Commission Chairman's Weekly Report

Gilmer County Board of Commissioners Chair, Mark Chastain provides a weekly report on County Government activities and issues. Below is his report for this week:

"Many of the calls into the Commissioner’s office last week were in regards to the golf course. Gilmer County owns Whitepath Golf Course on Whitepath Road, and leases it to Reece Golf to manage and operate. Several issues are raised regarding the golf course every few years. I made a full inspection of the course and facilities last Wednesday. While there is visible room for improvement in some areas, the current lease has provisions for improvements and maintenance that need to be looked into further. I realized that some needed improvements were stopped last year due to the county’s budget concerns. This is a fairly complex situation, and I’m further handi-capped (pardon the pun) by the fact that I’m not a golfer. We will be looking further into the golf course as the spring and summer continue.

I learned Wednesday that House Bill 2 was signed into law by the Governor. This bill creates new guidelines for local government to demonstrate compliance with federal immigration laws before individuals can receive “public benefits”. It also creates new guidelines for law enforcement agencies to follow. While the law doesn’t go into effect until January, I hope to have Gilmer County compliant long before the deadline.

Georgia Department of Transportation Board Member for the 9^th Congressional District, Steve Farrow, visited Gilmer County Friday afternoon. He was accompanied by District Planning Engineer Greg Hood, who led a detailed discussion of projects that have been on the books for Gilmer County. Most of the projects on Gilmer County’s list are noted as “Long Range – not working on project”. Among these projects are the East-West Highway, a bridge replacement on Lower Cartecay Road, a bridge replacement on River Street, passing lanes on Highway 382, and a re-vamp of the intersection at Hardee’s. Also on the dormant “not working on project” list is the replacement of the bridge on Boardtown Road over Kell’s Bridge, which is being undertaken by the Board of Commissioners.

Besides the pedestrian bridge, the only project that DOT shows as active, or “plans underway”, is the extension of Highway 382 to Highway 515. I am and have been strongly in support of this project. In my previous term as Post Commissioner, we were assured that this project would be completed before our terms were up. The current schedule is for right of way to be acquired in 2011 and construction plans to be completed in 2013. It was very interesting to learn that engineering on the project began in 1992. No wonder the Governor and General Assembly have become frustrated with the DOT. We also discussed the possibility of counties getting LARP paving assistance again, which I was told is possible in about a year.

The report on the construction of Phase 2 of the courthouse has been completed and was delivered Friday afternoon. A copy is available at the Board of Commissioner’s office and will be posted soon to the county’s web site.

As always, feel free to contact me by email (mchastain@gilmercounty-ga.gov) or by calling the BOC office at 706-635-4361. Comments can be left on 706-515-2320".