Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for September 20, 2017

On September 20, 1863, the Confederate Army of the Tennessee under General Braxton Bragg repelled Union forces under General William Rosencrans at the Battle of Chickamauga. After Gettysburg, Chickamauga is generally considered the second-bloodiest battle of the Civil War, with 18,500 Confederate casualties and 16,100 Union dead.

The first classes at Oglethorpe University under it’s current non-denominational charter were held on September 20, 1916. Happy 101st Anniversary to the Stormy Petrels. The university was originally affiliated with the Presbyterian Church and located in Midway, Georgia. In 1870, after a period of closure during the Civil War they relocated to the Atlanta area. Currently, a collection of more than 20,000 pieces of political campaign materials is on display at the Weltner Library on Oglethorpe’s campus.

On September 20, 1976, Playboy magazine released an interview with Jimmy Carter, then a candidate for President.

During the 1976 campaigns, a 13-foot tall smiling peanut sculpture was created by the Indiana Democratic Party for Carter’s presidential campaign.

Since 1976, the Jimmy Carter Smiling Peanut has held its position as the world’s second largest peanut, “the most photographed thing in Plains”, and one of the oddest monuments to a politician worldwide. Unfortunately, in 2000, a reckless driver crashed into the peanut, whose wooden hoops, chicken wire, and aluminum foil weren’t enough to keep it upright. After the accident, the peanut was moved from the Plains train depot to the Davis E-Z Shop in Plains, where it remains today. Although the peanut has been kept in pristine form, the fence surrounding it has become dilapidated as a result of over a decade of tourists posing for photos on it.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Governor Nathan Deal yesterday announced that the Georgia Department of Economic Development helped create more than 30,000 jobs this year in Georgia.

Gov. Nathan Deal [] visited the new Honeywell North American Software Center and announced that the Georgia Department of Economic Development’s (GDEcD) Global Commerce Division helped create a total of 30,309 new jobs during FY 17, generating a record-breaking $6.33 billion in investments. This growth is a result of the expansion or relocation of 377 companies covering every region of the state.

“Georgia has consistently been named the No. 1 state for business as companies from around the world continue to choose Georgia to relocate their headquarters or expand operations,” said Deal. “Once companies plant roots here in Georgia, they seem to grow at impressive rates, thanks in part to the business-friendly climate we have carefully cultivated and our highly skilled workforce. The FY 17 investment numbers and new jobs figures represent not only meaningful opportunities for communities across our state, but also new sources of income for more than 30,000 families. From the support of our state legislature and local officials, Georgia has proven to be a reliable and responsible place for businesses of all sizes to plan for future growth. I commend Commissioner Pat Wilson for his leadership, as well as the dedicated GDEcD team that works to keep Georgia on the minds of business executives around the world. These successes should serve as a point of pride for all Georgians and I look forward to more days of celebration like this one in the years to come.”

In FY 17:

• Businesses already located in Georgia accounted for 59 percent of total jobs created (17,865 of 30,309) and 58 percent of overall investment ($3.7 billion).
• Companies new to the state created 12,444 jobs and generated $2.64 billion in investments.
• Georgia’s financial technology sector saw the most significant job growth, with an increase of 250 percent over FY 16. The software and technology industry increased projects by 30 percent (42 projects), representing 9,821 jobs and $1.4 billion in investments.
• The state’s workforce saw significant job growth in the following industries: logistics and distribution (85 percent), automotive (95 percent) and digital media (97 percent). The food processing sector also saw a 119 percent increase in projects over FY 16.
• Eighty-six Foreign Direct Investment international projects created more than 6,000 jobs and generated over $1.6 billion in investments.
• The Athens region saw the greatest number of new jobs (2,918) and the LaGrange region experienced the largest total investment with $766 million.
• Eighty percent of total economic development announcements were outside of the metro Atlanta region.
• International investments from European companies included 51 locations, creating 4,468 jobs and generating $809 million in investments. Among European companies, those from Germany, Ireland and Italy created the most jobs in Georgia.
• Investments from companies in Asian countries included 22 locations, creating 1,445 jobs and generating $751 million in investments. Companies from China, Japan and South Korea provided the largest investments among countries in Asia.
• Companies from Canada and the Middle East generated total investments of $34 million and $20.4 million, respectively.
• The Entrepreneur and Small Business team served 1,760 companies in FY 17, 60 percent of which were startup companies.

Gov. Deal issued writs of election for State House District 26, formerly held by Geoff Duncan (R), District 4, formerly held by Bruce Broadrick (R), and District 60, formerly held by Keisha Waites (D). The special elections will be held November 7, 2017.

Secretary of State Brian Kemp scheduled qualifying in HD 26 to begin today at 9 AM to 5 PM and continue Thursday from 9 AM to 5 PM and Friday from 9 AM to 1 PM in the SOS office at 2 MLK, Jr., Drive in Atlanta.

Forsyth County Commissioners voted 3-1 to study compensation for commissioners.

The vote was 3-1, with Commissioner Cindy Jones Mills against and the District 2 seat vacant, to move forward with a study now that the county has hired a county manager.

The topic first came up in June when the board began discussing increased compensation. Just weeks after voting to move forward with a bid to increase the annual compensation, commissioners denied a proposal for a study.

Then in August, the board denied a 25 percent pay raise that had been approved in July.

Now, commissioners are revisiting the topic, and they have decided to go ahead with a study comparing salaries of commissioners in neighboring counties.

County Attorney Ken Jarrard said the study has to be done before election qualifying in 2018. If approved, the raise wouldn’t go into effect until January 1, 2019.

The last proposal that was shot down was for an annual salary for the chair of $49,500 and an annual salary for other board members set at $48,000.

Eric Johnson has begun work as the new Forsyth County Manager.

Three candidates for Roswell City Council Post 4 are profiled by NorthFulton.com.

Gwinnett County Commissioners approved an initial 30-month contract to provide body cameras for law enforcement officers.

The initial three-month term will cost $30,666. If it is renewed to its full potential length, however, the cameras and data management system would cost just over $4.4 million.

“Body worn cameras can help improve the quality of service expected from personnel in the police department, sheriff’s department and corrections department, as well as promote legitimacy and the sense of procedural justice that the citizens of Gwinnett County expect from their law enforcement officials,” Police Chief Butch Ayers told commissioners.

The only question from commissioners about the contract with Axon Enterprises came from Commissioner John Heard, who inquired about the initial length of the contract being three months.

“I’m so happy that we are getting this initiated,” Heard said. “Why is it only for a quarter instead of a year or a continuation?”

Ayers said it was set-up issue.

“The initial item is for license procurement and user license,” he said. “We have to do all of that first and then I expect the contract could be automatically renewed and we expect the project to start probably next month and implementation of the program in the first two quarters of 2018.”

Congressmen Rob Woodall (R-Gwinnett) and Drew Ferguson (R-LaGrange) met with the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and Georgia Transportation Alliance to discuss transportation priorities.

Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson denounced a string of murders in the city.

“There have been 26 murders in Columbus this year,” read the statement. “ We are all simultaneously heartsick and frustrated with the level of killing, particularly in this third quarter.”

The three deaths increased the number of 2017 homicides to 26, according to the Columbus Police Department. Muscogee County Coroner puts the number at 32.

“We will continue to concentrate on breaking up areas of known criminal activity,” the mayor said in the statement, “and will continue to ask for the public’s support in helping us get suspects in these murders off the street.”

Kennesaw City Council approved higher fees for sanitation and streetlights.

Gwinnett County is seeking federal aid for recovery from Hurricane Irma.

Stockbridge Mayor Judy Neal withdrew from November’s election.

“After much thought and prayers, I have made the decision to remove my name from the 2017 municipal election ballot. It was not an easy decision, especially because so many Stockbridge citizens, business leaders, donors, pastors and especially staff have supported me so strongly,” stated Neal in a press release.

According to Henry County Elections Director Tina Lunsford, Neal withdrew her name from the race Sept. 5, just 12 days after she qualified for the seat.

Perry City Council adopted the same millage rate for FY 2018 as was used in 2017.

Bainbridge City Council heard a proposed amendment to the alcohol ordinance that would allow open containers in the central business district.

Chatham County officials are considering a proposal to open a 24-hour mental health crisis center.

In a recent presentation to the Chatham County Commission, CEO of Gateway Behavioral Health Services Dr. Mark Johnson said opening a behavioral health crisis center in the county would fill a number of gaps in the community, from providing care to those in desperate need to redirecting low-level offenders suffering from a mental illness out of local jails and emergency rooms.

In Chatham, Johnson said, a crisis center would likely need more beds than what are provided by the facility in Griffin. He proposed a 20,000-square-foot crisis center for Chatham County that would house six beds for 23-hour observation, 24-beds for longer term care — on average, long term stays are about five days — and a walk-in function that allows clients to be seen in less than an hour.

The concept would be less expensive than the constructing a mental health hospital, he said, or continuing the current method of transporting lower level offenders to the county jail. Johnson said that although it’s difficult to quantify just how much constructing a crisis center would save in annual costs at the jail, some scenarios he presented put the savings at between $1.5 million and $4.6 million annually.

“In terms of the effect on the jail, it certainly bends … the costs in the right direction,” he said.

DeKalb County Commissioners approved a project list for a proposed new sales tax.

A proposed sales tax increase in DeKalb County would primarily fund the repaving of cracked and pothole-filled roads, along with building new fire stations, buying police cars and renovating parks, according to a project list approved Tuesday.

The projects would be funded by a sales tax increase, from 7 percent to 8 percent, if voters support it during a Nov. 7 referendum. The special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST) would raise about $100 million a year for infrastructure over the next six years.

The project list, approved by a 5-2 vote Tuesday, would cost $388 million that would be raised from sales taxes in unincorporated DeKalb. Another $249 million would go to city governments, which are voting on their own infrastructure project lists this month.

Road repairs are the county’s highest priority for the SPLOST. The project list sets aside $151 million for resurfacing, enough money to repave more than 318 miles of the county’s most neglected streets. That amount represents 39 percent of the unincorporated area’s funds.

Georgia Public Service Commissioners approved a timeline for Plant Vogtle under which they will vote in February whether to continue with construction.

On Tuesday, the Georgia Public Service Commission voted to approve the schedule for a round of hearings on spending at Plant Vogtle. This is routine, every six months the utility presents its costs to the regulators.

What’s different this time around is that Georgia Power will also make its case to keep the project going, despite years of delays and a budget that has grown by billions of dollars. The utility expects to have both nuclear reactors in operation in 2022; they were initially supposed to be up-and-running by now. And the cost has doubled, to more than $20 billion.

The hearings at the Georgia PSC will begin in early November.

From the Savannah Morning News:

Georgia Power spokesman Jacob Hawkins on Tuesday reiterated his previous statement that the company is doing what’s required of it for Vogtle Construction Monitoring, or VCM.

“We filed the 17th VCM Report and recommendation to move forward with the Vogtle expansion on August 31, including responses to specific issues requested by the Georgia PSC such as the reasonableness of the revised cost and schedule forecast,” he wrote in an email. “It is ultimately up to the Georgia PSC to determine the structure of each VCM proceeding — we will continue to work with the Georgia PSC and all parties through the VCM process.

The approved schedule includes hearings on the cases of staff and intervenors on four days, Dec. 11-14. The PSC expects to make a ruling in the case by February.

Live Saving Events

The Forsyth County Suicide Summit will be held on September 20, 2017, beginning at 6:30 PM at the Forsyth Conference Center, 3410 Ronald Reagan Blvd in Cumming.

There have been more than 20 suicides in Forsyth County since January.

That is one reason a group of community members, including Commissioner Cindy Jones Mills, created the inaugural Forsyth County Suicide Summit. The event will be held at 6:30 p.m., Sept. 20 at the Forsyth Conference Center, 3410 Ronald Reagan Blvd.

“We want people to walk away with hope,” Mills said. “It doesn’t have to be about despair. We want to offer more coping skills and be a community about love. We’ve been named the healthiest county the past few years, but wellness goes beyond what you see on the outside.”

“We’ve had a lot of discussions about mental health in the county,” Mills said. “It’s a big issue we’re facing. I started looking at the numbers and talking to deputies and realized how big of an issue we have here.”

Mills attended Gwinnett County’s Mental Health and Substance Abuse Summit and toyed with the idea of also combining the two topics.

“I didn’t think it would do either justice,” Mills said. “They are so much bigger issues than could be covered together. It wouldn’t be fair to either.”

Forsyth County’s total of 22 suicides since January, she said, is high compared to surrounding counties.

“It’s disturbing,” Mills said. “It’s across the gamut and not in just one [type of people]. It’s not all attributed to drugs. Earlier this year, there were two high schoolers who didn’t know each other that did it the same day.”

Forum: Pain Pills and Heroin are Killing Our Families will be held September 26, 2017, 6:30 to 8 PM at Brenau Downtown Center, 301 Main Street, Gainesville, GA 30501.

Georgia Connects Cherokee Chapter is holding a Town Hall on Opioid Abuse on October 2, 2017, 7 to 9 PM at First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Building A Chapel
11905 Highway 92, Woodstock, GA 30188.