Local briefs include Clarke Co GOP meeting, site selection committee session

The Clarke County Republican Party meets this evening in Athens, a 6 o’clock session at the Country Inn and Suites on Old Epps Bridge Road. The local GOP will hear from Athens attorney Kevin Epps. He’s the lawyer who filed suit against Athens District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez, saying she is not doing her job as DA in Clarke and Oconee counties.

There is an afternoon session for the committee that is looking for a location for a new Athens-Clarke County judicial center. It’s underway at 5 o’clock in the Government Building on Dougherty Street. The committee has a list of eight potential sites for the sales tax-funded facility that will be built to alleviate overcrowding at the courthouse in downtown Athens.

The Police Department in Commerce is getting federal funding, almost $80 thousand from an $83 million package of grants that are being distributed statewide. The money from Washington was allocated to Georgia at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic, funding to help local law enforcement agencies address staffing shortfalls. It’s being allocated in Georgia by Governor Brian Kemp, who is also sending $1.1 million to Stephens County. The Sheriff’s Office in Toccoa says it will use the money to add deputies to patrol roadways and work in the Stephens County jail.

This is expected to be a move-in week in Hoschton, with workers putting the finishing touches on the new Hoschton City Hall: it’s an 86 hundred square foot facility that comes with a price tag of $1.7 million. Opening day is scheduled for Friday.

Franklin County Commissioners are again searching for a member for the County’s Planning and Zoning Commission: Ingra Langston has resigned the post to which she had been recently appointed. A new member is expected to be named later this month.

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