TOWNS COUNTY CIVIC ASSOCIATION BOARD MEETING
Wednesday April 9, 2025,
1 pm Towns County Courthouse, 2nd Floor Conference Room
1. President’s Remarks\Report – John
a. Welcome David Best from his Safari
b. Membership Appreciation Meeting
i. Highlights: 7 new attendees joined, we heard good comments, way too much food.
ii. Complaint of mentioning Jesus in prayer: (Bonnie Herman) discussion-ok to do.
Iii. What can we do better? Have the public write questions on 3×5 cards as they come in.
c. TVA Announcement-Repair work on Chatuge Dam
i. What can or should we do?
TVA meetings: 5/8/25 5-7 p.m. (place TBA), 5/13 Haysville, 5/15 Virtual; attend Hiaw. City Council Work Session on 4/26 at 6pm; TVA could build a cofferdam while work proceeds.
d. Mayor of Hiawassee Announcement: See City of Hiawassee below.
e. Contributions to local organizations (need a list). Tabled to May meeting.
f. President’s Announcement: John is stepping down from President after this year. Who will fill hisshoes?
2. Reports:
Secretary Report (Motion to Approve) – Joan
a. Minutes: No meeting in March; Feb. minutes Emailed to BOD, Motion to approve; seconded & passed.
b. Treasurer Report (Motion to Approve) – Leslie
Feb. Balance: $ 4,213.62; March 2025 Balance: $4,108.64, Income: Dues $371, Exp.: Mem. mtg. Food $436.37, Ck.1380 $39.61.
c. Membership Report (Information Only) – Anna
March 2025 Report: 74 Families, 120 Individuals, 4 businesses.
d. Website Update/Maintenance (Information Only) – David
Our website: [email protected] is not monitored on a frequent basis; theTCCA website has been added to NGOS1, a Global Non Profit Organization Directory. Listing is at: NGOS1 page for TCCA
3. Committee Reports (significant issues)
a. Chamber of Commerce – John: Business after hours-4/17/25 @ICL, YHC; 5/8-GMF Acoustic Sunset Concert opening. Julie will speak at Movers & Shakers on 4/11. DDA Summer FUNdraiser-Jimmy Buffett tribute show @ GMF Anderson Music Hall on 7/19.
b. City of Young Harris -Anna: No one, except a Public Works employee should open a water meter cover-that will cause damage to the new meter and property owner will pay expense. 5 sewer lines have been worked on.
c. City of Hiawassee – Joan: Qualifying for Mayor of Hiawassee seat for the 2025 term which ends this Dec., and Jay Chastain’s City Council seat was on 4/1-4/25. Only Jay Chastain qualified for Mayor’s seat and only Scott Benson qualified for the Council seat; therefore there will be no need for a special election on 6/17/25. They will be on the ballot in the Nov. election.
d. Towns County Commissioner – Joan: 3/28/25 Bradshaw signed an agreement for the County to conduct the City of Hiawassee’s elections this year, each year they will negotiate a new agreement. This year the Recycling Center at the Transfer Station has been recycling glass to give to Union Co. for their glass recycling machine, and Bradshaw said soon we will be putting up more recycling signage and recycling more kinds of plastics. No meeting in April.
e. Towns County Water Authority – Jim: The new service pickup passed inspection and the purchase was completed. The Authority’s ’07 Ford Ranger was placed up for sealed auction. All bids opened and witnessed by the Authority members. The highest bidder was Harold Allison.
f. Convention Visitors Board (CVB) – Jim: Meeting for March was cancelled.
g. Board of Education – Michael: 4 /14/25 The Ag Center Construction should be finished by June 2025; air conditioning will be installed in the big Gym in the summer of 2025; certain areas of the school floors will be repaired/replaced; an Ag Barn will be built in the summer of 2025; replacements for the various staff resignations and retirements has taken place; budget items were discussed, and final school year student course testing is upcoming as school ends in May.
h. BRMEMC – Michael: March winds caused outages on 5 different days; 58K meters in use, using 120 million kilowatts in Feb. 4.7+6 miles of fiber cable installed with 18K users, which makes that profitable for EMC. They had 93 new EMC customers in 4 counties. Also discussed future drawdown of the lake to improve safety of Chatuge Dam, but that will take several years to happen. Meeting dates for more information were given-5/8 will be the first in Hiawassee, but no time or place given yet.
i. County Planning Commission – Andy: The men asking for a Rehabilitation Center at The Retreat on Hwy. 17/75 need to present a state audit to the Planning Commission.
j. County Health Department – Leslie: Will attend the next quarterly meeting.
4.. New Business Submitted from Board Members and/or Guest
5. Adjournment: Duly adjourned at 3:45 p.m.
Next Meeting: May 14, 2025, 1 p.m. at the Courthouse meeting room.