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County holds line on millage rate
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The Bryan County Board of Commissioners set the 2015 county millage rate at 9.15 mills Tuesday evening during a meeting at the county annex in Richmond Hill.

The commissioners also approved the school-board millage rate at 15.537 mills. Both rates are the same as 2014.

The county had the option of increasing its millage rate to 9.232, which would have raised approximately $89,000 more in revenue, but they opted to continue last year’s millage rate. Finance Director John Grotheer told the commissioners that under state law, that would not have been considered a millage increase.

Drivers on Highway 144 at the new Belfast River Road roundabout will eventually see some light when the Georgia Department of Transportation installs streetlights in the area, but that will likely not be anytime soon.

Bryan County Administrator Ben Taylor said that under an agreement with the GDOT, the area will be lit once Highway 144 is widened and a permanent roundabout is installed. Taylor said the agreement calls for the GDOT to pay for the material and installation of the streetlights and the county to pay the ongoing costs to operate and maintain the system. He said it also calls for an additional lane to be added to the roundabout.

The commissioners also approved a resolution for changes to the county personnel policy and appointed Brad Brookshire to the Middle Coastal Unified Development Authority, replacing Dell Keith, who recently moved out of the area. There were several issues raised about the personnel policy, including the number of vacation hours employees could sell back if they left county employment.

Commissioners Wade Price and Rick Gardner opposed the resolution. Commissioner Steve Myers said it was only a resolution and that it could easily be changed, if necessary.

In planning and zoning matters, the commissioners approved a revised preliminary plat for Dunham Marsh Subdivision Phase 3C, which increases the number of single-family homes in the development and decreases the number of townhouses. The commissioners also approved the preliminary plat for Belfast River Landing Subdivision.

The developer, John Hopkins, presented a plat that did not call for sidewalks, something required by the county development ordinance. That didn’t make Commissioner Rick Gardner happy.

“We’re going down a slippery slope of approving things without finalizing certain details,” Gardner said.

Commissioners Chairman Jimmy Burnsed said the sidewalk issue could be handled “administratively” by staff.

After further discussion, Gardner and the other commissioners voted to approve the preliminary plat.

Taylor detailed a plan to install 10 tennis courts at Henderson Park with construction starting at the end of this year. The
$600,000 project will include restrooms, parking and a small building with storage and meeting capabilities. Projections call for the project to be completed next spring.

County accountant Richard Deal presented the 2014 county audit and highlighted several areas, saying the county is in “sound financial shape.”

“The county has total cash on hand of $19.6 million; $11 million of that is in the general fund, and $4 million is in the (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) account,” Deal said.

Taylor said he had established a list of 12 roads that need to be resurfaced. On the south end of the county, they include Warnell Drive, Sweet Hill Road, Rathlin Road, Oak Hill Road, Kelly Davis Road, Brisbon Road and Belle Island Road. On the north end, they include Arden Loop Circle, Oracal Parkway, Olive Branch Road, Ellabell Loop Road and Charles Shuman Road. No timetable was set for resurfacing.

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Later yall, its been fun
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This is among the last pieces I’ll ever write for the Bryan County News.

Friday is my last day with the paper, and come June 1 I’m headed back to my native Michigan.

I moved here in 2015 from the Great Lake State due to my wife’s job. It’s amicable, but she has since moved on to a different life in a different state, and it’s time for me to do the same.

My son Thomas, an RHHS grad as of Saturday, also is headed back to Michigan to play basketball for a small school near Ann Arbor called Concordia University. My daughter, Erin, is in law school at University of Toledo. She had already begun her college volleyball career at Lourdes University in Ohio when we moved down here and had no desire to leave the Midwest.

With both of them and the rest of my family up north, there’s no reason for me to stay here. I haven’t missed winter one bit, but I’m sure I won’t miss the sand gnats, either.

Shortly after we arrived here in 2015, I got a job in communications with a certain art school in Savannah for a few short months. It was both personally and professionally toxic and I’ll leave it at that.

In March 2016 I signed on with the Bryan County News as assistant editor and I’ve loved every minute of it. My “first” newspaper career, in the late 80s and early 90s, was great. But when I left it to work in politics and later with a free-market think tank, I never pictured myself as an ink-stained wretch again.

Like they say, never say never.

During my time here at the News, I’ve covered everything that came along. That’s one big difference between working for a weekly as opposed to a daily paper. Reporters at a daily paper have a “beat” to cover. At a weekly paper like this, you cover … life. Sports, features, government meetings, crime, fundraisers, parades, festivals, successes, failures and everything in between. Oh, and hurricanes. Two of them. I’ll take a winter blizzard over that any day.

Along the way I’ve met a lot of great people. Volunteers, business owners, pastors, students, athletes, teachers, coaches, co-workers, first responders, veterans, soldiers and yes, even some politicians.

And I learned that the same adrenalin rush from covering “breaking news” that I experienced right out of college is still just as exciting nearly 30 years later.

With as much as I’ve written about the population increase and traffic problems, at least for a few short minutes my departure means there will be one less vehicle clogging up local roads. At least until I pass three or four moving vans headed this way as I get on northbound I-95.

The hub-bub over growth here can be humorous, unintentional and ironic all at once. We often get comments on our Facebook page that go something like this: “I’ve lived here for (usually less than five years) and the growth is out of control! We need a moratorium on new construction.”

It’s like people who move into phase I of “Walden Woods” subdivision after all the trees are cleared out and then complain about trees being cut down for phase II.

Bryan County will always hold a special place in my heart and I definitely plan on visiting again someday. My hope is that my boss, Jeff Whitten (one of the best I’ve ever had), will let me continue to be part of the Pembroke Mafia Football League from afar. If the Corleone family could expand to Vegas, there’s no reason the PMFL can’t expand to Michigan.

But the main reason I want to return someday is about that traffic issue. After all, I’ll need to see it with my own eyes before I’ll believe that Highway 144 actually got widened.

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