Monday, May 20, 2013
Seven companies submitted bids.
An Atlanta-based engineering and planning services firm has been awarded a $20,700 contract to assist with the City of Dacula's comprehensive plan update. Robert and Company was one of seven companies that bid on that project. Bids ranged from $19,000 to $120,400. Companies were scored based on related experience; qualifications and project management; project understanding and approach; and price. Robert and Company's score of 93 was the highest. The company that submitted the lowest-priced bid of $19,000 scored an 80. The Dacula City Council awarded the contract to Robert and Company during a called meeting on Wednesday, May 15. In order to maintain qualified local government status and retain eligibility for certain grants, the city is…
Sunday, May 19, 2013
On display in front of City Hall, the piece is to be sold at bid on May 25.
Saturday's Arts in the Park festival in Suwanee could be last chance for some people to view the piece of the Berlin Wall that's on display in front of City Hall. Unless you buy it at auction on May 25, also in Suwanee. According to a news release, the 8,000-pound artifact of the Berlin Wall, which came down in 1989, will be sold at an auction May 25, 4:30 p.m., in Suwanee. The auction will take place on the amphitheater stage at Town Center. The 12-foot slab is one of the assets seized by a federal receiver of Atlanta investment advisory firm Lighthouse Financial Partners. The firm's owner/operator pleaded guilty in federal court to wire fraud, for defrauding 57 of his clients out of millions of dollars. Read more on Suwanee Patch. Don’t …
The live coverage is over, but replay the live blog to see what all the hype was about.
President Barack Obama gave the 129th commencement address speech on a wet and rainy Sunday afternoon, May 19th, at Morehouse College. Obama began his remarks to an excited yet wet crowd,most of whom had been seated as early as 6 am. at approximately 11:30 am. The sky opened just before the speech began, and the crowd was treated to a steady downpour throughout. Obama quipped that, “I would be out there with you, but the Secret Service gets nervous.” Obama was greeted with a big cheer when he emerged from a building adjacent to the stage with Morehouse College president John Silvanus Wilson, a former White House aide. The invocation was given by Rev. Raphael Warnock of Ebenezer Baptist Church, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous church. …
The bridge will be closed June 7-10 as workers complete work on the diverging diamond interchange.
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Sunday, May 19
Expect some traffic snarls around the Pleasant Hill Road overpass at Interstate 85 as workers complete work of the diverging diamond interchange in early June. Drivers will face detours on both sides of the bridge. The bridge is scheduled to be closed to all traffic from 9 p.m. Friday, June 7, until 5 a.m. Monday, June 10, according to the Gwinnett County Department of Transportation. Detour info from the Gwinnett DOT: During the weekend of construction, drivers and pedestrians should take Pleasant Hill Road to Satellite Boulevard to Steve Reynolds Boulevard to Shackleford Road to Pleasant Hill Road and the reverse as their detour. Gwinnett County Transportation staff will monitor traffic flow and signals in this area during the closure to…
Friday, May 17, 2013
A planned county-city meeting would be the beginning of the formal process of possibly calling for a referendum on the 1 percent sales tax.
Moving beyond the preliminary phase, Gwinnett County officials apparently have asked to meet with officials from cities in the county regarding a possible SPLOST vote in November. The meeting is set for Tuesday, June 4, at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center in Lawrenceville, according to Suwanee and Gwinnett officials. Suwanee City Council members were told of the meeting Thursday (May 16) at a workshop. Also, Suwanee Mayor Jimmy Burnette said that Gwinnett Commission Chairman Charlotte Nash appeared at a recent Gwinnett Municipal Association (GwMA) meeting for a "listening session." Burnette is on the GwMA executive committee. The county's current 1 percent per dollar Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax expires at the end …
This week, Gov. Nathan Deal ordered the return of Bibles to cabins and lodges at state parks. A citizen complaint prompted the state Department of Natural Resources to remove them.
Georgia's governor has ordered that Bibles be returned to cabins and lodge rooms at state parks. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources removed Bibles from such rooms across the state following a citizen’s complaint, according to Fox 5 Atlanta. Parks officials said they were removing the Bibles "until managers can fully investigate the issue and make an informed decision." But, Gov. Nathan Deal stepped in earlier this week, and ordered the Bibles back inside cabins and lodges. In a statement, he said this: "Out of an abundance of caution to avoid potential litigation, the commissioner removed the Bibles from rooms – though they were still available on site – after a complaint from a visitor. The attorney general and I agree that the …
Gwinnett County Board of Education adopts $1.763 billion FY2014 budget and tentatively adopts 1.30 mills increase in tax millage rate.
After holding the line in the face of declining revenue in recent years, the Gwinnett County Board of Education anticipates having to raise the tax millage rate to fund the FY2014 budget. The school board adopted a FY2014 balanced budget totaling $1.76 billion, a decrease of $12.8 million or .7 percent from the FY2013 budget at its meeting Thursday (May 16) at the Instructional Support Center in Suwanee. The board also tentatively adopted an increase of 1.30 mills in the tax rate. Despite “a tremendous downturn in the economy we’ve been able to have the millage rate unchanged for some time,” Rick Cost, chief financial officer for Gwinnett County Public Schools, said. This increase includes .55 mills for maintenance and operations (General …
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Sentencing for Duluth resident Gary on a federal bribery charge now scheduled for Aug. 27. This is the third time it has been rescheduled.
The sentencing for Gwinnett developer Mark Gary has been delayed again until Aug 27. Gary, who pleaded guilty Oct. 1 in U.S. District Court in Atlanta to a federal bribery charge, had been scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Charles A. Pannell Jr. May 16. His sentencing had previously been continued from Jan. 3 to Feb. 28 to then to the May court date. Gary’s sentencing is scheduled for 10 a.m. before Judge Pannell in Courtroom 2307 of the Richard B. Russell Federal Building in Atlanta. Gary, 39, a Duluth resident admitted to bribing former Gwinnett County commissioner Shirley Lasseter to obtain commission approval in 2009 of a controversial $4-million waste transfer station in which he had a personal stake. Lasseter …
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
What will Peachtree Corners residents need over the next two decades, different types of housing, better transportation, more parks? It's all part of the ongoing Comprehensive Plan.
Since the beginning of the year, Peachtree Corners city leaders have held a number of meetings and several workshops to gather citizens input on its Comprehensive Plan. Tuesday night the city's Planning Commission was asked for its thoughts on how the city should plan for its future in terms of what its citizens will need and how to make the city more livable for an ever-changing - and aging population. "A Comprehensive Plan is similar to a road map or business plan, it helps guide city leaders on how to plan for the future, what its citizens will need, what they would like to see," explained Michelle Alexander, with Pond & Company, who has been tasked with holding the meetings to gather the data to help develop the city's plan. "It's …
The 2013 legislation lowers Georgia's BUI limit for boaters and hunters, and adds boating safety regulations.
It's official: As of Wednesday (May 15), a new Georgia law regarding the Boating Under the Influence legal limit and other boating safety regulations is in effect. According to a Lake Lanier website, state officials will attend information sessions at local marinas around the state Wednesday. The visits will culminate at Laurel Park in Hall County, where Gov. Nathan Deal will give an address at 2 p.m. The new regulations are contained in Senate Bill 136, which Deal signed into law in April. Portions of the bill are named for late Buford youths Griffin and Jake Prince, and late Atlanta youth Kile Glover. The youths were killed in boating or watercraft-related accidents on Lake Lanier in 2012. Read more on Suwanee Patch. See also:
JayMan
4:03 pm on Wednesday, May 22, 2013
I have many african americans in my office, as all of us do. Explain how they worked twice as hard as me? more ›