County Manager Stan Kelley

DAHLONEGA, Ga. – The good news that came out of this week’s Lumpkin County Board of Commissioners work session is that there “appears” to be no tax increase for county residents in 2018, although commissioners won’t know for sure until the digest is finalized and the final budget resolution is approved next month.

Commissioners will be meeting with department heads on Monday to review their individual budget requests.

County Manager Stan Kelley said, “I appreciate the work of our budget committee. We were concerned that we would not be able to present you a budget that didn’t include a tax increase, but we found a way to work it out. Thanks also to our Finance Director (Allison Martin) for many late nights of working on it.”

The proposed budget is estimated at $21,214,798 or about $596,000 higher than last year.

“Of course we don’t have the final digest numbers yet, but based on early estimates, we think the digest will yield about $117,000 in additional revenue,” Kelley added.

Several new positions have been added, including one full-time tax specialist,  two communications specialists in the E-911 Center and two deputies in the Sheriff’s Office.

Fetch Your News is a hyper local news outlet that covers Dawson, Lumpkin, White, Fannin, Gilmer, Pickens, Union, Towns and Murray counties as well as Cherokee County in N.C. If you would like to follow up-to-date local events in any of those counties, please visit us at www.fetchyournews.com

DAHLONEGA, Ga. — The Lumpkin County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a series of agreements with the Georgia Department of Transportation Tuesday that will provide for the construction of roundabouts at three Lumpkin County intersections. The county’s only financial obligation will be to pay the cost of electrical energy used for any lighting and the maintenance as well as landscaping after installation.

The roundabouts will be located at the intersection of SR 9 and SR 60, SR 52 West and SR 9 and at the intersection of SR 52, SR 115 and Copper Mines Road. Commissioners acknowledged there is an issue with a business located at the Copper Mines Road location but believe that it is currently being resolved.

Commissioners also approved EMA Director David Wimpy’s request to apply for a staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant to hire nine full-time firefighters. There is no cost to apply for the grant. However, if approved, the positions would cost the county $146,250 in year one, $146,250 in year two, and $380,250 in year three.

The Board also approved a request to purchase one F-350 truck from Wade Ford for $34,098 and two F-150s for $22,193 each from Allan Vigil Ford. The local Ford dealership chose not to submit a bid.

The Board made a series of appointments to various boards and committees, including newly elected Commissioner David Miller to the Board of Health. State Senator Steve Gooch and Steven Leibel were reappointed to the Joint Development Authority of Dawson, White and Lumpkin counties.

Several roads were adopted into the county’s maintenance program, including Brookwoods Lane, Brooks Drive and Baker Street in Brookwoods Subdivision and Misty Hollow Road in Misty Hollow Subdivision.

Commissioners unanimously approved a community block development grant (CDBG) funds for expansion of the Senior Center and the Local Emergency Operations Plan (LEOP) as required by the Georgia Emergency Management Agency.

DAHLONEGA, Ga. — The Lumpkin County Board of Commissioners has scheduled a special called work session for Thursday at 4 p.m. in the County Administration Building, 99 Courthouse Hill. Commissioners will discuss issues to be voted on at the next regular meeting.

This will be the first meeting for Commissioners Bobby Mayfield and David Miller who took the oath of office last week.

Resolutions to be considered include the appointment of:

A member of the Lumpkin County Board of Health to replace outgoing County Commissioner Doug Sherrill;

Representatives to Chestatee-Chattahoochee RC&D Council, Inc.;

Members to the Park & Recreation Citizens Advisory Board;

Members to Joint Development Authority of Dawson, Lumpkin & White Counties;

Member to the Lumpkin County Public Building Authority.
Commissioners will also discuss acceptance of Brookwoods Lane, Brooks Drive, Baker Street and Misty Hollow Drive into county maintenance and a new Local Emergency Operations Plan (LEOP).

Commissioners will also consider a number of contracts and agreements, including roundabout lighting assistance for SR 52 at SR 115/CR 41/Copper Mines Road, SR 9 at SR 52, SR 9 at SR 60.

The county commission is expected to vote on these and other issues at its regular scheduled meeting on Thursday Jan. 12 at 5 p.m.

DAHLONEGA, Ga. — Lumpkin County residents beware!

Break the law – even a minor traffic violation like an expired tag — and you could find yourself at the mercy of Sentinel Offender Services, a private, for-profit, misdemeanor probation company that provides probation services to Lumpkin and White County counties.

Sentinel has been sued more than 25 times and has been accused of intimidating and threatening probationers. During a recent court hearing, Superior Court Judge Murphy C. Miller called Sentinel’s probation tactics “coercive.”

Hard to believe? Meet Rita Luse and Marianne Ligocki of neighboring White County who say they have been harassed by Sentinel for years.

Luse is a 62-year-old grandmother. Ligocki, a 45-year-old mother of nine. Both women are on a limited income. Luse pleaded guilty to driving on a license tag that had expired 10 days earlier. Ligocki pleaded guilty to driving on a suspended license. Neither had enough money to pay their fine on the day of their court hearing so they were placed on probation.

Now, meet Sentinel Offender Services, the company that supervised their probation.

In the federal civil rights lawsuit Luse and Ligocki have filed against Sentinel, the women say they were forced to submit to and pay for expensive drug tests not authorized by the sentencing judge. If they refused, the lawsuit contends, they were threatened with incarceration.

Sarah Geraghty, the attorney for Southern Center for Human Rights who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Luse, Ligocki and hundreds of others, said, “Sentinel’s predatory practices have nothing to do with public safety and everything to do with turning a profit. Public confidence in the courts will be seriously undermined if these abusive practices are allowed to continue.”

Another White County woman, Kathy Cochran, said her five-year nightmare with Sentinel started in 2011 with the open records request she filed with the Enotah Judicial District Public Defender’s Office. Instead of receiving information, Cochran said she was charged with computer forgery, a charge that was dismissed two years later.

Next, Cochran was accused of Computer Invasion of Privacy and Identity Fraud. Cochran was never arrested, convicted or sentenced and, in 2014, the court ordered the case dead docketed, a device by which prosecution is postponed indefinitely.

Ironically, both charges are felonies and Sentinel’s contract with White County specifically states, “In no event will Sentinel be charged with the responsibility of supervising a felony sentence.”

Despite never being charged, convicted or sentenced, Sentinel ordered Cochran to report to their Cleveland office and undergo drug testing, perform community service and attend a pre-trial diversion program for shoplifting, a crime she was never accused of.

Last Thursday, Sentinel suffered another setback when Judge Miller ruled:

“Defendant Kathy Cochran was not subject to a pre-trial diversion program through Sentinel Probation Services. The court further finds that Sentinel Probation Services had no power or authority to charge the defendant any money, order any drug testing, perform any community service or participate in shoplifting classes. It is hereby ordered that the order dated Jan. 22, 2015 to remove this case from the dead docket is here by vacated and shall be placed back on the dead docket until further order of this court.”

With its sketchy history, why does Lumpkin County allow Sentinel to continue doing business here?

County Manager Stan Kelley says it’s not the county’s responsibility. In response to Fetch Your News Open Records Request, Kelley said in an email, “L.C. Probate and Magistrate courts use private probation, but it is not Sentinel.”

Kelley said Judge Miller has jurisdiction over the other courts. “The superior court has traditionally been allowed to contract for these services without permission of the LCBOC or from other Enotah Circuit governing authorities,” Kelley said.

Tradition aside, O.C.G.A. 42-8-100 (2010) puts the responsibility squarely on the shoulders of the Lumpkin County Board of Commissioners. It states, “The chief judge of any court within the county, with the approval of the governing authority of that county, is authorized to enter into written contracts with corporations, enterprises, or agencies…” It further states, “The final contract negotiated by the chief judge with the private probation entity shall be attached to the approval by the governing authority of the county to privatize probation services as an exhibit thereto.”

One commissioner who is troubled by Sentinel’s record is Commissioner Doug Sherill. In a phone interview, Sherrill said, “My concern is this kind of thing exploits people who can’t fight back because they may not even know who to complain to. Certainly when there are inconsistencies in justice like this, it undermines the integrity of the entire system.”