Pot Holes and Paving……
I have had more than the normal phone calls lately over some bad roads in Hawkinsville. Almost all of the conversations start like this…
Citizen: “The city needs to come out and repave the road in front of my house. It’s in bad shape and me and my neighbors pay our taxes and deserve better roads.”
Let me just start out by saying, “They are right!”. However, it is not as easy as just sending out a crew.. For starters, the City of Hawkinsville does not have a paving machine or paving crew. Our guys can certainly fix a pothole or repair a road cut. But we don’t have the resources to actually pave or even resurface a road. In order to do that, we rely on the state Department of Transportation (GDOT). GDOT allocates so much money to us each year to use toward resurfacing. In 2014 that amount was $48,719.74. We are required to do a 30% match, so that means we have $63,336 allocated toward resurfacing in 2014. We then submit a list of roads (in priority order) that we feel need resurfacing. The top 15 list we submitted for 2014 was:
| Name | Start | End | Distance | Width | |
| 1 | Markel St. | Martin St. | Lakeview Rd. | 1753 | 20 |
| 2 | Hillcrest Ave. | McCormick Ave | end of street (Clark Dr) | 1409 | 20 |
| 3 | Jordan Drive | Sunnybrook Circle | Sunnybrook Circle | ||
| 4 | W. McDuffie St. | McCormick Ave. | Brookside | 682 | 22 |
| 5 | Ryan St. | Broad St. | Commerce St. | ||
| 6 | S. Union St. | Broad St. | Carruthers St. | 3646 | 20 |
| 7 | Kibbee | Turner St. | Jackson St. | 2447 | 25 |
| 8 | Second Street | Progress Ave. | Houston St. | 2535 | 37 |
| 9 | Liberty St | S. Florida Ave. | Warren St. | 2419 | 30 |
| 10 | Clark Dr. | Hillcrest Dr. | Kamellia Dr. | 1223 | 19 |
| 11 | Fairgrounds Rd. | S. Jackson St. | County Landing Rd. | 2100 | 17 |
| 12 | Wildwood Ave | Mansfield Dr. | Craftway Cir. | 2432 | 20 |
| 13 | Craftway Cir. | Wildwood Ave. | Thompson Way | 1314 | 20 |
| 14 | South Wood St. | Broad Street | Commerce Street | ||
| 15 | Pineywood Drive | Knotty Pine St. | end of street |
(This list is compiled from our street department as well as citizen complaints and then prioritized by the City Administration and the City Commissioners).
It costs us an estimated average of $0.56 per square foot to resurface (some more, some less depending on current road conditions and other factors). So once we find out how much money the state is going to allocate for us, then we have to re-prioritize our list to see that we get the most bang for our buck. We have to consider such questions as: Do we pave ONE long road, or several smaller roads, even if the long road is in worse condition? How many citizens actually live on that road? Is it a thoroughfare to other areas? Can we temporarily patch it and get by another year?
For 2014, we ending up having enough funds to do:
| 1 | Markel St. | Martin St. | Lakeview Rd. | 1753 | 20 |
| 2 | Hillcrest Ave. | McCormick Ave | end of street (Clark Dr) | 1409 | 20 |
| 3 | Jordan Drive | Sunnybrook Circle | Sunnybrook Circle | ||
| 4 | W. McDuffie St. | McCormick Ave. | Brookside | 682 | 22 |
It is estimated that it will cost the city (and GDOT) $66,000 to complete these projects.
In order to complete any additional roads, they would have to be paid for 100% by our local tax dollars. By waiting on each years GDOT allocation, we get much more for our local dollars (with the state contributing 70% of our cost). While we know there are other roads that need paving, we also have many other infrastructure needs to pay for as well. And on the other infrastructure needs, the state gives us no help. Thus the local taxpayers have to pay 100% of the other costs. So it makes more sense to only pave the roads each year that GDOT will help us with and put our other limited resources toward the other infrastructure needs. If we DON’T do at least the amount that GDOT approves, they will not pay ANY! So we need to at least do enough roads each year in order to get their 70% contribution. Anything OVER our total, we would have to pay 100% for.
I was sitting at McDonald’s the other day with one of the “coffee clubs” that meet there. They took the opportunity to tell me of all the needs in the city of Hawkinsville. For example, they want us to fix all the roads, replace all the old water and sewage lines, and invest heavily in industrial recruitment (among other things). But most importantly, don’t raise taxes. In other words, their request was to correct outstanding problems (aka spending money) while not raising taxes (aka increasing revenue). An impossibility. We operate under a TIGHT, LEAN budget. So in order to do any additional work each year (pave additional roads, replace additional pipes, etc.) would require MORE revenue (aka higher taxes).
So, I am writing this post to assure you, our citizens, that we are doing our very best to correctly, efficiently, and effectively allocate the limited resources that we have. Do we have bad roads? YES. Can we afford to simply repair/resurface them all now? NO. We simply take our list each year, (again, compiled from our street department and citizen complaints) and prioritize and fund based on the dollar amounts that GDOT allocates to Hawkinsville each year.
If you know of a bad street, let us know. Our crews have spent the last two weeks repairing MANY of the potholes around town, but I am positive there are more. Call City Hall (478-892-3240) or simply email City Hall (cityhall@hawkinsvillega.net) or you can even reply to this post. We will look at the road, add it to our list, and then consider it when we re-prioritize each year.
Pot holes and patches? YES, we can do those ourselves, so again, LET US KNOW. Sometimes, the worse the condition, the LESS people report it. I suppose they feel that “surely someone has told the city how bad this pothole is.” But if everyone is thinking someone else is reporting it… well,… sometimes NO ONE reports it. Also, not all roads are city maintained. Some are STATE roads, and some that get reported are actually COUNTY roads. But let us know and we will pass along the information to the appropriate agency or government.
Thoughts?
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How do I keep my computer from getting infected?
The first line of defense against malware is … you!
You can check whether a file is harmful before you install it. Sometimes you can check before you even download it. VirusTotal (https://www.virustotal.com/en/) is a great website where you can check a file against 40 or so antivirus resources to see if it’s likely to be dangerous. It’s dead easy. A more complete explanation of the site is here: https://www.virustotal.com/en/about/. That page explains how to submit a file for analysis, too. If you do a lot of downloading, you might be interested in the advanced tools, here: https://www.virustotal.com/en/documentation/.
Once you’ve downloaded a file, you can (and should) check it before you install it. So given a choice to Save or Run or Save and Run, the best choice on a file you’re not sure about is Save. When the download finishes, right-click on the file. You will see options to scan the file with your antivirus and antimalware program. Do it! That scan takes seconds!
Even great, safe programs will try to force stuff on you. Sometimes it’s Google Chrome (I’m talking about YOU, Avast! Free) or McAfee Security Suite. (What does that have to do with updating your Java? Stop it, Adobe!) Always choose Custom Install over Typical or Express. Custom Install allows you to decline unwanted programs, toolbars, and search hijacks. Typical or Express installs mean that you accept whatever is offered. Clear the check boxes for the stuff you don’t want.
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A Hawkinsville Success Story…. Cotton Mill Lofts and River Market Lofts
It was YEARS in the making. But persistence pays off. Sitting quietly on 7 acres along the banks of the Ocmulgee river sat an old abandoned textile mill. Once a thriving business, for years now it sat empty and was fast deteriorating. Thieves were stealing the copper wiring. The environmental hazards were many: from lead paint to the residuals from the towel coloring process used years earlier. But now it is a 40+ unit residential complex, almost full, with no environmental issues and has a (soon to be) community market attached.
Mr. Sam Way, III knew of a private development company located in Winston Salem, NC. He knew of them because they had renovated the Historic Hotel in Cordele, Ga where one of his banks is located. He called and invited them to visit Hawkinsville to see if there were any properties here they might be interested in refurbishing. They came. They looked at the Old Hawkinsville Hotel, the Old Hospital, the upstairs “apartments” in many of our downtown buildings and the old Textile Mill. While interested in all, they kept coming back to the Textile Mill. However, this was probably going to be a 10 million dollar project, so they were looking for whatever assistance the local community and/or the state could give. Brainstorming sessions between Landmark Development and the local governments were held. The Hawkinsville DDA (Downtown Development Authority) wanted one of the three buildings to utilize as a community market and set about getting grant dollars to help. Landmark was willing to develop one of the two remaining buildings and was seeing what grant dollars that the state might could help with. They first looked at Historic Tax Credits, but this did not prove viable. They finally settled on Low Income Housing Tax Credits as a means to fund this project. The City of Hawkinsville applied for and got a $500K One Georgia Grant to help with the remediation of the environmental issues. (The City also agreed to pay for the initial real estate appraisal and helped with the grant application fee. The City also committed to help with any demolition needed with in-kind contributions of city employee labor).
The DDA completed (with the help of Middle Georgia Regional Development Authority) and obtained a $500K grant as well to turn one of the buildings into a community market.
Landmark got a Feasibility study completed and was ready to submit the Low Income Housing Tax Credit application to DCA (Department of Community Affairs).
THEN THE REAL ESTATE MARKET COLLAPSED. DCA wisely ordered a NEW Feasibility study based on the CURRENT market conditions and the new study called for a much lower occupancy facility. It was back to the drawing board for all parties. But no one quit. No one gave up. Finally, a few years had gone by, but the new plans and new grant applications were submitted. DCA approved and we were on our way.
Construction began on both the Cotton Mill Lofts and the Hawkinsville River Market. In the mean time, that left one building with no use. A federal grant application for Housing was submitted to the federal government and a $1 million dollar grant was awarded there. So River Market Lofts (ten slightly more upper scale units) were now on the drawing board as well.
So what is the final outcome of much patience and persistence? We now have the completed Cotton Mill Lofts and River Market Lofts. Adding people into our downtown area to shop and live. We are in the process of trying to open the Hawkinsville River Market, to highlight and sell local produce and merchandise from middle Georgia farmers and vendors.
But at what cost? Well, the City of Hawkinsville put out around $30K in hard dollars and another $110K in matching in-kind commitments for demolition help. What did we get in return? ALOT!
A former environmental eyesore is now a thriving residential complex. The private developer is required to pay back (over 20 years) the $30K, the $110K AND the $500K grant awarded. But the great news is that the money will all go to HAWKINSVILLE, not back to the state government. So our $30K investment will reap over $600K in hard dollars in return. WOW!
AND, now we have 40+ units flushing toilets, washing dishes, and cleaning clothes on a daily basis. All of that water is being purchased from the City of Hawkinsville’s water department!
AND, all trash generated is being picked up and billed by the City of Hawkinsville’s sanitation department.
AND, now we have a multi-million dollar real estate parcel on the tax roles (paying property taxes ) rather than a couple of hundred thousand dollar depreciating abandoned textile mill.
AND, now we have proof that public-private partnerships WORK! The government can’t do it all. We don’t have the money or the resources. But we CAN assist private developers to the extent that the law allows and help everyone come out a winner.
NOTE: The Hawkinsville River Market WILL have spaces available for PEACHES TO THE BEACHES. Reserve your spot today! The Market is slated to officially open on May 1, 2014!
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Consolidation continues? Zoning Boards to merge
Well, the citizens decided against consolidating Hawkinsville and Pulaski County governments. However, that is not stopping the respective governments from continuing to work together to consolidate services whenever it makes sense. We are now working with County Commissioner M.A. “Butch” Hall to consolidate the zoning ordinances and zoning boards of Hawkinsville and Pulaski County.
We will utilize ONE set of zoning ordinances, ONE county wide zoning map, and ONE zoning board to hear zoning requests. This move will not only save a little money (we pay our zoning board members AND the county pays their zoning board members), but it will also make things more consistent and easier for our citizens. A citizen can get the maps, forms, ordinances, etc from EITHER government.
We will continue to look for ways to make our respective governments more responsive, better fiscal stewards, and better listeners to our citizens. If you have any input on this or any issue, please respond below. I look forward to your thoughts….
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See the article written about Ga Web on the Georgia Small Business Development Center Newsletter!
http://www.georgiasbdc.org/pdfs/essential_news_september_2013.pdf
I am so excited. The Macon Small Business Development Center did an article on my company. It was featured in their September, 2013 edition. I just got a copy! Check it out! The link above is to a PDF copy of the article, or you can go to:
http://www.georgiasbdc.org/subpage.aspx?page_name=business_advantage&cart=f24d5ba2-07aa-40e1-9806-d238fb00def4
and click on SEPTEMBER 2013
Shelly Berryhill
http://www.shellyberryhill.net
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Christmas arrived early for me – Google Glass
Months and months ago, I put myself on the list to be considered for Google Glass. Google Glass is a wearable computer with an optical head-mounted display (OHMD) that is being developed by Google in the Project Glass research and development project, with a mission of producing a mass-market ubiquitous computer. Google Glass displays information in a smartphone-like hands-free format, that can communicate with the Internet via natural language voice commands.
Well, on Friday, I got an email saying I had been selected to participate in their GLASS EXPLORER early adopter program. My Glass arrived on Tuesday! The Google Glass is really awesome. It has the heads up display slightly above my line of site. With just a brisk nod of my head, it comes alive with a computer screen. I can then communicate with it via voice commands. “Okay Glass, Make a call to Vonnie” or “Okay Glass, text Kristen that I will be late for our meeting” or “Okay Glass, give me directions to 94 Commerce Street in Hawkinsville”. I can check email, texts, news alerts, directions. I can take pictures or video. I can look at a sign written in a foreign language and it will automatically translate it for me. I can Google any inquiry – all hands free. Thus far, I REALLY like it. I will post from time to time on this blog to let you know my thoughts on Google Glass. Find out much more about Glass at: http://www.google.com/glass/start/ Also, this is a neat video to give you a feel for it. http://www.google.com/glass/start/how-it-feels/#video=hif-video
If any of you want to try it, let me know….
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Is your GMAIL account filling up?
Find Big Mail is a great app to use if your GMAIL account is filling up. My personal gmail account is 30 gig in size (I purchase extra space), but I am already using over 17 gig or over 50% of my space. In comes FIND BIG MAIL. Running this program told me… “75.8% of my Gmail space is used by 3.3% of my mail.” WOW! It then labeled the biggest offenders right in GMAIL for me to look at and delete what I could. I had 398 emails over 10mb, 451 emails over 5mb, and 2088 emails over 1mb. After running this program, I was able to delete many large files and got my gmail account to only 13 gig or 35% of my available space. Just a quick tip for you gmail users!
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Speed Bumps – A bumpy road indeed…
Personally, I hate speed bumps. They are aggravating and bad for the car. They cost money. I would much rather see law enforcement write tickets, thus CREATING revenue, than us spending money to place speed bumps.
Having said that, I do understand why a parent of small children would request one. As they see cars speeding down their road, they know that at that speed, reaction time would be limited. For the safety of their children and pets, they want cars to slow down. Speed bumps DO accomplish that.
During my tenure on City Council, I have voted against almost all speed bumps that have been presented to us. I have only voted affirmative for two. The first one was a request by First Baptist Church of Hawkinsville. They owned both sides of the street and children were often running to their parent’s vehicles after meeting times. This one made sense to me.
The second one was requested by a mother on a busy street. She had gotten almost all her neighbors to agree. So I voted for it.
One that I voted against was requested by a good friend of mine. He called and requested it right in front of his house. I told him of my disdain for them, but I also correctly informed him that if it was brought up, it would probably pass. He asked me to bring it up. So… I made the motion to place a speed bump in front of his house. The motion was seconded and then I voted against it. That got a few strange looks. Why would I make the motion and then vote against it? Simple: A citizen had a request and it was worthy of discussion and a vote. But even after bringing it up, my disdain for them remained so I voted against it. It passed 4 to 1.
Subsequently, we have had more drama with speed bumps. So in November of 2013, I made the following motion:
“Any time a citizen requests a speed bump, the city will place a radar detection unit on that street. This radar detection system will record the number and speed of all traffic on that street for a period of at least two weeks. This will allow us to see if there truly is a need. Does the traffic warrant it? Are cars speeding down the road? Then one of two things will take place. If the homeowner lives in a section that has a homeowner’s association, we will require that the homeowners association take a vote and submit that vote to us. If the homeowner does NOT live in a section that has a homeowner’s association, the city will poll every household that lives on that street from stop sign to stop sign and determine the neighborhood’s feel for having a speed bump placed on their street. All of the above information will then be presented at the next regularly scheduled city commission meeting, where a vote will be taken.”
The motion was passed. Hopefully this will place a little more accountability on the process.
What are your thoughts on speed bumps? Do they work? Are they worthwhile? What alternatives would you suggest? I represent the citizens of Hawkinsville, so knowing your thoughts on these issues will help me decide how to vote. While speed bumps are not the most important decisions that we make, they do effect our lives DAILY as we have to drive over them. They merit discussion. Tell me YOUR opinion!
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Consolidation: My 2 cents after the election…
Now that the election is over, let me share my thoughts on the consolidation issue here in Hawkinsville / Pulaski County. I really did not want to say much prior to the election. Whatever I said, (or say now probably) would have been construed by the pro-side as being against consolidation and would have been construed by the con-side as being for consolidation. As a sitting official, I really felt that I should remain neutral. I think the citizens of this county should have whatever form of government that they want – therefore, I voted to allow the citizens to vote in the Nov. 5th referendum to decide that question.
Ironically, now that the election is over, I am probably getting asked more about it than before the election.
First, let me clear up (or attempt to) the confusion about – “City people got to vote twice”. There were two completely separate elections taking place. The city residents had to decide if they were in favor or not in favor of consolidation. The county residents (which is everyone that lives in Pulaski including those within the city limits) also had to decide if they were in favor or not in favor. So if you live in the city, it was not exactly that you voted twice in one election, but you voted once each in two different elections. Whether you agree or disagree that is how the Secretary of State’s Office told us to do the election. The Secretary of State guy quoted as saying it was illegal was probably simply asked if it was legal to vote twice in an election. This is the same way the vote was done in 1999 as well. A good analogy is this: if COKE and PEPSI were going to merge, and you owned stock in BOTH (city AND county resident), then you would get to vote in the COKE election and the PEPSI election.
When this issue first came up of the consolidation, I was certainly not going to stand in the way, because again, I feel the citizens should have whatever form of government that they want. However, if we were going to go down that road, I wanted it done right. So we (city and county governments) appointed a 16 person study committee to look into this idea. We had young, we had old. We had white, we had black. We had men, we had women. We had business people, we had farmers. We had a great cross representation of people on this committee. We then provided them the resources necessary to fully explore this issue. The city/county accountant attended those meetings. The city attorney attended those meetings. City/County personnel attended those meetings. City/County officials attended those meetings when asked. We had the Regional Commission out of Macon facilitate the meetings. GMA (Georgia Municipal Association) and ACCG (Association of County Commissioners of Georgia) attended many of the meetings. The group was tasked with exploring the avenues, the good, the bad, the financial, the personnel, etc. etc of this issue and to report back to the governments if they would recommend we pursue a consolidated government or not. This group met for over a year. They finally concluded that the majority of the group felt that we SHOULD pursue the consolidation. So both the city and county governments then changed the group from a study committee to a charter commission. They were to formulate the recommended “look and feel” of the new proposed government that would govern the consolidated “Hawkinsville / Pulaski County’. They wrote the charter which defined things such as the number of commissioners, their terms, the rotation, the pay. They came up with the proposed districts, and all the other items that had to be addressed. The proposed charter was then sent back to the local governments, where they were deemed appropriate and the charter was then sent to the Georgia State Assembly for approval. After they approved, and the Governor signed it, it was then placed on the ballot for the November 5th election.
As with any issue there are pros and cons. As with many issues there are disagreements as to the assumptions made. The pro-side was proclaiming that the consolidation would save lots and lots of money. My personal belief is that it could have saved some money over time. Not a whole lot, but some. Economies of scale and increased efficiency were sure to happen. However, at the same time, the merger itself would have been expensive. Simply merging the two general ledgers and accounting systems would probably not have been cheap. Long term, we would be managing ONE accounting system rather than two, but short term, we have to create the system to do it. We have ALREADY functionally consolidated many departments with the County, so much of the savings of a consolidated government have ALREADY been realized. 911, EMA, FIRE, POLICE, ANIMAL CONTROL, TAX COLLECTIONS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, RECREATION DEPARTMENT, BUILDING AND CODES ENFORCEMENT have all been functionally consolidated with the county over the last 10+ years.
I think a positive would have been that we could project ourselves as larger. When a potential industrial prospect inquired as to the size of our city, we could report 12,000 rather than 4,000.
A positive would have been some reduced bureaucracy on items that previously would have had to obtain both city and county approval. However, for items requiring JUST county approval, you would have had to convince 3 of the 5 county commissioners rather than the current sole commissioner.
For many people that do not like that we have a SOLE county commissioner, a board of 5 was more appealing.
Some on the con-side were proclaiming that suddenly the county would have to conform to city ordinances or pay city taxes. That was not accurate. All ordinances applying NOW to the county would have remained to the county, while all ordinances applying just to city residences would have remained applying just to city residences. All city taxes collected would have remained in the city. The county was NOT suddenly going to have to pay city taxes. Their dirt roads were NOT going to suddenly be paved, and they were NOT going to suddenly have the option of utilizing city services such as water or trash pickup.
I think consolidation would have removed one barrier to city annexation. NOW, we must not only have the proposed properties’ owner’s approval, but we must also have approval from the county. I suppose since the consolidated board would have represented both city and county, the county approval would not have been necessary. Depending on how you feel about the possibility of annexation, this could be either a pro or a con for consolidation.
On the negative side, I like the fact that we are all (city and county officials) elected at-large. I like that I feel I get to represent ALL of the residents of Hawkinsville, and not just my little “district.”. I also like the fact that the way it is now, 100% of the people voting on city taxes are required to LIVE within the city and pay the taxes that they might propose. Under the consolidated government, it would have been possible for only some (or even none) of the elected officials to have to pay 100% of the taxes they were proposing (if they lived in the county, but were voting on taxes or fees for the city district).
There are many other valid arguments for or against the proposed consolidation. But the people have spoken. And we will continue as we were. I heard several residents proclaim that their reason for voting against consolidation was simply, “It ain’t broke, so it don’t need fixin'” There is some truth in that statement. Unlike many cities and counties across Georgia, our two governments work very well together. In fact, just this past Friday, Sole County Commissioner M.A. “Butch” Hall, myself, and Jerry Murkerson, the City Manager, were invited as guest panelists at a joint GMA/ACCG training session in Dublin, Ga. The training was on City/County Cooperation and we were presented as a MODEL for how to accomplish this.
I love that we live in a country where the PEOPLE get to decide. The PEOPLE are in charge. Not a few but all. I applaud those of you who VOTED in this election and I think I can speak for both the City and the County governments when I say, “We will strive to continue to work together to improve the lives of the citizens of this great community. We need more industry, we need more jobs. We need to continue to make sure that EVERYONE has a voice and that EVERYONE gets heard. We need to continue to find ways to keep costs (aka TAXES) down while providing the services that the government needs to provide.”
We have a great community. As with any group of individuals, there are differences of opinion. There are facts to any issues and there are incorrect facts about any issue. We will continue to work together, even when we disagree on some items, or some points. We all want what’s best for the community and our children. Finding the optimum route to get there is often a challenge and the route chosen is often debated. But the end-goal is hopefully the same.
I would love to have your feedback on this post or any post….
Shelly J. Berryhill
Hawkinsville City Commissioner
Shelly Berryhill 