Georgia County Government - January 2009 - (Page 23)

BULLOCH COUNTY continued from page 21 managed and holds special events, yearround. These services and facilities have bolstered Bulloch County’s status as a popular leisure and recreation spot for tourists and visitors. Medical Facilities, Public Safety Bulloch County is served by the privately owned, operated and accredited East Georgia Regional Medical Center in Statesboro which employs 750-plus people, including 75 physicians representing a wide range of specialties. The $60 million hospital has approximately 150 beds and a Women’s Pavilion. Delivery of public safety services has taken a front seat in the past decade, as the county has grown to furnish a higher level of service in keeping with the demands of population growth. The new Akins Public Safety Complex, named after long-time Sheriff Arnold Akins, recently got $11 million in new building space, including a 220-bed jail expansion, in addition to the 160 beds in place, as well as an expansive, fully-scaled E-911 and Emergency Operations Center. Both facilities are state of the art in terms functionality and technology. The E-911/EOC serves as both a local and regional facility, as the county’s E-911 center serves Bulloch, Candler and Evans counties. Bulloch also boasts a state of the art 800-MHz communications system, and has received more than $1 million grant awards to implement communications interoperability with surrounding jurisdictions. The county has also spent several hundred thousand dollars in courthouse security upgrades and additional personnel, similar to upgrades to courthouse security made in all counties following slayings in the Fulton County Courthouse in 2005. Environmental Management According to Tom Couch, Bulloch County has progressively established itself as a statewide leader in environmental management and solid waste recycling. With the recent award of a $380,000 Community Development Block Grant from DCA to become a regional recycling hub for surrounding communities, 16 convenience centers will be located county-wide. Bulloch County’s all-new comprehensive E-911 and Emergency Operations Center, directed by Edwin L. Wynn, Jr. (pictured) serves Bulloch, Candler and Evans counties and boasts a modern 800-Mhz communications system. Bulloch County’s recycling processing center diverts approximately 5,000 tons of waste materials per year from sanitary landfi lls. Illustrating the convenience centers’ success, the county now has only a handful of “green box” dumpsters in very remote areas. “This is a far cry from the former 450 Dumpsters serving the entire county in 1970,” Couch claims. In the last decade Bulloch County has also built a strong well supported educational element in its award-winning Keep Bulloch Beautiful organization. In addition to public education on recycling, waste reduction and litter, KBB and its volunteer core is very active in community events related to its core mission. With regard to water resource management, the county is currently working with Bryan and Effi ngham counties to pursue watershed planning for the Ogeechee River Basin, conducive to future stormwater management requirements, Couch notes. Commenting on the implementation of the Statewide Water Management Plan, enacted in the 2008 legislature, Nevil, Tankersley and Couch attest that whatever is required of coastal counties with regard to its sound and effective implementation, will apply to Bulloch County, which supports the plan wholeheartedly, in step with the consensus of all Georgia counties, which advocated the Plan from its initial stages. Owing to the particular needs with regard to keeping saltwater intrusion out of the Floridan aquifer in coastal counties, and the desire of all in the region to protect this high-quality and traditionally abundant freshwater resource. Transportation The Georgia Department of Transportation has been an important partner in building Bulloch’s overall transportation system, says Chairman Nevil. “The DOT places great confidence in our partnership because we are able to deliver construction projects in a timely and cost effective manner.” With that in mind, surface transportation and road improvements have always been a critical challenge in Bulloch County given its 1,100 mile road system, Couch asserts. However, the road network overall is very functional well maintained, he notes, with I-16 having become a major economic corridor since its construction in 1972. Both U.S. Highway 301 and State Route 67 offer quick access to Statesboro, and Veterans Memorial Parkway, a BULLOCH COUNTY continued on page 24 JANUARY 2009 www.accg.org 23 http://www.accg.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Georgia County Government - January 2009

Georgia County Government - January 2009 Contents President’s Message County Matters Forward-Thinking Bulloch County Leaders Put Progress on the Front Burner Robert Farris: Champion for Georgia’s Forests ACCG, BCBS of Georgia Work Together to Improve County Employee Health Georgia’s Grand Old Courthouses: McIntosh County Extension News: Cooperative Extension Generates ROI Research Corner: How Does Your County Rate? County Parade Index of Advertisers

Georgia County Government - January 2009

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