Town Hall Meeting

The Upson County commissioners held a town hall meeting Thursday evening at 7 pm in the old R.E. Lee auditorium. The commissioners are charged with spending about 14 million dollars a year of Upson county residents taxes. One of two things became very obvious in the meeting, either nearly everyone is satisfied or nobody cares.

Other than county staff and media.

Eleven people attended the meeting.

Commissioners Frank Spraggins, Rusty Blackston, Sandra Trice and Chairman Maurice Raines were present. Commissioner Steve Hudson was attending another meeting on county business and could not attend.

Chairman Raines announced that the location of the county recreation complex approved by the recent SPLOST has been narrowed down to two locations, one owned by the county and the other a privately held tract that would have to be purchased by the county. The commission expects to make a decision in July between the two.

The 2005 SPLOST that was approved for the highway 36 widening project between Thomaston and Interstate 75 has expired and the unused funds will be returned to the taxpayers in the form of a tax millage reduction for one year. A new regional transportation improvement SPLOST, known as a TSPLOST, will be presented to voters in a ten county region to fund the revived project. The Georgia Department of Transportation has stated that the earliest the project could become active again is in 2013. The next meeting of the regional representatives will be held in Turin, Georgia on July 21st.

Commissioner Raines announced that the new Narcotics Task Force building should be completed by August.

Commissioner Blackston polled the audience concerning their interest in a county-wide fire department consisting of five stations manned by full time personnel. He has personally paid to have an assessment of the need and potential advantages of a county department completed by an outside consultant. One member of the audience stated that he was involved with the formation of the Thurston Volunteer Fire Department and was satisfied with the current protection but that he had no objection to improving the situation if it would save residents money.

A small group of residents on Pallet Mill Road asked for assistance in resolving a trash collection issue.