or contract, with the state board of education to increase student achievement.
Additionally, a charter system will have increased flexibility to operate beyond state mandates and make adjustments in staffing, teaching methods and management in exchange for higher accountability, according to a one-page fact sheet released by the school system. That fact sheet is available to view at www.thepostsearchlight.com.
Rayfield indicated that it would take a year to fully integrate into the charter system and would take effect with the beginning of the 2017 school year.
A state official said Thursday that Georgia is “waiting to hear’’ from the U.S. Department of Justice about what the federal agency plans to do after the June 30 expiration of the settlement agreement.
Some crimes trend upwards with the temperature, according to the Augusta Chronicle.
According to a 2014 Bureau of Justice Statistics study, household crimes such as larceny, burglary and aggravated assaults, especially from intimate partners, tend to rise in the summer. Motor vehicle theft also tends to be higher.
It’s a combination of factors, Richmond County sheriff’s Lt. Lewis Blanchard said. Kids are out of school and adults are also more likely to be outside, congregating and getting into trouble.
According to Blanchard, an analysis of crimes from past years in Richmond County has identified three main areas for trouble during the summer: apartment complexes, bars and nightclubs, and large shopping centers.
While property crimes increase overall, apartment residents are more likely to be victims.
The summer calls for a readjustment of police resources, and the sheriff’s office has been adding special-duty officers and volunteers to maintain a bigger presence in the affected areas.
“We don’t just try to dump personnel, but develop a strategy,” Blanchard said.
More work in an improving economy means some road projects see fewer bids, according to the Augusta Chronicle.
City records show that six contractors attended a pre-bid conference to give the 15th Street bridge a much-needed makeover but that only JHC Corp., based in Peachtree City, Ga., made an offer – $2 million – in May to stabilize and add bike lanes and sidewalks to the historic structure.
Five vendors, including four from Richmond, Columbia and Aiken counties, did not respond to proposal requests, according to online documents.
“There were not as many bids as I thought there would be,” said Steve Cassell, the assistant director of Augusta traffic engineering. “In general, there have not been as many bids as there have been in the past.”
Cassell said that he hopes to break ground in mid-July and that part of the delay was that an improving economy has resulted in fewer companies competing for city projects.
“Contractors don’t need the work,” he said. “They’re not as desperate.”
Cassell’s diagnosis of the local construction industry appears to be accurate.
A review by The Augusta Chronicle of the past 10 construction projects that had an offer of more than $1 million submitted found that six had at least four companies compete for the project, after pre-bid conferences that each had between 12 and 20 contractors express interest.
Since December, city records show, competition has decreased drastically.
Chatham County’s advertisement of a property tax increase apparently has some folks confused. Under state law, they’re required to advertise the millage rate as a property tax increase even though the millage rate is being lowered.
Basically the millage rate for the SSD (which is charged just to residents of the unincorporated area), and the CAT tax (which is charged to those who live in the transit system’s service district), stay the same. The county didn’t increase them, but growth in property values will reflect an increase for some.
The [maintenance and operations rate], which is charged to all Chatham County residents of every municipality, is rolling back to the 2013 rate, which means the amount in these taxes is higher than the amount paid last year.
“According to the Assessor’s office the average Chatham County home (at) $150,000 on the M&O rate would mean an additional $40.42 a year or $3.37 per month.”
Chatham County has received a federal grant to improve outreach aimed at reducing elder abuse. Savannah-Chatham County police officers will all receive training on how to deal with people in mental health crises.
A web application will seek to reduce empty trips to and from the Port of Savannah, reducing congestion at the port.
Quick180 is a Web application that allows trucking companies, exporters and freight forwarders to easily find empty containers that can be loaded and sent back to the port, thus reducing the number of trucks coming back to the port with either empty containers or no containers at all.
The app, already available in Virginia, uses intelligent algorithms to match importers’ empty containers with exporters who need a box in or near a particular ZIP code.
At most ports in the United States, empty returns and pickups generate 30 percent of all gate traffic, Glover said.
Reducing truck trips back to ports to pick up or return empty boxes is key to improving performance at container terminals, where increasingly large ships are already straining capacity and producing costly delays for truckers and cargo interests.
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