by Robin Kemp
As President Donald Trump refuses to concede the election to President-elect Joe Biden, the Republican Party and the Trump campaign say they’ll be filing suit to challenge election results in counties in Georgia and elsewhere. We’ve been watching the Clayton County Superior Court online records for any sign of a suit here but, as of press time, there has been none. GOP observers at The Bunker last week alleged various “irregularities,” yet refused to specify what they said they had seen or whether the campaign would file suit in Clayton County. Similar claims, as yet unsubstantiated by evidence, are being made in other states, as well. We’ll let you know if anything is filed here.
- The Clayton County Board of Elections and Registration will hold a special called and regular board meeting Monday, Nov. 9 at 3 p.m. via Zoom (register in advance). On the agenda: Certification of the November 3 General and Special Called Election. Citizens will have a three-minute time limit (public comment is 30 minutes long) to comment, with additional comments moved to the next meeting. The regular meeting will follow the special called meeting. Director Shauna Dozier will give her monthly update and a report on the 2020 election. The board will appoint a member as a vote review panelist and approve managers and assistant managers for the December 1 special election.
- The Clayton County Board of Ethics meets Monday, Nov. 9 at 6:30 p.m. in Conference Room 2 at the Board of Commissioners Headquarters, 112 Smith Street, Jonesboro.
- On Tuesday, November 10, at 7 p.m., Lake City’s City Council will meet at City Hall.
- Also on Tuesday, November 10 at 5:30 p.m., the Clayton County Board of Commissioners will hold its work session at 112 Smith Street. Preliminary items on the agenda include moving Housing Services from UGA Extension to Community Development Department’s HUD Division, as well as creating a Direct Housing Services program for housing counseling, rental assistance, and down-payment assistance. Community Development will need to turn in its annual Comprehensive Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER) by December 30, which requires BOC approval. It also has “a legislative request” for the BOC. There’s a price increase on county vehicles from Allan Vigil Ford, as well as a request for trucks and vans for the Department of Transportation and Development; recommendation for awarding the annual building maintenance contract to an as-yet-unnamed company; approval of change orders and contract modifications for the design and build of the Nassau Building; recommendations for a $222,740 contract (over five years) for Star risk management software from Roskonnet, LLC of Atlanta; and a $57,940 one-year contract for E-911 service and maintenance to Carousel Industries of North America of Exeter, R.I. Other items of note include discussions of a budget amendment for SPLOST program manager services, food distribution, a Grow with Google grant, and Chromebooks.
- Also on the Monday work session agenda for the BOC are four Land Bank at-large appointments and several zoning matters. These include a request to rezone 25.17 acres in District 2 from RS-180 to PUD for a 121-unit townhome development, The Townes at Flat Shoals; another request in District 2 to rezone from General Business District to Medical Center District for a blood bank at 94 Upper Riverdale Road; and other zoning matters.
- On Wednesday, Nov. 11 at 9 a.m., the Clayton County Board of Tax Assessors meets for a work session, immediately followed by its regular meeting, at 121 S. McDonough Street in Jonesboro in the Tax Assessors’ Office, Annex 2, on the second floor in Conference Room A.
- On Thursday, Nov. 12 at 8 a.m. is the quarterly meeting of the Clayton County Pension Board. The meeting takes place via Zoom; we’ll try to get that information and update it here.
- The City of Forest Park has a rough draft of its new website up. The new website does not yet contain the trove of minutes and agendas the old, less user-friendly site had. It does contain city photos of appointed board members.
- The Clayton County Republicans are upset with the state party, accusing Georgia GOP of leaving them hanging.
- Clayton County Democrats say they’re focused on turning out voters for the Senate runoffs, which usually poses a challenge, according to former DPCC chair Pat Pullar. In particular, they’re focused on getting Black voters to turn out and “finish the job” in two U.S. Senate races with the potential to put the Senate–and thus Congress–Congress in Democratic hands.
- Campaigns will be shoveling money into (brace yourself) more political ads in the two Senate races. Former Henry Herald reporter Joe Adgie is monitoring these ads and will provide updates to The Clayton Crescent.
- Robin Kemp was not aware at first of the intense national and international interest in the Clayton County Presidential count until LBC Radio (Leading Britain’s Conversation) called from London seeking an interview. It turned out that, by showing up for what she thought would be a routine bit of local reporting, she was able to document what was happening at Ground Zero. Twitter went crazy, a stranger found the old GoFundMe pre-startup appeal, and people began shoveling donations into it. Kemp didn’t know about this until WSB’s Matt Johnson pointed it out to her. At last check, the fund contained $17,643. The Clayton Crescent had asked donors to hold off until the 501(c)(3) paperwork was filed. The board of directors will meet Wednesday to discuss what to do with these generous gifts.
