After a long, cold and wet winter, spring has finally arrived in North Georgia.
During the winter our road department placed 170 tons of salt and gravel on our roads due to snow and ice. Your road crew did a stellar job keeping our roads safe for our citizens and visitors. They were even called on to assist our neighbors in Lumpkin County when their spreader truck broke down.
Our road department’s reputation is not only good within our community, but their quality of work is also recognized by other counties as being exemplary.
The winter weather hampered and delayed several of our construction projects. Now, with the weather improving, we are making progress.
This week the new bathhouse at War Hill Park was completed. This facility contains a men’s and women’s restroom and shower facility that will be utilized by the overnight campers at the park. The new bathhouse was constructed with funds awarded to the county through a grant to renovate the park.
The park and recreation staff held a cleanup day at War Hill Park last week and the park is ready for its opening day on April 1.
I encourage everyone to visit the park for an overnight stay in one of our 14 campsites, spend the day at the beach playing volley ball, have a picnic or put a boat in at the boat ramp for a day on the lake. This facility truly has something for everyone in the family to enjoy.
The rain and wintry weather has also delayed the construction of the new Emergency Station #2 located adjacent to the Tractor Supply on Hwy. 53 East.
The project was originally scheduled to open this spring, but construction had to be halted due to the wet condition of the site. Our public works department was able to put the binder on the roadway leading to the facility a couple of weeks ago.
The contractor has graveled the front parking lot and construction resumed this week on the building. We anticipate being able to finish and occupy the station in July.
The weather has also affected the courthouse project. Site work started on Feb. 28 and has continued at a slow pace due to rain. The soils at the site have had a high moisture content, which has forced us to move soils around on site and to bring in some more suitable soils from a borrowed pit nearby. Construction will continue on the site and we hope to start the building in May of this year.
With the rising temperatures, Operations Manager Eddie Savage and our road department are able to begin resurfacing some of our county roads.
Last week they completed Cowart Road between Kelly Bridge and the county line.
They have also started work on Grizzle Road and plan to resurface portions of it in the next few weeks.
In addition to our own work, the Georgia Department of Transportation will be contracting to resurface several county roads through the Local Assistance Road Program (LARP), including Little Mountain Road, Apple Ridge Road and Keith Evans Road.
The DOT work will begin this week and the last road will be completed in a few months.
The DOT will also be providing funding to assist the county with replacing the wooden bridge on Holcomb Road. This bridge has been closed due to its condition for the last few months.
The design work to replace the bridge has been completed and the project will go out to bid in the near future.
As you can see, with the arrival of spring, your county employees are going to be hard at work completing many important projects on your behalf.
Even during these difficult times our employees continue to cut costs and still provide the essential services you expect.
If I can be of any assistance to you, please do not hesitate to call on me. We are here to serve you.
County Manager Kevin Tanner can be reached at (706) 344-3501 or e-mail ktanner@dawsoncounty.org.
Kevin Tanner is the Dawson County manager.