TOWNS COUNTY CIVIC ASSOCIATION BOARD MEETING
Wednesday, September 10, 2025,
1 pm Towns County Courthouse, 2nd Floor Conference Room
1. President’s Remarks\Report – John: Welcomed all.
a. Present: John Clemens, Andy Williams, Lesle Howard, Joan Crothers, Anna Denton, Michael Courey (on phone), David Best, Jim Olson, Amy Barrett.
b. Latest on P.O. Issue: Andy talked to Postmaster at Y.H., Melissa Barnett, and she said they were short on staff, little parking, no room for packages and Y.H. is growing! The owner won’t help. Hiawassee P.O. has the same problems, but no one complained there, possibly afraid of losing their job. John will contact the Postmaster General about coming to one of our meetings.
c. Hiawassee Mayor: Andy will talk to Mayor Chastain about speaking to us about the latest on water issues and concerns.
d. Membership Meeting Ideas: Amy will check on someone at GMRC educating us on
“ Zoning” at the next Membership Meeting; that and Hiawassee City Water should be the subjects. What happens when we have our next Wildfire–will there be enough water and can the trucks get to the high houses? We need a new Station #1 on Sims St. in the City–Fund-raisers are needed.
e. Status 501(c)3: John printed a copy of our By-Laws with the needed new wording on Page 1. Motion duly made to accept the new wording; seconded and passed.
2. Reports:
a. Secretary’s Report (Motion to Approve) – Joan: August 13th Minutes were emailed to BOD, Motion to approve duly made; seconded & passed.
b. Treasurer’s Report (Motion to Approve) – Leslie: July 31th Balance: $3,644.64. Income: Dues; Expenses: None. Motion to approve duly made; seconded & passed.
c. Membership Report (Information Only) – Anna: Many memberships are in the grace period which will change when we have our Membership Mtg. Also we have $395 in Prepaid dues which is not current income or spendable funds.
d. Website Update/Maintenance (Information Only) – David: Our site should be updated so we receive security updates. He was told he should proceed with this.
3. Committee Reports (significant issues)
a. Chamber of Commerce – John: Nominations for BOD vacancies are due 10/3/25. Events coming up:AT Day at Brasstown Bald Visitors’ Center 9/17; NEGA Mtn. Travel Assoc. In Helen 11/1-2; Holiday Bazaar 11/
b. City of Young Harris -Anna: McTyeire Crossing: Certificate of Completion–Final Plat must be completed and filed before a COC can be issued on finished units. Election IGA w/Towns Co.–Council approved Atty. Hawkins to w/ T.C. Board of Elections. Timberline Booster Pump & Sewer Line–still working on this. A $464,500 grant to the City has been approved, funds must be used by 9/2027. Porch Fest will be 9/21; playground equipment at Mayors Park will be replaced (Cost up to $70K to purchase & install).
c. City of Hiawassee: July 4th was another water break in downtown Hiawassee, closing down water from 6:30 a.m. to midnight in parts of the City. 8/5 Meeting: Waterworth Software of Canada will be hired ($13K-1 yr.) to give a visual presentation to customers as to why the City is losing over half of its treated drinking water. 8/14 A 6-ft. sinkhole was reported near Ingles caused by rusted drainpipe and damaged culvert, this in turn caused a minor valve leak on Main St. Parts will be ordered for this. The 8/23 City retreat centered mainly on water infrastructure (CIP) Capital Improvement Plan, Fletcher Holliday, who reported at the 8/25 work session. The 50% water loss can be resolved by zone metering. One meter of 3 proposed, has already been installed (cost-$35K). The County water demand is twice that of the City. Because of rising prices, a water increase of 3-4% and 8% for sewer needs to be implemented. Grants, low-interest loans, bonds, will all be looked into for all the infrastructure needs. Qualifying for Mayor and 2 City Council seats was Aug.20-22; however, only Jay Chastain qualified for Mayor and no one qualified for Council so time was extended. Jeff Scott and Andrea Bell qualified for Posts 1 & 2. They will replace Amy Barrett and Patsy Owens.
d. Commissioner’s Meeting-Joan: 8/1 Called Mtg.: Bradshaw announced Tax Commissioner Michael Anderson will now collect taxes for the County, receiving 1% for his office. This is the same type of agreement Anderson has with both cities in the county. Bradshaw also signed a budget amendment to reimburse the SPLOST fund for T.C. Sheriff’s Office purchases for equipment and jail maintenance. The SO now has 30 body cameras and 32 tasers and has made important electrical repairs at the jail. 8/19 mtg.: Bradshaw talked about building a small (40×40) fire station next to the EMS station close to T.C. High School, just bays for 2 trucks. There will be a 9/11 Memorial at 9:45 on the Hiawassee square, commemorating the lives lost that day in the Twin Towers in NYC.
e. Water & Sewer Authority – Jim: : Estimated system water loss for July was 6M gallons. Considered acceptable by industry standards.
f. Conference and Visitors Bureau- Jim: Extensive workshop to revise and update grant guidelines and applications. Revised reimbursement forcompensatable advertising and expenses. Upon final review, all changes were approved.
g. Board of Education – Michael: Agricultural Barn construction will start this month. The Agriculture Building is debt free. The $1.75 million grant (minus $64k to be received) has been received. Cost was $4.2 million. The gap expense is satisfied by the ESPLOT revenue. The Rotary Club donated dictionaries to the 3rd grade students. Donations have been made towards the Book Machine, whereby students earn “Book Coins” and can use them to “purchase” a book. The A.C for the big GYM to be completed this month. Loss of some students to the educational home study system of “Mountain Education.” Frank Riley donated an antique historical mechanical ice cream machine. Works great. The Educational AD Valorem mileage rate is not expected to increase for the upcoming cycle. The financial stability and integrity of the school is stable.. Enrollment: Elementary: 422, Middle: 260, HS: 273.
h. BRMEMC – Michael: 9/9 Mtg.: A member presented a request for electric service to the current meter location. Previously told that the meter must be moved to another location on the home which would incur a cost. Board to consider the petition. The Annual Audit report (period ending 30 June 2025) by a 3rd party was presented. Quite involved and detailed. Summary of the presentation is that the EMC Co-op has operated in a fiscally responsible manner. No contentious issues found. An annual review of the EMC operation by the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC) was presented. A comparison of our BRMEMC operations for financial, personnel, services rendered, stability and functions, to the membership to all other EMC Co-Op’s (41 in GA and 815 in the US) was presented. Quite detailed. Summary indicates that our BRMEMC is one of the fastest for growth and very good in all facets of operation. Typical power outages experienced.
i. County Planning Commission – David: No report.
j. County Health Department – Leslie: Next meeting in October.
k. DDA (Downtown Development Center) – Leslie: Tyler Osborn is still Chair, Nancy Noblet, Hiawassee City Council, will take Amy Barrett’s seat, and 4 new members will be on the new DDA Board.
4. New Business Submitted from Board Members and/or Guest: None.
5. Adjournment: Duly adjourned at 3:45 p.m.
Joan Crothers, Secretary
Next Meeting: October 8, 1 p.m. at upstairs Courthouse.