The Eatonton-Putnam Chamber of Commerce presented its annual Legislative Update session at The Plaza Arts Center last Thursday morning. State-level politicians or their representatives provided insight on various political and business-related topics before a whole house of interested residents, politicians, and community leaders.
Originally scheduled for Sept. 26, the event was postponed by the arrival of Hurricane Helene and pushed back a month. It also cut back the number of presenters to four: Greg Ziesenhene, representing District 10 Congressional Representative Mike Collins (who couldn’t make the rescheduled date); District 25 Senator Rick Williams; District 141 Georgia House Representative Dale Washburn; and Georgia Department of Transportation District 2 Engineer Corbett Reynolds.
Each took a turn speaking to the audience, which included Putnam County Commission Chair Bill Sharp, Commissioner Jeff Wooten, County Manager Paul Van Haute, Eatonton Mayor John Reid with his wife, City Councilmember Janie Reid, City Administrator Gary Sanders, Clerk of Courts Trevor Addison, Putnam County Fire Chief Thomas McClain, and Putnam General Hospital CEO Alan Horton, among others.
A brief public Q&A session followed the presentations, with time also allotted for individual one-on-ones with the presenters as the event wound down.
Greg Ziesenhene
“Greg Z,” as he said everyone knows him, said trucking company owner Collins serves on three major committees, including Transportation Infrastructure, Natural Resources, and the Science, Space and Technology Committees. Collins is also the chairman of the Research and Technology subcommittee and serves as a member of six other subcommittees.
Ziesenhene said much of Collins’ immediate attention will turn to post-hurricane mitigation measures, including federal disaster relief. He told federal financial help would be made available to Georgians affected by the storm’s wrath, stressing an expected $6.4 billion-plus hit to Georgia’s annual $84 billion agricultural industry, the state’s largest single economic sector.
He also mentioned congressional direct spending, which factored in the new county fire station and emergency services complex alongside Hwy. 441 at the north end of Eatonton and invited similar project pitches to Collins for the future.
Ziesenhene also invited Putnam County citizens planning a trip to Washington D.C. to contact Collins’ office before arrival or to let his office know if they need help dealing with a federal agency.
“Whether you’re traveling to D.C. and you just want a tour, or if you know somebody who’s having an issue with a federal agency and they need help cutting through the red tape, contact us with that constituent’s permission. We can ask questions on their behalf,” Ziesenhene said.
Rick Williams
Elected to the House of Representatives in 2016, Baldwin County native Williams represents District 145, which includes Baldwin and portions of Putnam County.
In the Senate, Williams serves as chairman of retirement, which deals with all state employee pensions, and vice chair of ethics, which hears all election bills. Williams explained that he also serves as secretary on the Public Safety Committee and on the Committee for Veterans Mental Health and Housing, a recent committee put together in the Senate that has held only a couple of meetings so far.
“Right now, Georgia War Veterans Home in Milledgeville has a 68-bed facility that’s sitting empty because they don’t have the funds to operate, and they have a 240-bed nursing home, only have about 120 residents in that nursing home because they don’t have the funds to operate and to take on more residents,” he added.
Williams also expressed some concern about voting integrity. He emphasized the need to “keep our voter rolls clean” while expressing support for new citizens and voters, as long as they “go through the process” to become bonafide citizens.
Running unopposed in this year’s election, Williams acknowledged he’d remain elected for at least two more years. Like Ziesenhene, he encouraged constituents to contact him or his office with governmental needs, issues, or problems.
“We have contacts and legislative liaisons with every branch of state government, so we work with you. Even though I have a large district, everybody has my cell number, but anybody can call Williams Funeral Home (in Milledgeville), and they’re going to find me," he said.
Dale Washburn
Washburn grew up in Jones County and made a career in real estate, first as a broker and continuing as an instructor with his real estate trade school.
He began his political career in the 1980s on the Jones County Commission and now serves in various roles on nine state committees. The most significant of these is his role as vice chairman of the Regulated Industries Committee. He is also on the Ways and Means Committee, which deals with tax policy, the Appropriations Committee, and the Healthcare Subcommittee.
At the COC Legislative Update event, Washburn mentioned Bill 1073, a measure he helped pass that “basically removed some regulations from the state code that required a lot longer notice periods when people wanted to have rezoning done for halfway houses and drug addiction centers (and) drug treatment centers.”
He stressed, however, that the bill did nothing to remove a local government’s ability to rezone or not allow such facilities; it paved the way for quicker approval.
Washburn also pointed out his work on animal protection bills, including one that stiffened penalties for injuring service animals. He also helped pass a Senate bill to allow out-of-state veterinarians to provide neutering/spaying services in Georgia due to a lack of licensed in-state practitioners.
“The point I’m trying to make is I’m not strictly limited to business issues. I like the legislation that makes a difference, so I work on doing that,” he said.
Corbett Reynolds
Reynolds substituted for Congressional District 10 State Transportation Board Vice Chairman Jamie Boswell at the COC Legislative Update, who was also unable to accommodate the revised hurricane schedule.
Reynolds first mentioned Boswell’s work on State House Bill 516, which passed in the state’s most recent legislative session to increase GDOT’s limit on negotiating quick-response contracts from $200,000 to $500,000, such as in emergency repair situations.
Reynolds also spoke about the $61 million Highway 441 expansion project underway through Putnam County north of Eatonton and stretching into Morgan County. He said the project is currently behind schedule; however, he expects that to improve as more asphalt is laid.
“They’re about 75% complete regarding contract time on that project, but when we look at the money versus time, you start putting down asphalt and spending some money. So, we expect that to move forward pretty quickly,” Reynolds said.
He also addressed perhaps the most significant cause for concern in expanding the road to four lanes with just a stop sign to control traffic entering or exiting Putnam County High School.
“For those who may not be familiar with it, we’re going to install instead of just a regular intersection brake where you’ve got left turn lanes and a right turn lane into the high school; we’re changing and … we should start seeing that develop here very soon what we call a High-T intersection or a Florida T," he said. "So, what it’s going to do is if you are sitting in the school wanting to make a left turn out or go south on 441, there will be an acceleration lane nearly a thousand feet long to allow those drivers not to have to find a gap into that southbound (lanes) immediately.
“You’ve still got to negotiate the northbound traffic and find that gap, but the southbound traffic gap, you’ll be able to move into there and accelerate without having to worry about finding that gap and getting directly into the traffic. We think that will help all drivers, especially our young drivers, get school access.”
Reynolds also addressed traffic concerns expected near the new Putnam County Elementary School once it opens next fall, especially at the “slip lane” in front of the hospital that merges from Hwy. 44 onto Hwy. 16 heading west into downtown Eatonton.
“We’re probably going to take away the slip lane with the new school coming,” Reynolds said. “You’ll probably see GDOT come in while they’re building that and make all traffic come to that T intersection.
“A roundabout has been talked about, but a roundabout gets tough for that to work,” he continued. “That’s going to affect some of those driveways and access areas, so it's not off the table, but we’re thinking right now that the better and simpler fix is really just to move the intersection a little bit further down. But take away the slip lane. The slip lane is going to be going away.”