Overall county finances actually see improvement

Posted by
Susan Norman
in Top Stories & Breaking News, Winder Archives
Friday, October 1. 2010
Comments (14)
Minutes before the Barrow County Board of Commissioners approved more layoffs Tuesday, it learned that the county’s financial picture has significantly improved.

Department managers and elected officials apparently heeded the urgent warnings of the county’s new CFO, who in July called for a freeze on all non-payroll spending other than for emergencies.

As a result of the belt-tightening and more revenue than expected,Rose Kisaalita in a presentation to the Barrow County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday night reduced by $1 million her estimate of the projected deficit for FY2010. [Full Story »] 

Policy set to keep tabs on media

Posted by
Susan Norman
in Top Stories & Breaking News, Winder Archives
Thursday, September 16. 2010
Comments (2)
The Barrow County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday night cut out the lights — both literally and politically.

The board adopted a new “Lights Out & Power Down” policy to reduce energy costs.

It also established a policy aimed at keeping tabs on local media that have been utilizing Georgia’s Sunshine Laws to gain access to information.

And following those public actions, the commissioners left an audience of county employees, the public and the press politically in the dark while they met, for the third time in two weeks, behind closed doors for two hours.
[Full Story »] 

County CFO: Finances faltering

Posted by
Susan Norman
in Top Stories & Breaking News, Winder Archives
Friday, August 27. 2010
Comments (11)
Even with a planned 1-mill increase in the property tax rate this fall, Barrow County’s government is on perilous financial footing for the upcoming fiscal year, according to the county’s chief financial officer.

In a presentation Tuesday night, CFO Rose Kisaalita sounded an alarm about the county’s faltering finances and called for more controls over spending and greater efforts to locate additional revenue.

The FY2011 budget, which is being placed in the libraries for public review this week, shows a paper-thin margin of only $40,000 more revenues than expenses. [Full Story »] 

County’s budget gap at $3 million

Posted by
Susan Norman
in Top Stories & Breaking News, Winder Archives
Friday, August 6. 2010
Comments (10)
The gap between income and expenses for Barrow County’s FY11 budget is a $3 million shortfall. And as he did last year, commissioner Steve Worley has taken personally the challenge to balance Barrow County’s budget.

But his recommended solution might require another reduction in force to eliminate seven full-time positions and one part-time position — as well as a 1-mill increase in the property tax rate, Worley told the Barrow Journal this week. He declined to identify which positions he thinks could be eliminated since that would be up to the Barrow County Board of Commissioners.

“I feel like that needs to be discussed in executive session with the whole board,” he said.

Worley said his recommended cuts are based on the assumption that the board would not be inclined to raise the millage rate beyond the “revenue neutral” point of merely recouping the revenue that may be lost due to the second successive drop in the tax digest. [Full Story »] 

EEOC mediation: No settlement yet

Posted by
Susan Norman
in Top Stories & Breaking News, Winder Archives
Friday, June 25. 2010
Comments (0)
Ten hours of private negotiations Monday did not yield an immediate settlement of four workplace discrimination complaints against Barrow County’s government.

But attorneys at the end of the mediation said settlement talks would continue, indicating that some progress was made in resolving the employees’ widely publicized claims of racial and gender discrimination by Barrow County officials.

County attorney Angela Davis said the employees’ attorneys had made a settlement offer that would be considered by the Barrow County Board of Commissioners.

“We did not reach a settlement today, but we do have an outstanding offer that the board will continue to consider and will discuss tomorrow at an executive session,” Davis said Monday night.

“I think partly it’s late in the day and we just needed to conclude, but we are still negotiating.” [Full Story »] 

Yearwood curtails media access

Posted by
Susan Norman
in Top Stories & Breaking News
Saturday, June 5. 2010
Comments (18)
In extraordinary action to curtail public access to information about the county government, Barrow County commission chairman Danny Yearwood summoned all department managers and elected officials to the government’s headquarters on Wednesday and ordered them not to allow their employees to speak to the press.

He said any managers who grant newspaper interviews also must charge for any time exceeding 15 minutes, sources said.

Yearwood reportedly cited the Georgia Open Records Act as his legal authority for this unprecedented policy of charging for the interviews of public employees.

However, he did not consult with county attorney Angela Davis about the provisions of the state law prior to the meeting.

And a spokesman for Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker said Friday that the open records act includes no provision for charging money for interviews. [Full Story »] 

Builder takes on Worley

Posted by
Susan Norman
in Top Stories & Breaking News, Winder Archives
Friday, May 14. 2010
Comments (7)
A local builder criticized at last week’s meeting of the Barrow County Board of Commissioners responded to the public criticism Tuesday night by taking on his critic, commissioner Steve Worley.

An angry Scott Clack, owner of Clack Construction LLC, said Worley’s facts were wrong and he questioned Worley’s motive for raising concerns about builders asking for code concessions while some had not paid for county permits to do their work.

“He states in his district alone there was $6,400 lost due to permits not being issue,” Clack said. “If you are so concerned about the $6,400, why did you vote to give an $8,000 pay raise before the position was even filled?” [Full Story »] 

Legal guns blazing: Response given in EEOC case

Posted by
Susan Norman
in Top Stories & Breaking News, Winder Archives
Monday, May 10. 2010
Comments (3)
Three months after three employees joined together to file Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charges of race and gender discrimination against the county government, an attorney for the county’s liability insurance company has filed strongly worded responses on the county’s behalf.

Benton J. Mathis Jr. of Freeman Mathis & Gary represents liability insurer Public Risk Underwriters (Travelers), which faces a potential $2 million loss due to that annual cap on all “employment practices” claims during the current fiscal year.

County attorney Angela Davis last week released copies of the firm’s EEOC responses.

She said this week that the insurance company’s law firm has taken over the county’s defense of the claims filed by Human Resources director Norma Jean Brown, senior network administrator Sebastian Ododa, and planner Daunte Gibbs. [Full Story »] 

Builders want looser county codes

Posted by
Angela Gary
in Top Stories & Breaking News, Winder Archives
Thursday, May 6. 2010
Comments (26)
Smaller home sizes, no sidewalks and reducing sewer tap-on fees are among the changes Barrow County builders would like to see made to the unified development code.

Representatives of the Barrow County Builders Association met with the board of commissioners Tuesday night to review their recommended changes to the code. Instead of getting an answer to their requests, the builders left with a packet of documents from District 3 commissioner Steve Worley that he says backs his allegations that the county’s current code requirements for licenses and permits are not being followed.

Worley said he wouldn’t agree to the builders' proposed changes until the current codes are enforced. He encouraged the builders present at the meeting “to get the word out” to other builders and developers about his allegations of codes and permit requirements not being followed. [Full Story »] 

BOC votes for a ‘county administrator'

Posted by
Susan Norman
in Top Stories & Breaking News
Friday, April 30. 2010
Comments (7)
Although the Barrow County Board of Commissioners voted 4-2 to begin searching for a “county administrator,” the action appears to have fallen short of removing power from controversial BOC chairman Danny Yearwood.

With the help of some vocal friends and supporters in the audience, Yearwood Tuesday night fended off – at least temporarily – a planned effort to reduce his involvement in the day-to-day operations of the county government.

Commissioner Ben Hendrix late last week asked the city clerk to include on the meeting’s agenda the issue of changing the county’s charter to a county-manager form of government and possibly voting to search for a new county manager.

After learning of the planned action, Yearwood devised a dramatic course of action that left no doubt about where he stands on the issue.

Reading from a prepared statement in which he called into question the financial management of the county under previous administrators, Yearwood excused himself from the meeting and joined his friends in the audience. [Full Story »] 
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