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Photo by Blake Wheeler
The Hart County Board of Commissioners (BOC) voted to take no action on petitions filed by two property owners petitioning to de-annex from the town limits of Bowersville.
The BOC met for their regular meeting on June 13, with Commissioners Jeff Brown (District 4) and Joey Dorsey (District 5) participating in the meeting via videochat.
De-annexation requests were filed by Joshua Barnett, Brad Cook and Betty Cook, all of Bowersville, seeking to join 14 other petitioners, including Bowersville Mayor Pruitt Manley, and town council members Ted Yeargin and Christie Simpson, who filed de-annexation requests with Hart County in March.
“Basically, the State of Georgia gives the right to, if you want to de-annex your property, there is a code section concerning that, and the first [step] of that is to come to the county commissioners,” BOC Chairman Marshall Sayer said. “We do not have a final say, but we do have to write a letter confirming that we do approve of the de-annexation.”
“The last time we had a round of these, I was able to show y’all that the de-annexation statute is tiny,” County Attorney Kim Higgonbotham said. “There are relly not a lot of regulations on that.
“The new de-annexation [statute] would prohibit this, but I do not know whether or not the governor has signed that yet, but it wouldn’t go into effect until July 1, so it won’t affect us tonight, but [Barnett’s property] is going to be a county island.
“It will have city all the way around it.”
Additionally, the parcel owned by Betty Cook would create a city island, according to Higgonbotham.
“None of the three feel overly great,” Higgonbotham said.
“We can’t do that,” Sayer said. “The statute says that we cannot de-annex property that is going to constitute an unincorporated island.
“At this point, Georgia law prohibits us from creating an unincorporated island, and according to our attorney, de-annexing those properties is going to do that, therefore, we cannot de-annex those properties at this time.”
Commissioner Frankie Teasley (District 2) remarked that there is still one more meeting between now and July 1. If other properties request to de-annex before then, connecting all the properties to the county, then there would not be a problem.
In other business:
• Commissioner Michael Bennett (District 1) announced that he will be running for re-election during the next election cycle.
•The board approved a $32,000 increase in the public defender budget for fiscal year 2024.
•The board approved the funding for Recreation Department uniforms. Go Sports of Clarksville, GA will provide tackle and flag football uniforms. Garretson’s, of Athens, GA will provide cheerleading uniforms, and photos will be taken by Sportography. Depending on the uniform item, they will cost between $11.85 and $35 for each item
•The board approved a setback variance request from Edward Kilwien.
• Terrell Partain and Mike Adams were reappointed to the State Region II EMS Advisory Council.
•William “Bill” Chafin was reappointed to the Georgia Mountains Regional Commission Board.
•The board moved to renew insurance coverage with their current provider, Athem, at a 4 percent discounted rate of $1,362,376.74. This is a decrease of $56,766 from fiscal year 2023.
• Two members of the public spoke during the ‘public comment’ portion of the meeting. Public comment was gaveled down by Sayer. The board adjourned the meeting before retiring into executive session.