The Concerned Citizens of Lincoln County met at the library on June 18 at 6:30 p.m. President Al Bean opened the meeting. Vice president Linda Burns welcomed the members and guests. John Kennedy gave the invocation. Al Bean led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Guest speaker was State Representative Lee Anderson. He discussed the school tax relief for senior citizens. He stated he would have to have written forms from the county commissioners and the school board before he could move ahead with the tax proposal. Lee stated any tax cut at the present time would hurt the state and the county. Both state and county have went down in revenues for the past months. Georgia is ranked fifth least in the United States in economy. It is one state out of seven that has a triple A bonding. The state will have a special session in August to readdress the budget. He does not feel the state has bottomed out yet. He doesn't feel any exemptions are feasible at this time.

A freeze on property evaluations has been issued for two years and no more than a three percent raise. Later there may be a freeze on the evaluations as long as you own the property.

The cost of one day of school for all in the state of Georgia is $45,000,000. This will be looked at during the special session in August. One of the many unusual bills that have to be addressed and voted on was to be able to kill beavers on the right-a-way. It was passed. These bills come before the legislature often. Congress voted to add two new nuclear plants in the area in 2011.

Lee talked about how Fort Gordon was a big asset to the area. Georgia Tech will be expanding in Grovetown. Georgia accepted the stimulus package, if they didn't, they would be penalized. Some money will be spent on resurfacing Hwy. 378 from Washington to Lincolnton. This will start in July. Other projects will be considered later.

Members asked many questions. It was brought to Lee's attention how hard it is to get a boat, hunting, fishing, etc. license. Money is not collected by the state of Georgia. It could be any state, such as New Jersey, and they receive the fee for collecting. Lee stated he would look into this.

A question about the fair tax was asked. Members were in agreement this tax would be much fairer than sales tax or etc.

Rep. Anderson stated he was very pleased to be working with County Chairman Wade Johnson. He stated he has good rapport with him. The group thanked Lee for taking the time to talk to us. He stated he is a 24/7 representative. If anyone would like to talk to him, he is always available.

Wade Johnson talked about getting the budget balanced by July 1st. He had to make some hard decisions but now is able to eliminate the furloughs and give the hours back to the employees. He discussed the changes that have been made in the county departments, adding new equipment, etc. He stated he hoped to add three new towers in Lincoln County. The tower that is used by the EMS, sheriff's dept., etc. is completely worn out so that has to be replaced. He would like to add to the tower on Graves Mountain, add one to the north and south ends of the county. Money for some of this may come from grants.

He discussed using security cameras in the courthouse as some of the department heads come on weekends to finish work that needs to be done.

He stated his office is always open to any citizen that needs to talk to him. He would like to see more people come to the commissioners meetings which are held the second Thursday of the month at 6 p.m. The CCLC thanked him for all the hard work he and the commissioners have done in the past few months.

We discussed cell phone towers in the county. Darrel Henderson, county commissioner for Dist. 1, will have a town hall meeting in the near future. It will be published in the paper and the citizens of Dist. 1 will be notified as to the date and place.

The eternal flame was discussed. Members thanked Jack Smalley for bringing this to the CCLC's attention a couple of years ago that a new one was needed. A new one was erected and is now lit in front of the courthouse. Our family is covering the cost for the first year, after that donations will be needed to keep the flame burning. The CCLC will help with the cost as it is a big tribute to our soldiers who sacrificed their lives for us.

The meeting was adjourned. The next meeting will be held July 16. The CCLC meetings are always open to the public. Come and join us to learn what is going on in the county and state.