From Bob Schwartz, City Manager
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Police Department personnel – Officer Eric Almond resigned December 31. Eric has been with us for a little over a year, starting November 1, 2012. Eric accepted a position with the regional security department at Kroger’s. Chief Harvey and I have started the recruitment and selection process to replace him.
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City Clerk personnel – In a couple of weeks, Amanda Vincent’s school schedule is going to get more intense. At some point, she is going to receive her nursing degree and leave us. In the meantime, Lauran and I have agreed with her request to work three days a week and go to school two days a week for the next semester. Starting January 14th, Amanda will be on her new schedule and we will have Ms. Brittni Richardson from Apollo Staffing to fill in. We will reevaluate all of this at the end of the semester, but we think it’s going to work well.
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Engineering Services – A couple of
months ago we discussed a proposal for engineering services from Mike Bledsoe of “The Engineering Group”. Council asked that we solicit several more proposals. I’ve attached a copy of the RFP. We have sent it to Mike Bledsoe along with Carter & Sloope (working on the Emory Asbury water project), Jordan Engineering of Monticello, and Keck & Wood (a larger firm). We have also posted it on the GMA web site. Please let me know if you can think of any other firms we should solicit.
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Whatcoat Building roof – This is the old city hall. We have had another roof leak and have contracted with a roofer (M&S Construction) for $1,400 to make repairs. Mark Crowe is the owner and as he explained to me, we have had several patches made to the roof in the last several years. This work will tie it together and finish the patching. We’re hoping this latest repair will hold us for a while.
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 Immigration - Each year, City Clerk Lauran Willis has to make reports and update our immigration policy status with the state Department of Audits and Accounts. Among other things she has to make sure that our files are complete for our contractors. This includes E-Verify, Title 13, Title 36, and Title 50. According to the Department of Audits and Accounts web site, we officially met all our requirements on December 23. It’s one of the important parts of the City Clerk’s job that the rest of us never see.
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Heritage Landmark – Rev. Tom Johnson wanted you to know that the nomenclature for Oxford by the United Methodist Church has changed from “historic shrine” to “Heritage Landmark of the United Methodist Church”. We’ve enclosed a copy of the November newsletter from the Arthur Moore Methodist Museum, Library, and Archives listing all the Heritage Landmarks of the United Methodist Church. Oxford is one of four in Georgia. Our historic shrine sign is still good since that’s what we were called when the sign was first erected.
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Projects Report – We have enclosed the Projects Report updated through December 31. I’ll be doing this each month. I have highlighted the completed projects in green. They will be removed from the list after completion. Let me know if you have any questions.
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Police Department – Lauran gave the police department one of our historic cabinets. Chief Harvey and Lt. Pilgrim have done a good job of filling it with a display. It’s in our second floor lobby. My picture doesn’t do it justice so you ought to drop by to see it.
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State Ethics Commission Reporting – For the last three or four years, this has been very complicated and burdensome. It’s about to get easier, BUT NOT JUST YET. You probably have already seen this, but please read the following memo (1/2/14) from Pam Helton with GMA. Pam also sent you an email on January 3 explaining how to navigate the State Ethics Commission web site – believe me, it’s not easy. If you have any questions about this, please check with Lauran Monday night - - time is running out.
TO: Mayors Council members Managers and City Clerks
There seems to be some confusion on filing the 12-31-13 Campaign Contribution Disclosure Report (CCDR) so I wanted to provide some clarification. All candidates in an election year and in a non-election year (ALL elected officials) must file the 12-31-13 Campaign Contribution Disclosure Report with the Ethics Commission through the online E-filing system at http://www.ethics.state.ga.us/efiling/default.aspx OR by mailing the CCDR form to the Ethics Commission by registered mail. (Please keep your receipt if mailing). It must be filed by January 8, 2014 or a late fee will be imposed by the Ethics Commission. If an elected official will no longer be in office after 12-31-13 please be sure to mark the "Final - Terminated" when filing the CCDR.
The new filing requirements which went into effect Jan 1, 2014 will be emailed to all elected officials, managers and city clerks on Monday with the proper instructions for future filings. We want to make sure we have clarification from the Ethics Commission before we send the instructions out.
If you have any questions, please contact me at 678-686-6275 or by email at phelton@gmanet.com. I will be more than happy to help you in any way that I can.
Thanks,
Pam Helton
GMA
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