Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for May 24, 2017

John Hancock was elected President of the Second Continental Congress on May 24, 1775.

Then-Lt. Governor Marvin Griffin announced his candidacy for Governor on May 24, 1954.

John Smoltz tied the record for most strikeouts by a Braves pitcher, throwing 15 Ks against Montreal Expos on May 24, 1992.

Happy Birthday to Bob Dylan, who was born on this day in 1941.

One year ago today, the 2016 General Primary and Nonpartisan General Election was held in Georgia.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Nick Ayers is profiled in Politico as a Presidential advisor who might become a candidate for Governor of Georgia.

Ayers has been a mainstay in Republican politics for a decade, working as a former top hand at the Republican Governors Association and as a campaign consultant.

Ayers joined up with the Trump campaign after Trump won the primary. There, he served as then-vice presidential nominee Mike Pence’s senior adviser and on the White House transition team.

Now, Ayers advises America First Policies, the Trump-affiliated nonprofit that promotes his agenda outside of the White House.

But there are major warning signs coming from suburban Atlanta, where anti-Trump backlash has prompted a serious tightening in the upcoming House special election runoff there. That could mean that moderate Georgia Republicans will be willing to turn against the president, especially if a more moderate Republican makes a strong showing in the run-up to the primary.

More money and more staffers are heading to the Sixth Congressional District Special Runoff Election between Republican Karen Handel and Democrat Jon Ossoff.

The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC favored by House Speaker Paul Ryan, said Wednesday it will hire another 45 door-knockers to reach an additional 100,000 households. The group also stuck to its latest theme – linking Ossoff to San Francisco – with a new radio spot.

The group has doled out $6.6 million and already had a team of 90 field operatives on the ground in the district, which spans from east Cobb to north DeKalb. It also plans to keep its field office in the district open after the June 20 runoff – regardless of who wins – to prepare for the 2018 vote.

House Democrats upped their ante as well. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said it will pour in another $2 million to back Ossoff, bringing the total investment to nearly $5 million.

Much of the money will be spent on TV, though about $150,000 will fund radio on stations geared to African-American listeners.

Handel and Ossoff will debate live on WSB-TV on June 6th at 8 PM.

It is the first debate announced between the two candidates in the hotly-contested June 20 runoff to represent Georgia’s 6th District, which spans from east Cobb to north DeKalb.

It’s unclear how many additional debates will be held, but Handel’s campaign has said it would agree to “several” others – though it has not confirmed which ones.

The Georgia State House Rural Development Committee discussed broadband service in their first meeting this week in Tifton.

“Tell me why I shouldn’t look at asking for y’all to come up with something that guarantees us 100 percent of that tax exemption you’re getting will be used in rural Georgia,” Rep. Ed Rynders, R-Albany, said to internet service providers on Tuesday.

Rynders was referring to a plan to give up state revenues from a sales tax on equipment used to build out broadband networks in underserved communities. Several rural lawmakers have questioned whether waiving the tax would actually lead to a boost in coverage in the areas that need it most.

The tax break is among the changes that service providers say would help spur expanded broadband services in areas where companies have been reluctant to invest limited resources because of a smaller customer base.

“I think it’s ironic that here on the rural development council we’re having a conversation about rural broadband access that’s livestreamed and most of rural Georgia won’t get to watch it because of limited access,” said Rep. Dominic LaRiccia, R-Douglas.

“This is a two-year task, so don’t think that we’re going to solve this in a day, in a month or in a year,” said Rep. Jay Powell, R-Camilla, who is co-chairing the council.

Rob Hosack has been appointed as the new County Manager for Cobb County.

Rob Hosack officially became Cobb’s county manager Tuesday night after commissioners’ voted 5-0 to approve his contract.

Hosack had been serving as interim county manager since May 1 as his salary and employment terms had not been negotiated last month when commissioners tapped him to succeed longtime County Manager David Hankerson, who retired April 30.

“It’s not often you get a chance to come back and work with such a fantastic group of folks. I feel really blessed just to get this opportunity,” Hosack told the MDJ before Tuesday’s meeting, alluding to his nearly three decades of experience with the county.

Under the terms of the approved contract, Hosack will be paid $210,000 per year, retroactive to his May 1 start date, with the contract running until Dec. 31, 2019.

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr argues to the Georgia Supreme Court that Northside Hospital should be required to comply with the Open Records Act.

Chris Carr, in office since late last year, said in a Monday court filing that the Georgia Open Records Act is broader in its applications than what Northside Hospital has argued.

Attorneys for the plaintiff have argued that Northside is subject to the Open Records Act because it was created by a public hospital authority, which is a government entity, and that it operates solely on the authority’s behalf.

“The Office of the Attorney General has long served as a champion of open government,’’ Carr wrote in his brief. “The Attorney General — as a champion of open government, and as the state’s chief legal officer — urges the Court to honor the plain text of the Georgia Open Records Act, which embodies the state’s “strong public policy . . .  in favor of open government.”

Northside has said it is not bound by the open records law. The hospital says that because it’s a private nonprofit corporation, not a public entity, the records law does not apply to it. An attorney for Northside, Randy Evans, told the state’s highest court last month that the system is a regional player, owning other hospitals in areas that are not governed by the hospital authority in Fulton County.

The Georgia Supreme Court asked for Carr’s opinion on the case after oral arguments were heard. A request by the court for an attorney general or an agency to weigh in on a case doesn’t happen a lot, but it’s not unheard of, said Jane Hansen, a spokeswoman for the court.

“And when it does happen, it usually involves a legal question posed to the agency responsible for enforcing the area of law in question,’’ Hansen said Tuesday.

“Project Meatball” is the moniker given to a project in which a private company is seeking for the Development Authority of Cobb County to assist in refinancing an airplane through issuance of a $50 million bond.

“We can’t release (the company’s name) right now,” Geter said. “They requested that we not release the information. … That’s why we’re calling it ‘Project Meatloaf.’”

The company’s name will be made public at the Development Authority’s next meeting, Geter said, when the board will vote on the final bond resolution. Also at that meeting, the results of a fiscal impact study of the proposal to be conducted by Georgia Tech will be presented.

The entertainment company wants to use most of the funds to refinance the jet, but also plans to spend some of the money to upgrade a hangar at Cobb County International Airport-McCollum Field, where the jet and two others could be housed, according to Andrew Egan, an attorney at the firm Kutak Rock who represented the company at Tuesday’s meeting.

The company is also seeking a tax abatement on the plane, meaning it would be added to the tax rolls gradually over 10 years, Geter said. In the first year, the company would only pay 10 percent of the local taxes owed on the plane; in year two, it would pay 20 percent and so on.

State School Superintendent Richard Woods told Gainesville Rotary Club members that students and teachers should prioritize being “life ready.”

“You hear a lot about being college and career ready, but, for myself, it is about being life ready,” Woods told Gainesville Rotary Club members this week. “I think that’s more inclusive for what we want for our children. For our young people who step into a new phase of life (after high school), we want them to be prepared to take on that next challenge.”

Woods pointed to the state’s Move On When Ready program that allows high school students in grades 9-12 to start taking college classes through technical colleges and schools in the University System of Georgia tuition free.

“That is a growing gem for our state,” he said. “Not only are students graduating with a high school diploma, but now I am meeting students who are graduating with an associate degree with two years of college that’s paid for. I can’t think of a better bargain when we talk about our kids getting ready for life.”

“I think all of our students should be exposed to band, music, dance, drama and visual arts,” he said. “Those are aspects of life which I think reflect a very healthy society. They add critical thinking pieces and open up higher-order thinking in the brains of students.”

Flowery Branch property owners could see higher property tax bills even with the millage rate unchanged.

“The increase is strictly due to the value of … property rising,” City Manager Bill Andrew said.

Because of higher property values, to pull in the same amount of revenue, the city would need to reduce the tax rate of 3.264 mills to 3.012 mills.

The city is proposing to keep the rate at 3.264 mills, with 1 mill equal to $1 for each $1,000 in assessed property value.

The proposed tax increase for a home with a fair market value of $175,000 is $17.64, city officials said.

SACS, the regional school accrediting agency, will begin an investigation of the Savannah-Chatham County public school system.

Mariama Jenkins, spokeswoman for AdvancEd — which oversees the SACS accreditation process — said they have received complaints of school board interference and will investigate after Levett takes over as superintendent of the Savannah-Chatham Public School System.

“We received complaints in response to allegations that Savannah-Chatham County Public School System is in violation of AdvancED Accreditation Standards for Quality School Systems. Based on the merits of those complaints we will be conducting an on-site review this fall,” Jenkins said.

SACS investigators can put districts on probation and revoke accreditation if they find that school boards are disrupting the educational effectiveness of a district. Loss of accreditation disqualifies graduates for HOPE scholarships and admission to most colleges and universities. SACS findings may also prompt the governor to suspend and replace board members. In 2013, Gov. Nathan Deal suspended and replaced six of nine DeKalb County School Board members. In 2016, Deal suspended and replaced the entire five-member Dooly County School Board.

Savannah is considering new rules to govern short term rentals.

Staff is considering limiting the number of vacation rentals that can operate in the city, as well as placing caps on how many can be located on a block or street because of concerns among the Savannah City Council members and residents that neighborhoods are being overrun with visitors. Property owners would also have to live onsite for new vacation rentals in more residential areas, and there could be a maximum number of days a property can be rented, under other proposed changes.

The changes are being developed by a group of stakeholders composed of residents, neighborhood leaders, rental owners and management companies that offered feedback to city staff Monday.

The hope is that discussions will lead to an ordinance that will help preserve communities as the number of vacation rentals grows, said Trudy Herod, who was representing the Victorian Neighborhood Association.

The owners of some rental companies have concerns about how their businesses will be affected by some of the proposed changes, such as the potential rental cap and owner-occupied requirement.

An RQ-4 Global Hawk became the first unmanned aircraft to land at Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins, Georgia.

The Georgia Ports Authority and Virginia Port Authority have been approved to move forward on an information sharing agreement designed to improve service.

The agreement, approved April 10, allows the Georgia Ports Authority and the Virginia Port Authority to begin discussing ways the two ports can share information in certain operational areas to position themselves as the U.S. East Coast’s leading gateways for containerized cargo.

A joint application to proceed with development of the East Coast Gateway Terminal Agreement was filed by the ports on Feb. 24. The application set into motion a 45-day review period – including a 12-day public comment period – by the Federal Maritime Commission. The approved agreement encourages the exchange of information and best practices in five areas of operational and supply chain efficiencies, safety, communications and customer service.

“Our industry is changing rapidly and, as a result, increased collaboration between ports is necessary to provide the service excellence our customers expect and deserve,” said Griff Lynch, GPA’s executive director. “It is clear that both Georgia and Virginia are East Coast gateway ports and this step further allows us to create jobs, economic development and improve safety. I would like to thank our respective employees and partners in the ILA as we move forward together.”

Columbus city employees may have to wait up to three additional weeks for paychecks as part of a move to a new payroll system.

The gap in the normal cycle — weekly for some and bi-weekly for others — is included in Mayor Teresa Tomlinson’s recommended fiscal year 2018 budget as part of the electronic conversion to a new payroll system. City officials say the conversion is an effort to move all CCG employees to a common bi-weekly pay period, and the lag-time won’t affect the annual amounts employees are paid.

“In addition to getting employees all on a common pay period, the city is upgrading its budgeting financial system and it’s payroll and human resources system and moving to a cloud-based solution,” said City Human Resources Director Reather Hollowell, who notified city employees of the changes in an April 28 memo. “That’s really the initial impetus for this. We need to do it for a system conversion reason.”

Hollowell said all full-time employees will receive a pay bonus on Aug. 11 to help supplement their income during that period. The bonus will be equal to 1/4 of their weekly salary or 20 hours. The first bi-weekly paycheck after the conversion will be issued on Aug. 18. Current federal and state taxes would apply.

In her memo to employees, she wrote: “For employees who are paid every week, your pay period will be converted to a bi-weekly pay period with one week in arrears. For employees who are paid biweekly, you will continue to be paid bi-weekly with one week in arrears. For increased accuracy in your paychecks and to improve reporting of finances, all employees will be paid bi-weekly with a seven (7) day lag time or one week in arrears.

“The one-time bonus paycheck is being given to you in order to avoid any cash flow hardship during the transition,” she explained. “The bonus paycheck is in addition to your annual salary and will be subject to required federal and state taxes, but not other payroll deductions.”