After almost a year of work and numerous meetings, the Wilkes County Joint Comprehensive Plan that has been developed up to this point is ready and will be transmitted to the Regional Development Center (RDC) and on to the state for review. The Wilkes County Board of Commissioners authorized the transmittal at its regular meeting last Thursday, August 14.

A comprehensive plan is something that is required by the state every 10 years and Wilkes County's new plan is the result of those meetings "with a lot of people involved," explained Commission Chairman Sam Moore. The plan in its final form was developed under the guidance of Christian Lentz of the RDC.

In addition to outlining a general plan for development for the next 10 years, the plan includes statistics, data, and "everything you want to know about Wilkes County."

"It is the plan for the next 10 years and the word 'joint' implies that this does include the cities of Washington, Tignall, and Rayle," County Administrator David Tyler explained. "They will have their own separate hearings but they have participated in various parts of putting this plan together."

"It was not just elected officials that put this plan together," Commissioner Donna Hardy said, "It was community people from all over the county."

All of the commissioners were present at the August meeting of the board including Divenski Lee, John Howard, Jerry Stover, Hardy, and Moore. Also in attendance were EMS Director Blake Thompson, Tourism Director Ashley Barnett, Tyler, and a number of visitors.

In other business: l Moore reported that he and Tyler had attended a meeting with the Georgia Department of Transportation at which they were told how the County Contracts would be done in the future. He explained that the county has used those contracts in the past to supplement the Local Assistance Road Program (LARP) in resurfacing the county's roads. Sales tax revenue has also been used to help with resurfacing.

This year, for example, LARP funding was used for 2.1 miles of resurfacing on the Metasville Road. The Commissioners added about $340,000 in sales tax money to that to extend the project all the way to Metasville. "Sales tax money has helped us a lot but it's still not enough to cover the cost of [all our] resurfacing," Moore said.

In the past, the state's County Contract funding might have been used for similar projects but in the future will be limited to road widening, new pavement, and certain other specific projects, but not resurfacing. Consequently state funding for help resurfacing county roads that are in bad shape will come only from LARP and the allocations there are minimal.

"The DOT is billions of dollars behind in its funding," Moore said. "Unless something changes, our roads are going to suffer throughout rural Georgia." In the meantime, Wilkes County is not expecting any County Contract this year.

Currently on the list of roads for LARP consideration are Gold Mine Road, Floral Hill Road, Mallorysville Road, West Road, and Holliday Park Road. "We get only two or three miles a year [from LARP] and some of those roads are pretty long," Moore said.

l Tyler reported that $108,566.29 in Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax had been received for the month of May and $71,464.22 in Local Option Sales Tax had been received for the same month. It was noted that the amounts were "back up" after a significant dip in April.

l Moore reported that work continues at Holliday Park and the project should be complete by Labor Day. He said the crew was working on the rest rooms and that the pavilion had just arrived. The boat dock, he said, would go up soon after the pavilion. Moore also reported that the new roof on the Wilkes County Senior Citizens Center is complete.

l Thompson reported that his department had seen a busy month and is preparing for a motocross event that is coming up. He also said he is looking for from federal and state grants to come through in the near future.

l Barnett outlined a number of events planned for the coming months in the community and passed out a sheet listing them through the end of the year. She reported that there had been articles of local interest recently published in Southern Living and Southern Distinction magazines.

l Joe Riley was appointed to replace Moore on the area Resource Conservation and Development board.

l Moore announced that Georgia DOT Chairman Bill Kuhlke and State Senator Bill Jackson will host a meeting here for the discussion of the Highway 17 project. The meeting will include all the chairmen, representatives, and senators of all the counties that are involved and will begin at 11 a.m.

l Hardy proposed that the county send a letter of appreciation to Vianlix Mestey-Schneider for shooting and promoting her movie, Deception, in Wilkes County and for all the economic boosts it brought.

The next regular meeting of the Board of Commissioners will be at 7 p.m. on Thursday, September 11, in the Wilkes County courthouse.