On June 25, 1788, the Commonwealth of Virginia became the tenth state to vote for ratification of the United States Constitution by a vote of 89 to 79. A committee was appointed to be chaired by George Wythe to draft a proposed Bill of Rights.
On June 25, 1868, the United States Congress provisionally readmitted Georgia to the Union following the Civil War with the requirements that they ratify the Fourteenth Amendment and never deprive any citizens of voting rights.
On June 25, 1876, Indians under the leadership of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse defeated the U.S. Army 7th Cavalry under Lt. Colonel George Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn.
On June 25, 1888, the Republican National Convention nominated Benjamin Harrison for President of the United States; Harrison’s grandfather was WIlliam Henry Harrison, ninth President of the United States.
On June 25, 1990, the United States Supreme Court released its opinion in Georgia v. South Carolina, a boundary dispute. From Wikipedia:
A… 1922 Supreme Court decision, also called Georgia v. South Carolina, 257 U. S. 516, also held that all islands in the river belong to Georgia, but that the border should be in the middle of the river between the two shores, with the border half way between any island and the South Carolina shore.
Since the 1922 case, a number of new islands were created in the river between the city of Savannah and the ocean, due to the deposit of dredging spoilage or the natural deposit of sediments. In some cases, the new islands were on the South Carolina side of the previously drawn boundary, and Georgia claimed that once a new island emerged, the border should be moved to the midpoint between the new island and the South Carolina shore of the river. In some cases, the state of South Carolina had been collecting property tax from the land owners and policing the land in question for a number of years.
When an island causes the border to leave the middle of the river, it raises the question as to how the border line should return to the middle of the river at each end of the island. South Carolina advocated a right angle bend at each tip of the island, while Georgia advocated a “triequidistant” method which kept the border an equal distance between the two shores and the tip of the island (resulting in a smooth curve).
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
Governor Brian Kemp issued Executive Order #06.24.24.01, appointing a review commission to recommend whether to suspend Dodge County School Board chair Elvis Davis, after Davis was arrested. In May, Davis was arrested and charged with two counts of child molestation, one count of sexual exploitation of children and two counts of improper sexual contact. From 13WMAZ:
According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Eastman Police Department asked the GBI to assist them in their investigation of Dodge County School Board chairman Elvis Davis on May 16, which was about a week before school let out.
Davis faces several charges including two counts of child molestation, one count of sexual exploitation of children and two counts of improper sexual contact.
13WMAZ called Dodge County Superintendent Susan Long. She told us: “The board is aware and has no comment on pending and legal issues.”
After Davis was arrested last Friday, he was taken to Dodge County jail.
Former President Donald Trump leads President Biden in the latest AJC Poll.
The poll of likely voters shows Trump leads Biden 43% to 38%, just outside the margin of error of 3.1 percentage points. Independent contender Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is not yet on the Georgia ballot but is expected to qualify, is at 9%. Another 8% are undecided.
There are sharp warning signs for Biden and Trump in Georgia, which emerged as one of the nation’s premier battleground states in 2020 after Biden became the first Democratic presidential contender to capture the state in nearly three decades.
Nearly half of all voters polled say they approve of the New York jury’s May verdict that found Trump guilty of 34 felony charges, including a slim majority of independent voters — a group that for a long time reliably voted Republican in Georgia. And roughly one-third of independents say the convictions make them less likely to back him.
His support among young voters has cratered, with just 12% of Georgians between 18-29 saying they’ll vote for the Democrat in the poll. Previous AJC polls showed Biden with significantly more backing from younger voters.
A majority of voters (56%) disapprove of Biden’s performance in office, including about one-fifth of Black voters and more than 60% of independent voters. And nearly 70% say the country is headed in the wrong direction.
But Democrats are far more worried about apathy among Black voters than bleeding Black votes to Trump, who captured about 11% of Black support in 2020. Highlighting those worries, the AJC poll shows that nearly one-fifth of Black voters are undecided or plan to stay home.
The poll was conducted by the University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Affairs from June 11-22 and involved 1,000 likely voters.
In Chatham County, three municipalities are searching for new City Managers, according to the Savannah Morning News.
[Former Tybee Island City Manager Shawn] Gillen resigned after an extended leave of absence, during which Acting City Manager Michelle Owens has been fulfilling the city’s administrative obligations.
In December 2023, former Pooler City Manager Robert Byrd resigned during an executive session after working for the city for more than 20 years. Pooler Director of Public Works Matthew Saxon has held the interim position since January.
In February, Garden City Manager Scott Robider resigned during an executive session to “seek new opportunities.” Robider now works for the City of Port Wentworth as the police compliance and grant manager.
A city manager oversees the day-to-day operations of a city, and implements policy set by the council, bridging the gap between policy and implementation,. Experienced city managers are needed to address the rapid growth of West Chatham County, expected to be exacerbated by the Hyundai plant just down the road in north Bryan County.
Garden City has already found a new city manager in former city clerk Rhonda Ferrell-Bowles, who has been with the city since April 1993. Bowles was unanimously voted to the position of city manager during a special city council meeting last month, and is the first woman to hold this position in the city.
Pooler has announced the selection of finalists for city manager, which includes Interim City Manager Matt Saxon.
The other finalists are Heath Lloyd, who currently serves as Savannah’s assistant city manager, and Col. Bryan Logan, who recently served as a deputy commander for Joint Base San Antonio and was the vice commander of the 502nd Air Base Wing.
While the city [of Tybee Island] has no names to release yet, Mayor Brian West said they are down to three finalists and will interview them June 26. If no decision is made this Wednesday, further interviews will be conducted next week.
City council will ultimately decide who gets the job. Mayor Brian West says that experience in a coastal community or a small community have importance to the Council saying that Tybee often finds itself in a unique position.
West says there are challenges on Tybee you just don’t see in landlocked metros like beach renourishment, for example.
He adds that often the money to finance critical environmental projects often comes from outside sources, so hiring someone with experience in that area would be a plus.
One of the biggest challenges for a City Manager, West says, is island-wide: balancing tourism with residential life.
“We have to accommodate a crowded island, people that come to stay at the beach for the day, crowded roads, accidents on the roads, rambunctious people having a good time, you know. So, but then, you know, for most of the year it’s fairly quiet. It can be a pleasant place to be most of the year, but then it can be challenging for a few months as well, so you know, different things to deal with here.”
The Glynn County Board of Education is considering a $184 million dollar budget for the next fiscal year, according to The Brunswick News.
The board originally intended to consider adopting the new operating budget at its monthly meeting on June 11. However, the budget hearing portion of that meeting had to be postponed because school district staff discovered a clerical error in the budget after the legally required public notice of the meeting was posted in The Brunswick News.
The 2024-25 operating budget must be approved before July 1.
The Development Authority of Fulton County (DAFC) is considering a $75 million dollar tax abatement for a new data center, according to the AJC.
An undisclosed developer is asking the Development Authority of Fulton County (DAFC) for roughly $75 million in tax savings over the next decade for a hyperscale data center campus in Union City, according to the authority’s agenda. The agency, also known as Develop Fulton, has faced intense scrutiny for doling out tax savings to developers in hot neighborhoods and for incentivizing data centers despite their proliferation in the Atlanta area.
Data centers are large warehouses that store computer servers and are necessary infrastructure for digital file storage and artificial intelligence. In metro Atlanta, they’re considered “hyperscale” when they employ at least 25 workers and involve at least $250 million of investment.
Dubbed “Project Steamboat,” the Union City proposal is a $1.8 billion project consisting of three data center buildings that will employ about 50 workers, according to a DAFC fact sheet. The project site is vacant land at 4810 Stonewall Tell Road, which is near South Fulton Parkway.
The requested tax incentive would help offset “the significantly excessive $43.5 million site development costs” and other topography challenges, the fact sheet said. The developer said it is considering three or four other locations outside of Fulton County, which is why the tax savings are needed.
DAFC spokeswoman Daniella Sandino told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the incentive would level the playing field against those competing sites. She added that some of the other locations would not have sales taxes for electricity usage, unlike Union City, which is estimated to total about $50 million.
Augusta City Commissioners are considering placing a SPLOST (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) referendum on the ballot, according to the Augusta Chronicle.
If approved, this would be the ninth SPLOST for Augusta, Hephzibah, and Blythe. Before the vote, public hearings will be held to get residents input about items proposed to receive funding.
Interim County Administrator Taliyah Douse recently told commissioners she estimates the next round of SPLOST revenues will generate $300 million. That is $50 million more than SPLOST 8, which was approved in 2021.
A SPLOST is an optional penny sales tax used to fund capital outlay projects proposed by the county government and participating qualified municipal governments. Voters in each county decide if the tax will be levied.
Whitfield County property owners will receive new property tax assessment notices, according to the Dalton Daily Citizen News.
The City of Savannah is opening cooling centers, according to WSAV.
A recall effort continues against Athens-Clarke County Mayor Kelly Girtz, according to the Athens Banner Herald.
Girtz contends in court documents that DePaola’s application for a recall petition is not legally sufficient because it did not check off any of the specific grounds – malfeasance, violation of oath of office, misconduct, failure to perform prescribed duties, or willful misuse of public funds – listed in the official state form for an application for a recall petition. The form lists those specific grounds, along with a space for physically marking which grounds are being applied to a recall.
A copy of the recall application filed with Athens-Clarke County shows that DePaola did not check off any specific grounds for recalling Girtz.
Athens-Clarke County Commissioners created a workforce development task force, according to the Athens Banner Herald.
Less than two weeks after the Athens-Clarke County Commission allocated $1.9 million in federal funds to a workforce development initiative spearheaded by the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce, a workforce development task force created by the commission and chaired by Commissioners Carol Myers and Tiffany Taylor is getting ready to unveil its own proposal.
The Chamber-headed effort, Athens Achieves, is aimed at creating what Chamber President and CEO David Bradley calls “a valued and valuable workforce.” Two Athens-Clarke County commissioners, Patrick Davenport and John Culpepper, are part of the working committee for Athens Achieves.
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