History will be the ultimate judge of the success of Jones County People Looking Ahead Now (PLAN), which held its 11th annual retreat last weekend, but its past record puts the odds in favor of the grassroots organization.

Fifty-two people participated in the event with more than 10 attending for the first time, with eight members of the Leadership Jones Class among the attendees. The assembly divided into committees during Friday’s session to study Jones County’s Economic Development, Facilities, Land Use, Housing, Historic Preservation and Natural Resources.

The retreat began April 10 at the Little Ocmulgee State Park in McRae with facilitator Billy Parish of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs leading the Team Georgia group.

In addition to Parish, Team Georgia includes Malisa Thompson of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) Housing; David Shellhorse, DCA, Economic Development and Finance; Candice Scott of Georgia Department of Economic Development; Phil Clark and Richard Rychel with Middle Georgia Regional Development Center (RDC); and Joanna Banks with the DCA.

Sheriff Butch Reece and his band of chefs extraordinaire prepared a meal featuring barbecue ribs and chicken Thursday night, and Milton ‘Tony’ Appling provided music for relaxation and entertainment.

Friday began with an overview of the weekend’s agenda and updates from the city, county, and board of education.

Agency reports

Gray Superintendent Decius Aaron talked about the city’s water and sewer situation. He said Gray has two wells about to come online, and two more are scheduled to be drilled.

The city recently received approval for an $850,000 GEFA (Georgia Environmental Facility Authority) loan for the purchase of equipment to enhance the handling of sewage and a first step toward the construction of a new sewage treatment plant. Aaron said the city has laid 26,000 feet of water lines in the past two years.

School Superintendent Jim LeBrun talked about the $4 million in renovations to the Jones County High School and plans to build a new elementary school when those renovations are complete.

He said the new school will be as environmentally friendly as possible.

“We plan to make it a green facility,” LeBrun said.

He said the county purchased a special education bus this year with a price tag of $83,000, and an estimate for the repair of Gray Elementary School’s parking lot was $300,000.

“We try to stretch your tax dollars, but education is expensive. The servers for our computers were five years old and had to be replaced. That was $88,000 spent that did not put the first computer in a child’s hands,” he stated.

LeBrun said the school system does not want a blank check from legislators but would like the state to pay its fair share.

“Public education is in the crosshairs of Atlanta. We have been targeted. Several bills were proposed by the legislators that could have crippled our school systems,” he explained. “Fortunately, those bills did not pass, but they will come back next year.”

County Administrator Mike Underwood told the group that Jones County has been busy with road improvement and is spending tax dollars wisely by prolonging the lives of roads.

The county has made strides in water expansion with lines being run on Upper River Road and preparing to head toward Dames Ferry. A bottleneck in the water lines along Lite-N-Tie and Henderson roads that inhibits flow to the City of Gray is being corrected.

Underwood said, in addition to the expansion of water lines, the county is constructing a water storage tank in the south end of the county that will help improve water pressure in the area as well as an increased water supply for the City of Gray.

The administrator said work funded by a transportation grant for improvements in front of the W.E. Knox Civic Center is moving along, and a $500,000 grant received with the help of Congressman Jim Marshall is being used for sidewalks and bike trails from Gray Station Middle School to the Central Recreation Complex.

Development Authority Chairman Greg Mullis said it is apparent that the work of all areas of government is tied together. He said the rail access of Jones County’s Georgia Regional Industrial Park purchased last year could become a huge asset with the continued increase in fuel prices.

“We’ve got a 962 acres industrial park sitting on rail. If trucks are parked, we are in a good position,” Mullis said.

The chairman said the authority recently submitted an application for a $500,000 One Georgia Grant to help fund infrastructure for the park.

Following a full day of breakout session for the individual committees, members came together Saturday morning to report on their progress.

Historic preservation

Deloras Moon reported for the Historic Preservation/Natural Resources Committee. The first recommendation of the committee was a survey of Jones County’s natural resources and historic sites. She suggested that the study could be completed through the RDC.

She said the county must have Certified Local Government status to be eligible for a grant to fund the survey, and the first task of the committee is to assist with the paperwork for the certification.

Moon said the second task proposed by the group is the hiring of a county planner, which is a carry over from last year.

The committee plans make a presentation to the Board of Commissioners May 20 and meet again as a committee May 21.

Housing

Milton Appling spoke for the Housing Committee. The first task for that committee is homebuyer education and counseling.

“First time homebuyers need to know what’s involved so they don’t get into the issues being experienced by so many homeowners today,” Appling said, referring to the large numbers of foreclosures nationwide.

He said the committee wants to identify the housing providers in the county and work to educate the public about a Community Home Improvement Program that has recently been expanded countywide.

Appling said homelessness is not considered a problem in Jones County.

“But all homeless people are not necessarily living under the bridge. We rarely see that, but they are out there. Many of our homeless are living with family members,” he added.

Economic development

Debbie Lurie-Smith was the spokesperson for the Economic DevelopmentCommittee, which was the largest of the groups with 13 members. The first priority for the committee is the establishment of a Downtown Development Authority (DDA) for the City of Gray.

The city council recently let it be known that it is considering purchasing a building for the police department, and the DDA could assist with the financing of the facility.

The committee agreed to attend and support an informational meeting with Bill Russell of the University of Georgia Business Outreach Services May 6 at noon.

In addition to the DDA, the committee will be working on a marketing campaign to encourage spending in Jones County to increase sales tax revenue. Suggestions for the campaign include brochures, billboards, public service announcements and web links.

Land use

Josh Lurie made the presentation for the Land Use Committee. He said the Bill Conn Parkway is a target area for development, and the committee suggested the development of a corridor plan with a design overlay area. The second part of that task is amending the city’s ordinance to create the overlay zone.

“This is a planning year, and no money is involved,” Lurie said.

The second priority for the committee is development around the area of the Jones County Courthouse.

“We want to get everyone on board. We have an opportunity for funding because this is a blighted area, and a town square in that location would tie into the Highway 11 streetscape,” he said. “We have many opportunities for redevelopment, and we hope to get the city and county involved.”

Lurie said the county has a parking and storage issue at the courthouse, and he would hope that the Chamber of Commerce would become involved also.

“We set a deadline of January 2009 in case we need legislative powers. We want to go to the city and say ‘this is an area we want to work on, and we need your help’,” he explained.

Housing

The housing committee was represented by Lehman Wood, and that committee’s focus was animal control. Wood said the county needs a new facility and trained personnel.

“The people we have try really hard, but they have no formal training,” he said. “What we need is a public facility that is privately run.”

Wood said he would like to see the county continue the enforcement of ordinances, but the ordinances need to be strengthened.

“Right now you can leave a dog tied to a tree 24/7. That’s not good. An ordinance change is easier than a new facility, and we need to work on more foster homes for our animals,” he added.

The second task for the Facilities Committee dealt with adult education. Joann Greene spoke about this portion of the plan, which encompassed building a new building or finding an existing building that can be renovated.

“We need a funding source, and perhaps the new facility could be combined with the downtown community center,” she said.

Wrap-up

Dr. Bob Moon, chairman of the PLAN steering committee, was the last speaker for the retreat.

Moon said he believes the time has come for the group to start a discussion about the barriers between the city and county.

“I’m troubled by barriers. When Mayor Robert Reichert talked about Macon’s situation because the water and sewer authority took away the mechanism for the city’s growth, I thought about Gray,” he said.

Moon said, when he was working with a PLAN group several years ago studying the possibility of a water authority in Jones County, he never realized what a problem it could cause Gray.

“What the county does can threaten Gray, so we need to ask ourselves, ‘Do we need to have a City of Gray?’” he asked. “We say consolidation of government is a good idea, but those issues threaten the very existence of Gray.”

Moon suggested a study group is needed to determine what is in the best interest of Jones County and ask city officials their vision for Gray in 20 years.

“Is the bypass good for the city or the county? It appears to be good for creating barriers as to who is going to provide the services around the bypass,” he said. “Those barriers are starting to inhibit us from moving forward.”

The chairman said he believes everyone is working toward the same goal.

“PLAN has a good reputation and may be able to help deal with the situation by providing a third -party voice,” he said.