Entries by Mike Buffington

JCCHS gets new head football coach

Tuesday, January 24. 2012

The Jackson County Board of Education has named a new head football coach for Jackson County Comprehensive High School. Benji Harrison — an offensive coordinator at Flowery Branch High School — was named to the position on Monday, after the BOE held a closed-door meeting for an hour to discuss personnel. The called meeting was announced on Friday afternoon. [Full Story »]

We need to recognize the folk art talent in our own backyard

Friday, January 20. 2012

The Northeast Georgia area is sitting on top of a major human resource and most people don’t know it. [Full Story »]

Local town police department’s arrests listed

Wednesday, January 18. 2012

ARRESTS MADE last week by the Commerce, Jefferson, Arcade, Braselton and Maysville police departments include the following: [Full Story »]

Republican leader says board member violates state law

Wednesday, January 18. 2012

Local Republican leader Ron Johnson says that a member of the board of equalization is serving in violation of state law. [Full Story »]

Airport authority considering name-change to honor late pilot

Wednesday, January 18. 2012

THE JACKSON County Airport Authority is considering renaming Lyle Field in honor of a well-known local pilot who died in a crash Jan. 8. [Full Story »]

Downtowns suffer and there are no easy answers

Friday, January 13. 2012

It’s sad to see what is happening in many small downtowns around the state. Too many buildings sit empty. All too often, these empty buildings began to decay as the owners become reluctant to spend money on buildings they can’t lease or sell. [Full Story »]

Local school salaries topped $65 million in FY2011

Thursday, January 12. 2012

The top 25 people in salary at the three public school systems in Jackson County earned a collective $6.45 million in FY2011. Together, the three school systems spent $65.1 million in salaries in FY2011. That includes both state and local supplement pay, but does not include benefits. The three school systems also spent a collective $173,900 in travel for all school employees last year.

That amount was paid out to a total of 2,334 employees among the three systems. However, a significant number of those paid were part-time and non-certified staff.

The Jackson County School System had seven people earning over $100,000 and 12 others earning over $90,000. The Jefferson City School System had three people earning over $100,000 and three others over $90,000 while the Commerce City School System had one person earning over $100,000 and none over $90,000.

The three superintendents at the schools were the highest paid employee at each system. [Full Story »]

County may relocate correctional institute

Thursday, January 12. 2012

Jackson County officials are considering moving the correctional institute out of the state building that once housed the I.W. Davis Detention Center and back into its former location.

The county has over 80 inmates a day that do not get assigned to work crews and it’s costing the county over $3,600 per day to house them without getting any benefits, county manager Kevin Poe stated.

Poe said that reducing the number of inmates would allow the county to move back into the former location, the building next to the old sheriff’s office facility.

“If we were to reduce the number of inmates, we may be able to move back into the old C.I. and save some operating cost since that facility is not as big as the I.W. Davis facility,” he said. “However, we are having to inspect the county C.I. to determine exactly what it would take to make it operational again.”

The county is paying the state $33,401 to lease the facility and the facility is in need of some major maintenance work, particularly with the boiler heating system, according to Poe.

For the full story, see the Jan. 11 issue of The Jackson Herald.

Jefferson city manager gets $10k raise in 3-2 vote

Wednesday, January 11. 2012

In a 3-2 vote, the Jefferson City Council approved a $10,000 per year raise for city manager John Ward. The action came after a 20-minute closed session to discuss “personnel” at the city council meeting Monday night.

The motion was made by councilman Steve Kinney and seconded by Steve Quinn. Kinney, Quinn, and Roy Plott voted in favor of the raise, while council members Bosie Griffith and Kathy Dubose voted against it.

Ward’s new salary will be $88,395.20 for holding two positions — city manager and planning and zoning administrator for Jefferson and Talmo. The raise was a 13 percent hike.

Online survey to address qualifications for next county school superintendent

Wednesday, January 11. 2012

The Jackson County School System is seeking comments from the community on what it wants in the district’s next superintendent. [Full Story »]

Entries by Mike Buffington

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