Development Authority Executive Director Tim Martin presented his yearly report for Fiscal Year 2012-2013 to Toccoa City and Stephens County Commissioners last week. Martin said that for this past fiscal year, there were 45 new jobs created with total investments of $11.59 million and that the national economic picture as a whole is still struggling. “Today in 2013, there are fewer jobs in the United States than there were in the year 2000,” said Martin. “We are struggling nationally in economic terms. Too often, what happens is (when) the national economy gets the sniffles, local communities get pneumonia.” Two new industries, Cotton Conversions and Tencate, have both opened this past year in Stephens County. Martin said a crucial tool in getting them here was the granting of opportunity zones that give additional state tax credits to businesses that locate on properties designated as opportunity zones. Martin is also hopeful that the state will approve the Development Authority’s application to give that same opportunity zone status to the Hayestone Brady Business Park on Highway 17.
WellCare Health Plans has provided the Boys’ and Girls’ Club of Toccoa-Stephens County with a grant to provide seed money to start a community garden. Toccoa-Stephens County Boys’ and Girls’ Club Director Cindy Arnold said that the plan is to create and maintain a garden that will benefit the club and others as well. “The idea is that as the garden progresses and produces, and we hope that it produces in abundance, that the proceeds from that would go, at least part of it, back to the food pantry and the soup kitchen and then maybe a little bit of it (would go) for our Boys’ and Girls’ Club to enjoy,” said Arnold. The garden will be located on a plot of land owned by the city of Toccoa that is located directly across from the Boys’ and Girls’ Club on Whitman Street.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will test spillway gates at its three dams on the upper Savannah River this week, including Hartwell Dam. The tests at Hartwell, Russell, and Thurmond Dams will take place on Wednesday and Thursday. Corps of Engineers Public Affairs Specialist Tracy Robillard said that the Corps is conducting necessary safety checks on all of the spillway gates. “Specifically at Hartwell Dam, we have 12 spillway gates there,” said Robillard. “We will have safety officials and they will open the gates about one to two feet and just evaluate (the gates) and check their readiness so in the event that there was ever an emergency and we had to use those spillway gates, we know everything is in working order.”
Toccoa’s Ida Cox Music Series moves into its second month this weekend and Toccoa Main Street Events Coordinator Sharon Crosby said that the first month of concerts went very well. “We have not had rain any of the nights,” said Crosby. “The nights have been nice and cool. We have had a great turnout. This last one for Clay Leverette, we had well over 300 people there. It was just a fun, relaxing evening and someone actually came up to me and said that this is what Toccoa is all about; just being together, relaxing, enjoying some good music and being together with friends and family.” The outdoor concerts take place Saturday nights from 7 to 10 p.m. on Doyle Street in downtown Toccoa and attendance is free.
Monday, North Georgia Technical College announced that it received official notification that the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools has re-affirmed the school’s accreditation. President Dr. Gail Thaxton said the school is thrilled to receive this news. “We expected a good report; every college does,” said Thaxton. “We worked very hard to get ready for this point. We actually received a report that had no additional paperwork required. No follow-up report of any kind was required of the college. That meant that for every principle that they evaluated the college against, we met or exceeded those principles." According to the school, accreditation validates the quality of education North Georgia Tech offers and sets the school in the same league as colleges in the University System of Georgia and many of the state’s private colleges. 
July Newsletter
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