Henry County Update - Newsletter

August 26, 2019

Board of

Commissioners

County Cuts Ribbon on Long-Awaited Campground Road Extension

The critical East-West connector expected to alleviate traffic congestion through central Henry County

Regular Meetings Thurs., Sept. 5th, 9:00 a.m.

(Date change due to holiday) September 17th, 6:30 p.m.

Meetings held at: Administration Building Community Room 140 Henry Parkway McDonough, GA 30253 Regular Commission meetings air daily on Henry TV Charter Channel 180 and AT&T U-Verse Channel 99, at 9 a.m. & 7 p.m.

Henry County Commissioners, county leaders, public safety agencies and citizens celebrated the completion of the Campground Road Extension project with a ceremonial ribbon cutting for this major SPLOST transportation project that has been in the planning stages for more than 20 years.

District IV Commissioner Vivian Thomas along with District III Commissioner Gary Barham and District I Commissioner Johnny Wilson, other county officials and citizens gathered at the intersection of Winbrook Dr. and Campground Road to celebrate the opening of the new 2.9-mile-long roadway.

Over the last two decades, Henry County has experienced explosive growth and with the new Campground Road Extension, this critical east-west connector will ease traffic congestion through the central parts of the county.

The project consisted of a four lane road widening beginning at the end of the Georgia DOT I-75/Jodeco Road Interchange project; a two lane roadway starting past Peach Drive ending just before Brannan Road; a realignment of the Peach Drive intersection; a new four lane divided bridge over Norfolk Southern railroad tracks; a new installed traffic light at the intersection of SR42 and a new roadway; and a new

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August 26, 2019 Published by Henry County Communications & Public Information Department Henry County Government

Editor Melissa Robinson

Graphic Designer Meredith Butler

Layout Designer Melissa Robinson Meredith Butler

Contributors Melissa Robinson Erika Richards

Ribbon Cutting - continued from page 1

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Elections Director Gives Update to BOC New machines are on the horizon in Georgia

Detail of voting locations, possible new voting machines and early voting were topics of discussion during the August 6 Henry County Commission meeting.

Henry County Elections Director Tina Lunsford gave an overview of election activities and said that her office is waiting to hear if Henry County will be part of a pilot program to use new voting machines for the November 5 election. She said that with the signing of House Bill 316 on March 4, Georgia will be implementing new voting machines for the Presidential Preference Election in 2020, but that ten counties in Georgia will be selected for the pilot program for the upcoming November election. Lunsford said that she has requested that Henry County be included in the pilot program but has not yet heard back on that request.

According to Lunsford there are currently 176,039 registered voters in Henry County and of those registered voters, District two has the largest percentage. Since January, the elections office has processed 47,690 applications and of those applications, 8,284 were first-time voters.

She said that Henry County has 37 polling

precincts and that as of this past February, her office has completed the state-wide initiative to transition from using schools as polling places, citing several concerns such as student safety and voter accessibility issues, among others.

Currently, the county has five early voting satellites including Fairview, Hampton, Locust Grove, McDonough and Stockbridge. Early voting is set to begin on October 14 and a schedule of dates, times and locations will be released closer to that time.

Lunsford said that a concern for this November election is that because it is a municipal election year and there is a county election held on the same date, registered voters within the cities limits will have to go to two polling locations on Election Day if they want to vote for both the city and county elections.

“We are doing a push to encourage voters to take advantage of early voting because they can come to the one location and vote for both of their ballots,” said Lunsford. “Early voting will begin on October 14 in our office and again we will have voting units for the county ballot and each city ballot and the same will be for each of the five satellite locations.”

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August 26, 2019 Ribbon Cutting - continued from page 1 signal at Winbrook Drive and Campground Road.

During the ceremony, SPLOST Transportation Director Roque Romero shared a brief history of the project explaining that it was originally a SPLOST II major transportation project for District III back in 2002.

“In 2010, after the Census and re-districting Campground Road, the extension was split between District III and District IV,” said Romero. “In 2013, the SPLOST IV referendum passed as well as funding for a right-of-way and the widening of Campground.”

Sharing his remarks, Barham described how former commissioners played a part in the implementation of the Campground Road Extension.

“This project started early on back when Jason Harper was the County Commissioner and then it went on to the next commissioner which was Randy Stamey.

Then, I took his place and at that time, district lines changed,” said Barham. We still share in this project and it’s about us working together as a team, everyone achieves more when we all work together.”

Barham also credited former district commissioner Blake Prince for having the forethought to make the new bridge over the train tracks wide enough to accommodate four lanes for future growth.

“He was insistent that when we were doing this project that we made the bridge wide enough for four lanes and that will be very important for our future growth,” said Barham.

Thomas shared her excitement on the completion of this project and echoed Barham’s sentiments.

“Needless to say I am very excited to be here.

This is an opportunity for citizens to see their dollars at work,” said Thomas. “This started way before me.

There are so many people that deserve the credit for

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the work that has been done here. Commissioner Blake Prince was very active in making sure that this project came to fruition and I want to make sure we give him credit for that.”

Thomas further stated that the Campground Road Extension will help first responders better serve the citizens of the county with improved accessibility and a bridge over the train tracks that often stopped traffic several times a day. She also thanked staff for their perseverance on the project, noting that many projects, like those of this magnitude, do not happen overnight.

“There are so many people who made this happen. Roque (Romero), and the administrative staff managing those budgets. So many put in the hard work to make sure this project happens,” said Thomas. “As he (Roque) stated, this started in 2002 and there are people who call us and want the road to happen overnight. This is evidence that this doesn’t happen overnight. It takes coordination between departments. It takes relationships and working with other commissioners. It takes time to work with the community.”

“I’m going to continue to work with my commissioners, as I have the distinct pleasure of working with professionals. We work together, and I am so proud to be able to say that,” said Thomas. “I will continue to work with them for other projects in the county. I look forward to Henry County moving forward and I am proud to be a part of it.”

The Campground Road Extension Project was made possible through the SPLOST initiative. The design engineer for the project was Kimley-Horn & Associates and the project was constructed by McCoy Grading. The total project cost was $20,957,510.

Henry County Citizen’s Academy is in Full Swing

In the first week of the Citizen’s Academy class students heard Brad Johnson, Deputy County Manager, give a brief history of Henry County and County Manager Cheri Hobson-Matthews gave an overview of the structure of Henry County government.

During last week’s Citizen’s Academy, the group of citizens heard presentations by Tina Lunsford, the Director of Henry County Elections and from Superior Court Judge, Trea Pipkin.

Citizens were encouraged to ask questions about how the different operations worked and were

able to follow up with both the Lunsford and Judge Pipkin after the class.

The Citizen’s Academy is an 8 week course where participants learn about the workings of Henry County Government. The next Academy will be announced in the spring of 2020.

For more information about the Henry County Citizen’s Academy or to find out about registering for the next session, please contact Kayla Correa at 770288-6082 or at kcorrea@co.henry.ga.us.

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August 26, 2019 BOC Approves Resolution in Support of the Western Parallel Connector

The Henry County Board of Commissioners approved a resolution in support of the Georgia Department of Transportation funding and commencing construction of the Western Parallel Connector. The action came at the August 6 Commission meeting.

As a walk on agenda item initiated by District II Commissioner Dee Clemmons, the commissioner said that with support from the Board of Commissioners, GDOT would fully fund the Western Parallel project, which runs from Hudson Bridge Rd. to Jodeco Rd. in Stockbridge.

County Manager Cheri Hobson-Matthews presented the resolution and gave a brief history of both the Western Parallel Connector and the Jonesboro Road widening project, stating that both projects have been “on the books” for several years. She said originally, the Jonesboro Rd. widening was slated to be completed by 2019, however through the years, GDOT has had to push the project back.

The resolution calls for GDOT to commence construction of the initial phase of the project and that Henry County “will endeavor to obtain necessary rightof-way by donation or otherwise, to assist in the project.”

It also calls for GDOT to commence construction of the initial phase of the Jonesboro Rd. widening, with the same right-of way efforts by the county.

Hobson-Matthews said that getting the rightof-way donated would save GDOT funds that could eventually be utilized on the Jonesboro Rd. project.

Clemmons said the resolution shows support

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for the project with a collective voice from county commissioners.

“This is a resolution to say that we all realize that this is important. Not just to one city, not to one area, but to this entire area,” said Clemmons.

Clemmons further stated that the connector would give the county a new four-lane road that drivers can travel to ease traffic congestion also adding that the road on the other side of I-75 is located in the city limits of Stockbridge.

“Not only will it give us a four-lane road, it has multi-use paths and sidewalks in this project. When we get the land donated, it’s going to reduce the amount the state has to pay and we will be able to move forward,” she said. “And I will be happy to sit down with the city of Stockbridge because the other side of this road is in the city of Stockbridge. We are going to need support, so if the city of Stockbridge would take the same resolution, Stockbridge and the county can go to GDOT together and get this done.”

Clemmons said that GDOT wants to hear a unified voice from officials and she was proud that the Board choose to support this initiative.

“I am proud to be sitting here with the five of you and now we have a collective voice,” said Clemmons.

Commissioners commended Clemmons for bringing this project forward.

For more information on the Georgia Department of Transportation or for a list of projects, visit http://www.dot.ga.gov/BS/Projects/ProjectSearch.

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