http://onlineathens.com/local-news/2017-03-28/athens-neighborhood-health-center-closes-westside-clinic?utm_source=WhatCountsEmail&utm_medium=OnlineAthens%20Daily%20Headlines&utm_campaign=012717%20new%20morning%20template

Athens Neighborhood Health Center closes westside clinic

The Athens Neighborhood Health Center, which serves the working poor, the homeless, the uninsured and other underserved populations in Athens-Clarke County and the surrounding area, has closed its westside clinic, leaving two clinics open.

The move comes as the center is struggling with a $200,000 funding shortfall. Facility officials have blamed the shortfall on the intermittent nature of part of its revenue stream — most notably its Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, money from self-paying patients and insurance payments from patients who do have coverage.

While the center can depend on its federal grant funding, local government support, help from the United Way of Northeast Georgia and other sources to arrive on a regular basis, the other revenue sources are less reliable, according to Mae Walter, chair of the center’s board of directors.

The center’s board and center officials announced the ANHC’s fiscal difficulties in February, noting then that they had cut employee salaries by 7 percent and were no longer covering the full cost of employee’s health insurance premiums, an unusually generous employee benefit.

The center’s call for assistance has thus far been answered by Piedmont Athens Regional hospital, which has donated $50,000 to the organization. That’s a good move for the hospital, center officials have indicated, because ANHC can provide care to patients who might otherwise show up in local emergency rooms to meet some of their basic health care needs.

Earlier this month, ANHC officials asked the Athens-Clarke County government for $100,000 as the mayor and county commissioners were discussing potential allocations to local “independent agencies” that get funding from a variety of sources, including the county government.

Mayor Nancy Denson and the commissioners were somewhat cool to the request, wondering how a $100,000 allocation that, if granted, wouldn’t be available until July 1, the start of the county’s new fiscal year.

“My heart is breaking for your circumstances,” Denson told the ANHC representatives. “I’m just not sure what we’ll be able to do for you.”

Mellinda Craig, the center’s CEO, hinted Tuesday that the organization might still be in need of the money as the county enters its new fiscal year. Since the meeting with the mayor and commission earlier this month, ANHC has received $20,000 in insurance and other payments it was due, but that still leaves the center more than $100,000 short of its break-even fiscal need, Craig noted.

And while closing its clinic on Old Jefferson Road will eventually produce some considerable savings for the Athens Neighborhood Health Center, Craig said, for the short term it has created some additional fiscal challenges as ANHC deals with the financial consequences of breaking its lease.

Closing the clinic “won’t completely get us out” of the fiscal challenges, Craig said. She estimated Tuesday that it will take “a few months, if not longer,” to get through the current financial shortfall. In the meantime, the ANHC is working with consultants through the Georgia Association of Primary Health Care, and searching for a chief financial officer of its own.

Craig said ANHC officials saw the closing of the clinic as sending a signal to the community — and, importantly, to any potential donors — that it was serious about addressing its fiscal challenges.

In light of those challenges and ANHC’s search for help, Craig said, “I’m sure that everybody was asking, ‘What are you [tha ANHC] going to do?” to address the clinics’ financial problems.

The ANHC opened its westside clinic in 2015, in a conscious effort to make its services more accessible to the area’s minority population. The decision was made in the belief that many of the people in the area had transportation challenges and other issues that might have made it difficult for them to get to what are now the center’s two remaining clinics — at 675 College Avenue, in the northern edge of downtown Athens, and at 402 McKinley Drive, on the eastern side of the community.

But in a prepared statement on the closing of the westside clinic, center officials noted that the “ANHC has not been able to generate sufficient revenue to cover this new facility.”

While it has closed the westside clinic, ANHC is retaining its full complement of current providers, which includes three physicians and three nurse practitioners, at its two remaining clinics.

“ANHC will continue to provide full services to its existing patient base,” according to the statement, which also noted that the center will continue to accept new patients.

And as it turns out, according to Craig, patients who had used the westside clinic have been making their way to the two remaining clinics, both of which are on Athens Transit bus routes.

“They’re willing to follow us,” Craig said, adding that although the westside clinic has closed, it served a purpose in letting a new segment of the community know that the ANHC was a local healthcare resource.

Before the westside clinic opened, Craig said, many people in that area “had never heard of us.”

Business hours will continue to be the same at the two remaining clinics, with both open to patients from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays, and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Fridays.

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I have no idea what this means, but it is controversial within the commission. Do you understand it?  This whole "infill"/complete stress/smart cities thing (and whatever this is) is not being explained to the public as it relates to the future of Athens. 

•900 students? 

•9 acre mixed use development?•Students only or multi-family dwelling? 

•Parking? 

So many questions. 

http://onlineathens.com/local-news/2017-03-08/mark-criticized-rejecting-inclusion-adda-boundaries?utm_source=WhatCountsEmail&utm_medium=OnlineAthens%20Daily%20Headlines&utm_campaign=012717%20new%20morning%20template

The Mark criticized for rejecting inclusion in ADDA boundaries

Athens-Clarke County commissioners on Tuesday approved a proposed extension of the boundaries for the Athens Downtown Development Authority, but not before some of them criticized the management of Landmark Properties for not including their nine-acre mixed-use development The Mark, located between East Broad and Oconee streets, within those expanded boundaries.

Expanding the boundaries of the Athens Downtown Development Authority will allow the authority, which works on economic development and other initiatives in the downtown area, to bring in additional revenue from a special 1-mill property tax levy on business properties within its assigned area. In return, businesses within the ADDA’s area gain access to low-interest, long-term loans, have a liaison with the county government, and can take advantage of initiatives such as a facade grant program that provides funding for storefront improvements.

Because the ADDA, which is governed by a seven-member board appointed by the county commission, was created by state legislation, any changes to its boundaries require action from the Georgia General Assembly. Such issues are handled in the legislature as strictly local matters, and are routinely approved with little controversy. The local delegation to the legislature, which will be shepherding the boundary extension request through the General Assembly, has an informal rule that it must be in unanimous agreement before placing local issues in the legislative process.

In advance of setting its new proposed boundaries — which generally stretch from east to west from Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway along the North Oconee River to Barber Street, and south to north from the Oak Street area to the area of Willow Street and Cleveland Avenue — the ADDA sent letters to property owners within the area in which it wanted to expand to gauge interest in the proposal.

Other than The Mark, only a handful of other properties — a half-acre commercial/office property on Ware Street, two College Avenue townhomes, and a couple of residential properties off Finley Street — opted out of inclusion in the expanded ADDA boundaries.

The Mark, now under construction in the eastern end of downtown, will bring apartments with more than 900 student-oriented beds into the downtown area, along with other retail, commercial and restaurant space. Wes Rogers, president and CEO of Athens-based Landmark Properties, which will be moving its corporate offices into The Mark, has not returned repeated telephone calls to his office seeking comment on the decision not to be included within the ADDA boundaries.

Commissioner Melissa Link, whose district includes most of the downtown Athens area, was among the commissioners who were critical Tuesday of Landmark’s decision not to become part of the ADDA area.

“They’re certainly marketing themselves as the ultimate in downtown living,” Link chided. The Mark’s website does note that its apartments “will be just steps from downtown Athens … and some of Athens’ best nightlife.”

Commissioner Kelly Girtz called Landmark’s decision “a disappointment,” while Commissioner Jerry NeSmith noted that The Mark and its residents will have an impact on the downtown area.

“They’ll be wearing down downtown,” NeSmith said, adding that he hoped Landmark Properties “would take another look” at inclusion within ADDA boundaries.

Mayor Nancy Denson countered criticism of Landmark Properties, telling commissioners and the audience at Tuesday’s commission meeting in City Hall that it was “disturbing to me to hear criticism of a business that’s increasing our tax base significantly.”

Denson went on to say that she has spoken with “one of the principals” at Landmark about inclusion in the ADDA boundaries, and “he has not said ‘no,’ he has said, ‘no, not now.”

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Sharyn Dickerson | Athens-Clarke County

Featuring: 
Sharyn Dickerson | Athens-Clarke County

http://www.georgiatrend.com/March-2015/Leading-The-Charge/

LEADING THE CHARGE

Meet six of Georgia’s new county commissioners who are ready to make a difference.

JOHN W. McCURRY, K.K. SNYDER AND LINDSAY THOMAS JR.

 

Community Minded: Dougherty County Commission Chair Chris Cohilas

www.herbpilcher.com

Georgia is known for a lot of things – peanuts, peaches, beautiful coastlines, bustling cities and mountain retreats. It’s also known for having a lot of counties – with 159, it’s second only to Texas. And that makes for a lot of county commissioners.

Georgia law requires that new commissioners undergo training before taking office – one of only a few states in the country to do so. Ross King, ACCG executive director, believes this strengthens the state.

“We’re affording them the opportunity a month before they take office to really get some insight and guidance on the dynamics of the position that they have just been victorious in assuming,” King says. “We provide them with a general overview of key issues related to legal matters, finance and ethics.”

Commissioner-elects must take 66 hours of courses, which upon completion qualifies them as Certified County Commissioners.

The commissioner training program is in partnership with the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia and is part of the ACCG Lifelong Learning Academy, which also offers in-depth specialty tracks so that commissioners can follow their interests in topics like revenue and finance, citizen engagement, economic development, public safety and intergovernmental cooperation. The goal is to create a well-rounded commission, with each commissioner an expert on a different subject.

“Better governance will in essence provide a better constituency response,” King says, “and that’s the key to training.”

Georgia Trend talked with six commissioner-elects as they were set to take office in January, to find out a little bit more about them, the value they found in the Newly Elected Commissioner Conference and their goals for this term.

Profiles were written by John McCurry, K.K. Snyder and Lindsay Thomas Jr.

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Chris Cohilas | Dougherty County

When Albany attorney Chris Cohilas learned that longtime Dougherty County Chairman Jeff Sinyard would not seek reelection, he was concerned for the community’s future. At a time when Dougherty County desperately needs to move forward, having someone at the helm with strong leadership skills, a strong work ethic and a strong background in both public and private sectors is crucial, says the former chief assistant district attorney.

“Philosophically, I was brought up to be community-minded and to volunteer a lot of my time,” says the father of four. “People who are community stakeholders – and have the ability – should do so.”

And so he has. Cohilas is a past president of the Artesian City Sertoma Club, a past co-chairman of Albany’s annual Martin Luther King Day Celebration and current chairman of the Darton College Foundation. But he’s especially proud of his role as a founding member of Albany’s Lily Pad SANE Center for victims of rape and abuse, particularly children. “As a prosecutor in Dougherty County, I was in charge of prosecuting serious violent felony crimes against women and children, many of which were sexually charged. The Lily Pad allows rape victims more dignity than having to go to the ER for exams and information gathering.”

Like all incoming commissioners, Cohilas participated in the ACCG training. “It was refreshing to see that ACCG’s format emphasized the importance of economic regionalism as opposed to isolationism,” he says. “The training gave me numerous valuable opportunities to share ideas and concerns with leaders in our neighboring counties with an eye toward regional economic development.”

Cohilas says that as chairman, one order of business will be developing the positive environment necessary for attracting more jobs. Dougherty County continues to face the challenges of economic recession, and “communities must get creative in marketing themselves and their interaction with businesses,” says Cohilas. In effect, “What are we going to do to bring the next big Ford plant here?”

Raising the education level, providing opportunity for local businesses to grow and becoming a business-friendly environment are top issues. “The biggest thing I want to achieve is collaboration and cooperation between all of our local governments,” he says. “I think a county commissioner is obligated to work in a positive way with the local school board, city commission and the mayor to develop a synergy so that resources are properly used as we drive toward core goals,” he says. “Then we’re all rowing in the same boat, and we’ll get there a lot faster.” –  KS 

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Matt Blackburn | Emanuel County

Matt Blackburn brings youth and enthusiasm to the Emanuel County Board of Commissioners. In fact, at 29, he is one of the youngest county commissioners in Georgia.

An Emanuel County native, Blackburn is manager of Blanchard Equipment, a regional dealer of John Deere machinery. He says he decided to seek political office due to an intense desire to become involved in shaping the future of the county.

“I’m excited about the opportunity and looking forward to working hard for Emanuel County,” Blackburn says. “I’m not a politician; I’m a businessman, and I have experience managing a business in Swainsboro.”

As is the case with many counties, economic development is at the top of the priority list for local officials. Sometimes that can be a challenge for rural counties. Blackburn believes Emanuel County is best served by a regional approach. He cites the Emanuel Interstate 16 Industrial Park, which is located about halfway between the Port of Savannah and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, as a major asset.

“Everybody wants more jobs. Our county has a good location, and we have some strong points,” Blackburn says. “Our downtown development [in Swainsboro] is coming along, and we have an airport that is growing.”

The ACCG training session was a big benefit to Blackburn, who says he stood out as the youngster in the crowd. “I didn’t know what to expect, but it was very helpful and I enjoyed interacting with the other new commissioners. It was a chance to build some camaraderie and talk to other commissioners and ask about their counties and what they are doing. The sessions with neighboring counties were helpful.”

Blackburn, who attended East Georgia State College in Swainsboro, says becoming manager of a business three years ago opened up some doors for him. He subsequently became involved with the local Rotary and Lions clubs. “I feel like serving the community is something I was called to do,” he says. “I’m blessed to have the opportunity.”

Blackburn says the best aspect of his campaign was the opportunity to meet a lot of Emanuel County’s residents, even those who didn’t vote for him.

“One of the best conversations I had was with an older gentleman. He’s 88, and he told me he fought in three wars and came back to the county to farm. After our conversation, he told me he wasn’t voting for me. I told him I appreciated him coming by. That was my favorite conversation of the campaign.” – JM

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Sharyn Dickerson | Athens-Clarke County

Born and raised in Clarke County, Sharyn Dickerson is now raising her own children there, just one reason behind her decision to enter public service. Mindful of the importance of this responsibility, she’ll now have a chance to be instrumental in the future of Athens-Clarke County and in improving the quality of life for its residents.

Through the years, Dickerson has lent her time and talents to a number of local causes, including Project Safe – a local shelter for battered women – and The Cottage, a sexual assault and child advocacy center. “Many of my interests are family-centered,” she says. “As a parent I find myself navigating toward those organizations because I strongly believe that many of the problems we face as a society occur as a result of the breakdown of the family unit.”

Dickerson, who lives in the greenbelt of the county, is already tuned in to a number of issues facing residents, namely transportation and zoning. “I’ve got people who own tracts of land and want to leave some for their family, but some zoning issues are preventing that. I think there’s something we can work on for a compromise,” she says.

Investing in the eastern-most portion of the county is also crucial, she adds. “A lot of the growth we’ve seen was on the west side, but many of us have to drive 25 or 30 minutes to do any significant shopping,” she says, noting that there are a lot of empty buildings on her side of town, offering the opportunity to control what businesses are brought to that area of Athens.

“As a professional, I also am very involved with environmental issues, as that has been my career for 23 years. Thus my interest in the Athens Land Trust which, by the way, also provides affordable, eco-friendly housing for our citizens,” says Dickerson, who served as recycling coordinator for the Athens-Clarke County Solid Waste Department.

Although she was a local government employee for nearly 14 years, ACCG’s training program provided not only an extensive overview of local government functions and operations, but also information on the legal aspects of her elected position, such as open records and open meetings. “The legal information was really helpful to me since I have not had much experience in that area. However, I think the most beneficial part of ACCG’s training program for me was the opportunity to network with other newly elected local officials.” – KS

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Scott Gordon | Cherokee County

New Cherokee County Commissioner Scott Gordon has a long record of community service, including stints on several volunteer boards and as a member of the city of Woodstock’s planning commission. The collective experience helped pique his interest in seeking local government elective office. Also fueling his political ambition was encouragement from an array of local leaders.

“I started having a deep desire to run for public office, and it was just a matter of deciding when the opportunity was right,” Gordon says.

Issues facing Cherokee County are similar to other counties around the state: economic development, finding ways to pay for the ever-increasing cost of public services and development of a comprehensive transportation plan.

Gordon likes to cite 19th century surgeon Thomas Inman, who once said “First do no harm,” when discussing his goals as commissioner. He hopes to apply that approach when dealing with county issues.

“First we have to continue the growth of economic development we’ve experienced over the past several years. We have a new outlet mall, some new industries, and Cabela’s chose Cherokee County for its first store in the Atlanta area.”

Other important issues that must be dealt with, Gordon says, include the state legislature’s consideration of a Homestead Option Sales Tax for Cherokee, Cobb and Gwinnett counties, which he believes could reduce or eliminate property taxes for Cherokee residents.

 Navigating the local cost ramifications of the Affordable Care Act to employees and the county is another challenge, he says. “My family and I have felt the financial impact at home as well as [at] my firm, which has more than 220 employees,” he says. “The impact to the 1,300 employees of our county will be a significant issue in the days ahead.”

Gordon describes ACCG’s training program as “fantastic.” As an architect, he has attended his share of professional conferences, and he rates the ACCG session as one of the best.

“There wasn’t a minute scheduled without a purpose,” he says. “All of the speakers were experts in their subject matter with nearly all having past or current experience as an elected official as well as additional credentials in their field of expertise. As a licensed professional, I have to complete continuing education on an annual basis to maintain my license, so I have seen more than my fair share of educational conferences, and I can safely say that ACCG is doing it right.” – JM

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Chris Paulk | Irwin County

With a civil engineering degree from Georgia Tech, Chris Paulk is trained to make a plan, stick to it, measure progress and celebrate when goals are met. He will rely on that strategy to help him in his new role as one of five Irwin County Commissioners.

Raised on Paulk’s Vineyards, the family muscadine grape farm near Ocilla, Paulk returned there after college to assist in the business started by his grandfather, selling fresh muscadines to grocery distributors and wineries. Paulk saw an opportunity in the discarded muscadines that didn’t meet the grade for fresh consumption, so he and his wife Jorjanne launched Muscadine Products Corp., which converts those grapes into raw materials for juices, dietary supplements and even cosmetics.

“We are selling products across the country, and very little of my business is here in the county,” Paulk says. “On the flip side, my best friend and his wife, Matt and Roxie Seale, own a retail business in Ocilla [The Shoppes at Fourth and Cherry], and all of their business is local sales. Being personally connected to both local retail and the agribusiness sides of our economy gave me a unique perspective. We are an agricultural economy, but our homegrown businesses are our greatest assets. I saw this as the key to helping Irwin County grow, and that’s what prompted me to run.”

Through his involvement with the Rotary Club, chamber of commerce and industrial authority, Paulk became familiar with the county commission and its role. 

“Having served on the industrial authority, I saw what kind of influence county leaders can have on economic development and how important it is for county and city leaders to work together, develop plans and follow through on them.”

His immediate plan of action? “I’m going to take ACCG’s advice and just listen first,” he says. “Their commissioners training program was excellent, and that was one of the first things they told us.”

Another important lesson learned: Successful leadership to resolve public issues requires balancing four critical values: liberty, equality, prosperity and community. “That was very, very helpful for cutting through rhetoric,” he says. “It gives you a lens to look through and find the common ground on any issue.

“The training program gave me a valuable perspective on my role,” Paulk adds. “It’s not my commission seat, it’s the people’s. That was a great reminder.” – LT

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Sammie Sias | Augusta-Richmond County

In his 28 years in the U.S. Army, retired Sgt. Maj. Sammie Sias of Augusta says he was never afraid to take a calculated chance. “You’ve got to be bold. I can tie each of my Army promotions to my efforts to make improvements.”

Not satisfied with pushing for improvements in the military, Sias applied his boldness to community activism and spent many years volunteering to make life better for Richmond County citizens. His community involvement helped him win a seat on the Richmond County Commission in 2014.

A native of Cordele, Sias spent most of his Army career based at Fort Gordon in Augusta, except for overseas assignments in Europe and Korea. In 1987, he bought a home in Augusta, and in 1991 he founded his neighborhood’s community association with the goals of reducing neighborhood crime, erasing blight, improving property values and gaining the ear of the county government. He served as president of the association between deployments and has now served in that position steadily since 2000. He and other community leaders were instrumental in forming the larger Richmond County Neighborhood Associations Alliance, which represents more than 30 neighborhood associations, and Sias was president of the alliance from 2007 to 2010.

Meanwhile, he has volunteered to serve on numerous boards and committees, including Habitat for Humanity, the Board of Education Construction Oversight Committee, the crime-fighting Chronic Nuisance Ordinance Task Force and the Sheriff’s Citizens Advisory Board. His success at fighting crime and saving tax dollars while improving community life led him to seek a seat as a county commissioner.

“I wanted our county leadership to have the same ‘we can get it done’ attitude,” Sias says. “I wanted them to take the same bold steps I was willing to take as an activist.”

Sias found the ACCG’s Commissioner Training Program invaluable.

“For me, the greatest thing about ACCG’s program was to be able to tap into the expertise of the guest speakers and the training leaders,” he says.

He was so impressed by the program that he hopes to organize an economic summit in Augusta modeled after the commissioner training program. Convening experts from around the state to help local leaders and citizens improve economic conditions in Richmond County will require bold leadership, the kind that is found repeatedly in Sias’s volunteer record.

“You can’t just take a seat and follow the status quo,” he says. – LT

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Saturday, March 7, 2015

http://m.onlineathens.com/breaking-news/2015-03-06/athens-committee-works-implementing-master-plan?ppRandom=0.272876947131943&utm_source=Morris%20Communications%20Co.&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Today'sTopStories-AthensBanner-HeraldHeadlines&pp_u=UzcniOXyy_djASV53wLAwx#gsc.tab=0

Athens committee works on implementing master plan

In just its second meeting, an Athens-Clarke County Commission committee appointed by Mayor Nancy Denson to look at integrating the county government into a master plan for downtown Athens is shaping the way it will meet that goal.

In its Thursday session, the committee — largely at the direction of its chairman, Commissioner Mike Hamby — decided to look at the plan in small pieces, using its upcoming meetings to consider how, or in some instances, whether, the county government might help bring the plan to fruition.

In doing so, the committee will rely on Jack Crowley — the University of Georgia professor who developed the plan in conjunction with massive public input and the work of a number of UGA students — to periodically present it with lists of the very specific recommendations included in the plan. From there, the committee will decide on what action it might 

recommend from the county government.

“We’re not here to create a whole new master plan,” Hamby cautioned committee members on Thursday.

The plan, commissioned by the Athens Downtown Development Authority to chart the course of development in downtown Athens for the next two decades, envisions a mixed-use environment including — among other things — the development of green space in the downtown area, infill development on vacant downtown tracts and changes in traffic flow patterns.

As an example of the detail in the initiatives that Crowley will forward to the commission, the transportation initiatives at which the committee looked Thursday include a proposal to consider two-laning Washington Street and establishing two-way traffic flow, and widening pedestrian space on College Avenue between Clayton and Hancock streets by reconfiguring parking spaces for parallel parking.

Providing an indication of how the county government might integrate itself into the implementation of the downtown master plan, Hamby noted Thursday that Washington Street is scheduled for repaving in the relatively near future, and that might present an opportunity to re-stripe the traffic lanes into a two-lane, two-way configuration.

Hamby, however, cautioned committee members about wanting to move too fast in implementing the plan, reminding them that the master plan is formally dubbed “Athens Downtown Master Plan 2030.”

As a general rule in the initial phases of its work, the committee agreed Thursday that it would concentrate on “low-hanging fruit” — elements of the plan that could be implemented fairly easily, without a lot of community concern — as its work gets underway.

In addition to Crowley, who agreed to continue sending sets of recommendations from the master plan to the committee for its review, Thursday’s committee meeting was attended by Pamela Thompson, executive director of the Athens Downtown Development Authority. Thompson told the group that the ADDA’s board of directors is also moving on recommendations in the master plan, specifically by seeking requests for proposals for the public-private development of a tract of county-owned land near Hotel Indigo. One reason for the board’s interest in the tract, Thompson said, is that the “board did feel that student housing was ... something we did not want on that corner.” In recent months, massive multi-story student housing developments have risen across the eastern end of the downtown area.

Hamby said the ADDA’s requests for proposals for the public-private development of the downtown tract “will be a test model” for how some aspects of the master plan might be brought into reality. 

See: 

Jack Crowley, Mike Hamby, Pamela Thompson

Athens Downtown Master Plan 2030.”

Athens Downtown Development Authority (ADDA)

Athens shows support for Sunday voting

http://m.onlineathens.com/breaking-news/2014-10-26/athens-shows-support-sunday-voting#gsc.tab=0

Athens shows support for Sunday voting

The line snaked down the sidewalk in front of 155 E. Washington Street on a Sunday afternoon, the first of its kind in Athens-Clarke County history.

Taking advantage of Sunday voting, a new trend this year in several Georgia counties, voters lined up outside the ACC Board of Elections Sunday, and by 1:30 p.m., 3,923 combined advance and Sunday voters had done so, and by the end of the day, about 300 would cast Sunday ballots.

Church vans pulled up throughout the afternoon, unloading passengers who otherwise might not have made it to the polls. But the turnout was already as varied as the candidates themselves: A group of men showed up on skateboards, wheeling past ladies still in their Sunday hats to take their place in line.

Four at a time were allowed inside to prevent overcrowding in the already-tight quarters. A GOP poll watcher leaned against the wall near the registration counter.

Election Supervisor Gail Schrader said she and her staff were surprised at the turnout.

“We knew it would be good, but we didn’t know exactly what to expect,” she said.

A man wearing a purple usher’s ribbon from church earlier in the day said his church leader encouraged people to get out and vote.

For Thaddeus, the man in the ribbon, Sunday voting was more about ease of access than anything else, and it was a nice change of pace from the usual election-day hustle and bustle.

“People like to get out and mingle, you know, but some of them might not be able to make it out, if they don’t have a car,” he said.

Another plus to Sunday voting was that parking downtown was free. The Board of Elections reserves a few spaces for voters during weekday advance voting, but the convenience of not having to worry about paying for parking anywhere may have been an attractive point for some voters.

Early voting runs through Friday at the Board of Elections headquarters in Athens. Visit http://www.mvp.sos.ga.gov/ to access the My Voter Page, which contains voter-specific sample ballots and precinct information.

Contact government and enterprise reporter Kelsey Cochran at (706) 208-2233.

In Georgia and across the country, GOP modernizes its voter outreach

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-georgia-republican-officials-modernize-their-voter-outreach/2014/10/20/b4e04cb6-562b-11e4-809b-8cc0a295c773_story.html?tid=hpModule_ba0d4c2a-86a2-11e2-9d71-f0feafdd1394

In Georgia and across the country, GOP modernizes its voter outreach

MARIETTA, Ga. — Standing toward the back of the Cobb County Republican Party headquarters, chairman Joe Dendy marvels at the scene.

A clutch of volunteers is handwriting postcard messages to would-be voters — one of the most intimate ways to reach supporters. But he is more intrigued by the other group — young, old, white and black — using new phones that automatically dial numbers from a database and can leave prerecorded voice mails for people who don’t pick up. Another group is out in the neighborhood using a phone app that feeds back information to a database that will keep county and state party officials updated on potential voters.

“We’ve never had anything like this going before,” Dendy said.

Republicans here and across the country are now emulating the tech-driven, national-style ground game long dominated by Democrats. Party officials want to use the new methods to draw out voters to support congressional and gubernatorial candidates this year and then prepare to help the party’s presidential nominee during the 2016 election.

Here in Georgia, the new GOP investments in technology come at a time when Democrats are increasingly enthusiastic about their chances in a state they have not been able to win for years.

At a Democratic calling center in Atlanta, Arlene Meyer, left to right, Carol Baird, and Maureen Walter, call Georgia voters concerning the contentious Senate race between Democrat Michelle Nunn and Republican David Perdue. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)

Democrat Michelle Nunn, daughter of former senator Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), is in a tight race with Republican David Perdue for an open Senate seat, while Democratic state Sen. Jason Carter is challenging GOP incumbent Gov. Nathan Deal in a race that polls suggest is tied. If Democrats keep it close, they could force Georgians to return to the polls twice to vote in runoff contests — on Dec. 2 in the governor’s race and Jan. 6 in the Senate race.

“They’re saying this could go until January,” Dendy said. “But we do not want to work over Christmas.”

The GOP efforts here in Cobb County — a Republican stronghold that helped elect Newt Gingrich to Congress — is the end result of Victory 365, a project launched after Republicans lost the presidential race in 2012. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus initiated a top-to-bottom review of party operations, messaging and fundraising. In a recent speech, he conceded that the RNC “had become a U-Haul trailer of cash for a presidential nominee” that would deploy manpower and technology only around Labor Day.

Not anymore.

In Georgia and other key states, the RNC partnered with state party operations to deploy paid staffers and millions of dollars in new databases, apps, Web sites and phone systems. In Cobb County, Dendy has essentially ceded day-to-day ground operations to Ashley Williams, 24, a paid GOP staffer helping organize volunteers. She is the kind of young, energetic party staffer that Democrats regularly deploy into a key state more than a year before an election.

Williams works alongside volunteers such as Bob Maynard, who spent time last week dialing up potential supporters on an automated phone system paid for by the state party and the RNC.

“A vote for Michelle Nunn is a vote for Harry Reid,” Maynard said between calls, referring to the Senate majority leader. “That’s the real issue. He’s got 370 bills tied up in the Senate that came over from the House. And Nunn might be the second coming, but you don’t vote for her and get a Republican Senate, and there are a lot of things that need to happen.”

In addition to the retrofitted GOP operations, Republicans benefit from another powerful organization working to turn out conservative voters: the Faith and Freedom Coalition.

From a suburban office building in Duluth, Ga., founder Ralph Reed — the former head of the Christian Coalition and a onetime candidate for Georgia lieutenant governor — oversees a multimillion-dollar operation that recently started distributing 1 million voter guides to churches across Georgia. The placards display the faces of Perdue and Nunn and list where they stand on issues such as same-sex marriage, abortion and the Affordable Care Act. An additional 850,000 mailers with similar information will be sent to the homes of evangelical Christians, Reed said. Many of those households will receive at least two phone calls from Reed’s organization.

Reed said his group, a nonprofit prohibited from endorsing candidates or coordinating with the GOP, is spending more money on Internet-based outreach than on traditional mail, telephone or person-to-person contact for the first time. Using micro-targeting software costing seven figures, Reed said, the group has amassed a database with 33 million social conservative voters living in 21 million households nationwide.

“When I was at the Christian Coalition in the 90s, I was taking a shotgun and aiming it at the evangelical vote and pulling both triggers and spraying this buckshot,” he said. Now, with better technology, “I’m targeting voters based on the propensity of their voting behavior and based on their pre-qualification of sharing my values, and I’m hitting them one at a time.”

But the coalition still reaches out in person. Thursday, field staffers Robert Potts and Jon Harbison drove 90 minutes south of Duluth to Rock Springs Church, Benny Tate’s megachurch operation in tiny Milner, Ga. Tate is a nationally known pastor who meets regularly with national Republican luminaries.

During a brief meeting with Potts and Harbison, Tate lamented that barely 20 percent of Americans are planning to vote in this year’s elections and said that he eagerly distributes the coalition’s literature in hopes that it will inspire participation.

“The political issues are not my motivation,” he said. “The morality of our country is my heart. It matters not to me if a person is independent, libertarian or Democrat. I want to see where people are standing on Bible-based issues. That’s where I encourage our people to line up.”

Democrats in Georgia can’t yet match that kind of deeply personal outreach — but they’re trying.

Eager to take advantage of a growing Democratic voter base fueled in part by an influx of new residents from other states, Nunn and Carter are operating a coordinated campaign that allows them to pool resources. But while Republicans have 17 major outreach offices across Georgia, Democrats have seven. Facilities like the Cobb County GOP headquarters are under long-term leases, while Democrats are mostly renting short-term space.

Andra Gillespie, an associate professor of political science at Emory University who specializes in political mobilization, said the Democratic efforts might not be enough this year.

But she added, “Even if they lose these elections, they’ve actually acquitted themselves very well to be competitive in future cycles. I don’t know if 2018 is the year or 2020 or 2022, but they’re laying the foundation to make sure they’re not also-rans in future elections.”

Nunn’s statewide headquarters in downtown Atlanta doubles as the city’s Democratic outreach office. It resembles the kind of pop-up offices that President Obama’s 2008 election campaign opened across the country. Hand-painted campaign signs and instructions on how to politely make phone calls hang on the walls.

The most frequent volunteer is Carol Baird, a 63-year-old retired federal employee. She showed up last year out of anger over the government shutdown. She offered to stop by once a week and help answer the phones.

“They didn’t have a phone yet,” she said.

Now, she sits amid a mix of older and younger volunteers — most of whom haven’t lived in the state for more than a few years.

“We’re finding a lot of people coming out of the woodwork that probably just needed somebody they could get behind, needed someone they could believe in, needed somebody who had a shot and could win,” Baird said.

But will these Democrats show up again in two years to help out? Baird isn’t sure. Once it’s all over, “I go back to being retired and my husband gets me back.”

'Empowerment zone" status aims to help private childcare providers upgrade,

http://m.onlineathens.com/local-news/2014-10-03/empowerment-zone-status-aims-help-private-childcare-providers-upgrade-help?utm_source=Morris%20Digital%20Works&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Today%27sheadlinesfromTheAthensBanner-Herald10%2F05%2F2014#gsc.tab=0

'Empowerment zone" status aims to help private childcare providers upgrade, help families afford better care

Clarke County’s designation as an “Early Education Empowerment Zone” is aimed more at improving early child care quality than increasing the number of children in early education, state and local officials said Friday at a ceremony marking the start of the empowerment zone programs.

About 80 people came to the morning meeting at the Clarke County School District’s Early Learning Center, including elected officials, school board members and school administrators and teachers.

The designation as an empowerment zone means about $1.4 million for Clarke County over the next 3.5 years, said Amy M. Jacobs, interim commissioner of Georgia’s Bright from the Start early childhood program.

The empowerment zone isn’t the same as a grant — there are a dozen programs included. Much of the money goes to help private day care operators who want to upgrade their operations qualify under a new voluntary state program, “quality rated,” that certifies day care centers as meeting high standards for early childhood education.

The empowerment zone is part of a $51.7 million federal grant the state received from the government to improve Georgia’s early childhood education.

“Our goal is for every early childhood education provider to be quality rated,” said Tim Johnson, executive director of Family Connection-Communities In Schools of Athens.

Details are still to be worked out, but day care operators could get tax incentives for participation, along with increased child care subsidy payments from the state to help parents afford higher-quality child care and training opportunities for workers.

The empowerment zone designation also includes a research part designed to identify best practices for teaching children the social and academic skills they need before they begin school, she said.

A big emphasis in Clarke County will be getting parents involved, noted Georgia First Lady Sandra Deal, the keynote speaker for Friday’s ceremony.

“If we have them better prepared while they’re growing up, when they get to kindergarten, first and second grades, they’re going to be better students,” Deal said.

Clarke County is one of four areas recently named an Early Education Empowerment Zone, along with Bibb County, a five-county area in north Georgia and another five-county area in south Georgia.

Each area has a large percentage of its children living in poverty and presents “challenging circumstances for children,” state officials said in announcing the zones.

About 38 percent of Clarke County’s children live in poverty, said Jean Gowen, board president of the Nancy Travis Childcare Project, a nonprofit group organized several years ago to increase access to quality child care in the Athens area.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity,” she said of the empowerment zone designation.

Follow education reporter Lee Shearer at www.facebook.com/LeeShearerABH or https://twitter.com/LeeShearer.

MORE INFORMATION: how federal funds and data collection can collide

http://eagnews.org/illinois-school-district-declines-to-collect-data-on-infants-for-obama-linked-institute/