Stephens Co. Commission To Meet This Morning

Stephens County Commissioners are expected to consider a request for additional funding for the county’s 4-H program at their meeting this morning.

County commissioners are scheduled to meet at 8:30 a.m. today in the second-floor courtroom of the historic Stephens County Courthouse in downtown Toccoa.

During today’s meeting, Stephens County Extension Agent Forrest Connelly is expected to request that county commissioners add $2,700 in annual funding for the Stephens County 4-H program to help make up for funding cut by the Stephens County School System.

Last month, the Stephens County Board of Education voted to reduce its contribution to the county’s 4-H program from just under $20,000 a year to about $6,000 a year.

Stephens County School Superintendent Bryan Dorsey says the cut was put forward to help with the school system’s budget situation.

Connelly said after that decision by the school system, he would seek additional funding from the county and the University of Georgia, which are the other two funding sources for the 4-H program.

Also on today’s agenda is consideration of a motion to adopt a personal wireless service facility ordinance.

The Stephens County Commission held a first reading on that ordinance last month.

According to Stephens County Attorney Brian Ranck, the proposed ordinance would apply to various types of telecommunications towers and cover topics like the height of the tower, what zones they can go in, and safety requirements, among other things.

County commissioners will have a public hearing on the proposed ordinance at the start of today’s meeting at 8:30 a.m.

Following that, commissioners will move into their work session to discuss the agenda items.

The business meeting to vote on agenda items will follow immediately after the conclusion of the work session.

Today’s Stephens County Commission meeting is open to the public.