Athens Elected Officials, Legislative Delegation Debrief

Four members of Athens' five-member legislative delegation agreed with elected officials on one thing: when it came to issues related to Athens, the delegation spent most of their time in Atlanta on .

They cheered about the money that has come to Athens via UGA for its various projects, like the soon-to-be , the pharmacy school, the health sciences partnership, and medical residencies, as well as money for outfitting research facilities and hiring eminent scholars. 

Sen. Bill Cowsert said the state budget now includes "closing money" for getting companies like Caterpillar to locate in Geogia.

They did not spend time on the following issues, or at least there were no bills up for consideration on these issues:

Interbasin transfers of drinking water: Rep. Frank Ginn tried to cajole Mayor Denson into saying that yes, she would accept water from another source if Bear Creek dried up. She said that she wonders if communities that aren't as water-conscious and responsible as Athens Clarke County would share water with us. Her question wasn't answered.

The charter of the : it was apparent from the comments of Chuck Williams, Bill Cowsert, Doug McKillip and Ginn--Keith Heard was absent--that they didn't understand there are two groups in downtown Athens, the Downtown Business Association and the ADDA. The ADDA board voted to to reflect unification. The ADDA board also wanted to change the charter so that membership isn't contingent on being a dues-paying member of the Downtown Business Association.The delegation members said they had calls from and thus, couldn't support the charter changes. The proposal to extend the ADDA's parking jurisdiction into other parts of the county, like Five Points and Normaltown, is a non-starter. The delegation wants a resolution from the ADDA. Andy Herod said there were two philosophies at play: one, to broaden the membership, and two, to keep the dues-paying requirement. He plans to share information with the delegation.

Changing the election day from July to November: Nope, it can't be done just for Athens, whose unification follows the county model. Instead, state law has to be passed because there are other unified governments in the state. Cowsert's bill on the matter ended up in the Senate's ethics committee, where it died, he said.

Scrap Metel: Success from the General Assembly. HB 872 says secondary metal recyclers must set up a database that tracks all sellers and also says recyclers can no longer pay in cash.

On the radar for next year? When Chuck Williams asked this question, he coudn't have known it would lead to a brief legal lecture from Doug McKillip about how the U.S. Department of Justice is going to consider the 10-member single disricts plan drawn and submitted by the delegation and the way the department has dealt with multi-member districts. (Which superdistricts are not, Herod says.)

But before the lecture, Mayor Denson said that if T-SPLOST doesn't pass, Clarke County will be asking for road money next year. Herod broached the subject of the "Brain Train," which has been talked about for 25 years. That topic went nowhere, just as the train has since E.H. Culpepper died.

Herod then asked, "Will redistricting pass?" At which point, Ginn said while redistricting was a "sore subject" with Athens Clarke County officials, "we couldn't forgo our duty." If the delegation's plan doesn't pass, the delegation is going to have to take it up again, Herod said.

The local government sent their materials to the Department of Justice on March 26. Qualifying for ACC Commission seats is in May, so officials are hoping the feds rule soon.