Jones County People Looking Ahead Now (PLAN) members braved the cold Saturday morning and made it clear that economic challenges will not hamper their progress.

The Jan. 17 breakfast meeting was held at the professional learning center next door to the Pre-K building. Jones County School Superintendent Jim LeBrun welcomed attendees and noted that food catered by Donald Sheffield of Uptown Grille was being served in what is known as the ‘war room’. He said the walls of the room are filled with statistical data about almost everything that occurs within the school system.

“We have a challenging year ahead. The revenue stream for education will be cut, but we will do all we can to not lay off people. We are going to work hard to reduce our workforce through not replacing vacancies,” LeBrun said.

The superintendent took a group on a tour of Jones County High School following the PLAN meeting to view the renovations completed over the summer. He said $2.5 million of local sales tax funds were used for a total of $4 million including state funds for the entire project.

LeBrun also said SPLOST money will be used to pay for the new elementary school on Turnerwoods Road, which broke ground last month.

PLAN Steering Committee Chairman Dr. Bob Moon presided over Saturday’s meeting and commented that one of the assets of the Board of Education is its planning. He said the board has both long-range and short-range plans.

Facilities

Lehman Wood, chairman of PLAN’s Facilities Committee, spoke about the importance of continuing the group’s work.

“This is not a time to back up. During these hard economic times, PLAN is needed more than ever. We need to go forward as a group to help Jones County,” he said.

Wood said his committee is focused on improving Jones County’s animal control facility. He said it may be more economical to update the present building than to build a new one, but, in his opinion, the building needs to be owned by the county.

The county is renting the current facility, and Wood stated that the staff at the facility is doing the best they can with what they have.

Wood said the county has made it possible to accept donations for the animals, and funds may be designated for whatever purpose the donor desires. He pointed out that 2,000 animals were put down last year, and something needs to be done to promote more adoptions.

Economic development

Debbie Lurie-Smith presented the report for the Economic Development Committee, standing in for committee chairman Jonathan Pitts. The reactivation was the number one goal of the committee, and that was accomplished. The DDA had its first meeting of the year last week.

The second priority for the committee was implementing the Shop@Jones campaign to encourage keeping tax dollars in Gray and Jones County. Businesses are being contacted to participate in a discount card that will be sold in March.

Jones County/Gray Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Carmen Copeland is working on the campaign and said 20 businesses have committed to participate. She said being included on the card is at no cost to the businesses and all that is required is an offered discount for cardholders.

Businesses have until Jan. 30 to join the campaign.

Land use

Josh Lurie is the chairman of the Land Use Committee and spoke about meeting with the DDA last week to discuss a new multiuse zoning for the city. He said the zoning is an attempt to lay the groundwork for development specific to what the city wants.

“The direction we are trying to take is that of a think tank and hand off our ideas to the appropriate organization. In this case, it’s the DDA. If an ordinance is in place to combine business and residential, it will be a statement to developers that we are ready,” he said.

He said the DDA was receptive to the idea, and the ordinance will be drafted by Planning and Zoning Officer Tim Pitrowski, also a Land Use Committee member.

Housing

Donald Black is the chairman of the Housing Committee. He explained that his committee had three major goals, and two have been accomplished with number three taking place later this month.

Black said a credit seminar was held last summer, and a money management course is being piloted at Jones County High School. The money management course has seven segments and is designed to teach checkbook management and finances in general. Notebooks and teaching materials for the course were furnished by Wachovia Bank.

The final project for the committee is a homeless count for Jones County, which will take place Jan. 25. A statewide count took place last year but was not done in Jones County.

The state projected the homeless number in Jones County last year to be 78. When the count is complete, Black said the numbers will be funneled to the appropriate agencies.

Charter school

Jana Harrell presented information to PLAN about a proposed charter school in Jones County and announced the receipt of a $5,000 grant from the state for planning.

Harrell said she has had the vision of enhancing the community with fine arts and has struggled with how to do it. Finding out about the charter school program appears to be the answer.

She said a charter school is a public school, and students cover core subjects with an emphasis on the arts. The state has shown interest in the school because a grades 6-12 college prep school for the arts has never been done.

Harrell said she also has the vision of an afterschool arts program and continuing education.

“There is a lot of work to be done,” she said.

Harrell said the letter informing her of the grant arrived a week ago, and her application was among the top three chosen. She said 75 percent of the funds were awarded to charter school systems.

“Many charter schools were started by disgruntled parents. We are not disgruntled at all and want to work with the Board of Education. We just want to expand the arts,” she said.

Moon said he feels like the school will be an asset to draw people to Jones County for something other than football and basketball.

Chamber retreat

Copeland said the Chamber board of directors had a retreat at Healy Point Jan. 16. She said a facilitator was hired and the group discussed where their vision for the community five to 10 years in the future.

She emphasized that the Chamber is in full support of PLAN and wants to create a director’s position for the PLAN Steering Committee chairman.

Chamber Chairman Hoyt Brown said the Chamber values the city, county, PLAN and the DDA and would like to see them all work together.

“Anything we can do is extremely important to keep us from spinning our wheels. We want to work together like a fine Swiss watch,” he said.

Moon said he is encouraged with the progress of the community. He said he remembers Jones County before it had an active Chamber or PLAN, and he believes the beginning of it all was the leadership class started by people with a vision.

He said the annual PLAN retreat is scheduled for April 2–4, and he was concerned if spending the money for the retreat this year is a good idea.

Lurie said he feels the retreat is especially important this year, and members agreed to share the responsibility.

City

Councilman David Tuffs gave a report for the City of Gray. He said the legislature is talking about cutting out gross insurance premium taxes and franchise taxes for cities and counties.

“I want to let you know the city is in good financial shape, and we work hard to spend tax dollars well,” Tufts said. “We are building funds to have something to operate on, and we are making plans for a new wastewater treatment plant so we can be able to accept businesses and industry coming to Gray and Jones County.”

County

County Administrator Mike Underwood talked about Jones County beginning with the groundbreaking for a new fire station on Highway 49 Jan. 23. He said the ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. and the site is located across from Mattie Wells Elementary.

Underwood said Chris Weidner is the contractor, and the building is scheduled to be complete in three months.

He said the landscaping and parking improvements that have been planned for several years at the W.E. Knox Center will begin as soon as the $300,000 in grant funds is released by the Georgia Department of Transportation.

Underwood said State Rep. Jim Cole is working with the county on an addition to the recreation park, and the Department of Corrections work force will help with the grading of the site this summer.

“Recreation is a big demand in Gray and Jones County, and we are putting new fixtures in the restrooms at the Highway 18 facility,” he said.

The meeting concluded with a presentation by State Rep. Bubber Epps about his first week in Atlanta.