Commission Chair Highlights Millage Rate Cut At Town Hall Meet

Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chair John Daniell used the summer Town Hall Meeting to highlight the Board’s decision to reduce slightly the county millage rate for next year, provide an update on road projects, and once again anticipate a transportation tax referendum.

Daniell and others on the Commission also responded to a dozen questions posed by four of the five citizens who turned out for the meeting.

Daniell said there is nothing new to report on Costco coming to the county, that he anticipates a “solution” to the U.S. 441 bypass before the widening of that highway reaches the town, and that restoration of the foundation of Eagle Tavern is now on schedule.

Daniell told Pam Hendrix the county would consider her suggestion that a small park be incorporated into the commercial area around Epps Bridge Parkway, but he anticipates that land costs will make that unfeasible.

Four of the five citizens present asked questions, and the fifth–District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez–was the subject of a question from one of the other four.

Daniell and Commissioner Chuck Horton pushed back on a question from Jeff Hood asking them to take a stance on removing Oconee County from the Western Judicial Circuit because residents of the county “don't share Gonzalez's philosophy.”

Daniell said there are “processes you go through” that have not been completed, and Horton said Gonzalez “won an election fair and square.”

Following Horton’s suggestion that people should raise their concerns with Gonzalez directly, Hood said he would propose to Oconee County Republican Party Chair Kathy Hurley that she invite Gonzalez to attend a party meeting.

For more on this story, with a link to a video of the Town Hall Meeting, please go to Oconee County Observations.