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VOLUME 23 NUMBER 22
ocgnews.com
AUGUST 26, 2017
Published Since April 1995 Serving DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale Counties
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DeKalb CEO issues emergency orders after massive sewer spills
DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond has issued emergency orders for county workers and contractors to inspect all sewer pipes near Nancy Creek in Brookhaven and Snapfinger Creek in unincorporated Lithonia CEO Michael Thurmond after massive sewer spills were discovered. The spills have been reported to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
and Georgia Environmental Protection Division. County officials say the Nancy Creek spill, which included nearly 4 million gallons of raw sewage, is the biggest spill recorded in the last 10 years in the county’s consent decree, DeKalb’s binding agreement with federal and state authorities to improve its sewer system. County inspectors discovered that a 10-inch diameter pipe compromised by soil erosion caused the spill. Work crews contained the spill and made repairs on Aug. 17. Additional repairs to be completed by Aug. 30 include the replacement of 600 feet of root-clogged pipe with a 12-inch diameter pipe, followed by stream bank
restoration and landscaping. The county learned of the Nancy Creek spill on Aug. 8 after being notified by the City of Atlanta about high bacteria counts in the Nancy Creek area. Due to the remote location and large search area, it took a team of four inspectors nine days to locate the source of the spill by analyzing water samples from the creek and nearby tributaries. DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond has directed staff to issue an emergency task order to inspect hundreds of miles of pipes parallel to county creeks and tributaries. DeKalb County records reveal that due to location and staffing SEE SEWER, page 7
Closing the “Homework Gap”
DeKalb school district first to receive Sprint’s free electronic devices and internet services
DeKalb Schools Superintendent R. Stephen Green joined Brian Miller, Sprint Region president for Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama, at Cedar Grove High’s media room as students activated their units. Sprint representative Sonya Kirkland helps distribute devices.
The DeKalb County School District is participating in a national program to help close the “Homework Gap” in Georgia. DeKalb Schools Superintendent R. Stephen Green helped kick off the Sprint 1Million Project on Aug. 22 at Cedar Grove High School. Nearly 300 Cedar Grove students received mobile wireless hotspots from Sprint in support of the district’s Digital Dreamers initiative, an effort to assist students from low-income families with their studies at home. Students will be able to take the hotspots off campus and link up to five devices per unit. The hotspots, equipped with safeguards to protect students online, will help prepare students for technology and the future. “Education today is digital and it’s key to college and career readiness. We want our students in DeKalb County who need internet access to have it beyond the classroom. Thankfully, these students will now have the tools they need for success,” Green said. DeKalb is among 119 school districts in 32 states participating in the first year of the Sprint 1Million Project. The Atlanta Public Schools held the first of three “Activation Fairs” following DeKalb’s morning launch. Five hundred Douglass High School students received their electronic devices that evening. Sprint plans to provide free devices and internet services to up to 25,000 APS students over the five-year period of the Sprint 1Million Project. Along with giving students the option of a Chromebook laptop, tablet, or smart phones, the Sprint 1Million Project is providing 3GB per month of Wi-Fi connections for students’ devices to connect to the internet and the school districts’ online learning resources. The DeKalb School District’s full rollout of the program will take place over the next two weeks at both middle and high schools. In the future, the Digital Dreamers project will be expanded to also include DeKalb’s elementary schools. Approximately 5 million U.S. families with school-aged children do not have high-speed Internet access at home, yet at least 70% of teachers assign homework that requires web access. A further study in Atlanta indicated that roughly 29 percent of households lack a computer and/or Internet connection.
City of Stonecrest responds to Snapping Shoals’ customers concerning franchise fees Stonecrest city officials have been fielding calls from angry Snapping Shoals EMC customers regarding a 4 percent fee that will become effective on their monthly electric bills on Sept. 1. Snapping Shoals notified customers the fee hike is the result of a franchise fee the utility company must now pay the newly-incorporated Stonecrest. Through an e-mail, the company referring questions concerning the fee to Assistant City Manager Plez A. Joyner with his telephone number at City Hall. Joyner said the utility company sent the notification to customers after the city finalized an ordinance on Aug. 21 to enter into an agreement to collect franchise fees from Snapping Shoals, AT&T, Atlanta Gas Light, Comcast, and Georgia Power. The companies pay the fee for use of right of ways to provide service to customers. Joyner said while Georgia Power passes along about 65% of its franchise fee to its customers (amounting to about $2.60 being added to the average bill), Snapping Shoals made a “business decision” to pass along the entire 4 percent (about $4 for every $100 of the bill) to its customers. “Many times, these fees are listed on the bills and people have no idea of what the fees are for or that it is being passed on to
them,” Joyner said. “Throughout Georgia, utility companies, telephone and cable companies are required to pay franchise fees to cities. They can pass along the fee to customers—we don’t have any control over that— but we are researching to see if people can switch companies because callers have asked about that. Snapping Shoals and Georgia Power have certain territories for customers.” Joyner said Snapping Shoals has more than 6,400 customers in Stonecrest and Georgia Power has about 10,000 in the city. He said he has received about 50 inquiries from Snapping Shoals’ customers about the franchise fee. Franchise fees, which range from three to five percent of a customer’s gas, telephone, cable and electric bills, are set by Georgia’s Public Service Commission. Franchise fees are used to supplement cities’ operating budgets. Joyner said he is researching the franchise agreement terms for Atlanta Gas Light, Comcast and AT&T.
Snapping Shoals EMC
Service Territory within The City of Stonecrest Date Created: May 23, 2017 Note:
All Locations/Lines/Territories are approximations based on known data. No guarantees of accuracy or completeness are made.
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