Every year, counties, cities, and local authorities are required to submit an immigration report to the Department of Audits and Accounts by December 31. The reporting period spans from Dec. 1, 2016, through Nov. 30, 2017. An overview of the report template can be viewed here. The report requires the county to submit information related to their E-Verify number and authorization date, E-Verify contractor information, E-Verify private employer information, and public benefit information; and also requires the county to certify that it is compliant with state law regarding sanctuary policies. This report is mandatory and must be submitted by every county governing authority and all county authorities. DOAA will be reporting non-compliant counties and county authorities to state agencies that provide state funding to local governments, so make sure to submit your report by Dec. 31, 2017.

Access to the report can be found on the DOAA website at https://www.audits.ga.gov/auth/login.aud, and instructions on how to submit the report can be found on the DOAA website at http://www.audits.ga.gov/NALGAD/iiraea_instructions_video.html.

If you have any technical questions about filing the report, please contact the DOAA at Immhelp@audits.ga.gov or visit the DOAA website at http://www.audits.ga.gov/. All questions about the legal requirements for this report should be directed to your county attorney.

Help Ensure ACCG's CLC Network is Up-to-Date

The 2018 legislative session is just around the corner and, as usual, there will be no shortage of bills significantly impacting Georgia’s counties. As we prepare for the session and in our going mission to heighten county involvement in the legislative process, ACCG is updating its list of County Legislative Coordinators (CLCs) and needs your assistance.

ACCG established the CLC network in 2010 to help improve communications among and between counties and legislators while the General Assembly is in session. The CLC will serve two primary roles:

• help keep county commissioners and county management updated on legislation of importance to counties (this information is provided by ACCG’s weekly Legislative Updates), and
  
  
• provide your county-specific information to ACCG and your legislative delegation to help policymakers assess the impact of proposed legislation on your county.

Further details on the responsibilities of a CLC can be found here.

ACCG is requesting counties’ assistance in the following areas:

1. Please review the list of 2017 county-appointed CLCs as a reference;
2. If your CLC remains the same, please confirm that this is correct;
3. If your county’s CLC will be someone else, or your county did not designate a CLC for 2017 but you would like to do so this year, please let us know.

 

County chairmen are asked to designate the CLC. ACCG recommends that counties then officially designate their CLC by passing a resolution at a commission meeting. Once the resolution passes, ACCG will need a copy of it for our files as well as the name, title, office and cell phone numbers and email address for your CLC.

To update, confirm or appoint a CLC, or to provide ACCG your CLC resolution, please contact Nicole Logan at nlogan@accg.org (fax: 404-589-7820). She will be able to answer any questions and provide additional information if needed.

 

 

 

University of Georgia Graduate Student Heather Anderson Interns with the Oconee County Financial Department

Heather Anderson, a Master of Public Administration graduate student at the University of Georgia, interned with Oconee County’s Financial Department this summer. Anderson was first introduced to local government through a course she took at UGA. Her internship allowed her to learn a wealth of information about how the finance department operates in conjunction with other county departments to work effectively for the citizens of Oconee County.

Over the course of the internship, Anderson was tasked with assisting staff members through a variety of duties. Her main accomplishment was a trend analysis over a 10-year period for the county from FY 2007 to FY 2017. The research required her to review county SPLOST information collected through memoranda and compare it to six neighboring counties. The information included real SPLOST distributions and the year-over-year monthly changes including their descriptions. Anderson made three recommendations based on her research. One recommendation was that the county investigate local and national events and trends in months of spiked revenue identified. Finding these spikes throughout the country, the county can better predict similar spikes in SPLOST distributions and anticipate the extra revenue.

When asked about her most rewarding experience, Anderson cited the creation of an Excel spreadsheet that organized, condensed and simplified pertinent information vital for procurement specialists. Anderson further enjoyed cultivating and expanding her software skills through utilization and exposure to various departmental software programs. Anderson said her favorite part of the internship was conducting research and creating real life, tangible programs to be used for the benefit of the county’s citizens. Along with the great relationships she developed over the tenure of her internship, Anderson felt that making a difference made going to work each morning exciting. In addition, the networking experience provided her with a number of new contacts that, in the future, will assist her in her career.

As Anderson finished her time with the county, she was asked to give advice to her peers interested in seeking internships. She advised future interns to do their research before accepting any internship and recommended applying for county internships based on her experience with Oconee County. In terms of future career goals, Anderson is definitely considering a job in county government.

For more information on the GCIP, please visit the ACCG Civic Affairs Foundation website at http://www.civicaffairs.org.

 

On Nov. 17, 2017, the ACCG-Group Self-Insurance Workers’ Compensation Fund (GSIWCF) Board of Trustees voted to return a dividend in the amount of $4 million to its membership. The dividend, which equals the largest in program history, will be in the form of a premium credit to those members who have been in the program since 2008. The total amount of dividends returned to the membership since 1985 is $72.7 million. McDuffie County Commissioner Fred Favors serves as chairman for ACCG-GSIWCF.

In addition to the increased dividend, the Board voted to decrease workers’ compensation rates by 3.1 percent. This marks the fourth consecutive year that workers’ compensation rates have decreased. The new rates, upon approval from the insurance commissioner’s office, will become effective on Jan. 1, 2018.

For information on the ACCG Insurance Programs, please contact David Uhlman or Ashley Abercrombie at 404-522-5022.

 

 

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently announced the Integrated Pilot Program (IPP) to accelerate the integration of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into the national air space. The FAA plans to select at least five state local or tribal government applicants to conduct innovative UAS operations that advance the safe use of UAS for commercial and public safety purposes. The State of Georgia, using the Center of Innovation for Aerospace as its focal point, is crafting a response to the Special Information Request (SIR). We ask that you complete the survey by Dec. 7, 2017, to allow us to develop a quality response in this limited time over the holidays.

Details of the program can be found at https://www.faa.gov/uas/programs_partnerships/uas_integration_pilot_program/.

The Center of Innovation for Aerospace is seeking participants and input from all parts of the state via a survey and subsequent teleconference meetings.

The survey asks for detailed information pertinent to the request from the FAA. The SIR is seeking responses with a broad range of organizations, missions, and capabilities, so the broadest input will help us craft a strong response. Companies or government agencies are encouraged to use this survey to communicate interest in the IPP, offer suggestions, and describe their capabilities and experience as potential participants. Again, time is of the essence, so please respond quickly.

Even if you had responded to the initial survey, we would appreciate a few more minutes of your time to fill out this additional survey, as it will ensure we have the information we need to submit the strongest possible response.

Because time is of the essence, we’re planning to set up conference calls for the topics listed below using UberConference. The link to the meetings is www.uberconference.com/ahudnall and the phone is 678-310-5945. No PIN or code is required to join.

Date	Time	Topic
December 5	2 p.m. EST	Safety & Integration and Public Safety-Disaster
December 6	1 p.m. EST	Film & Media
December 7	1 p.m. EST	Logistics & Delivery
December 11	1 p.m. EST	Agriculture & Infrastructure-Insurance

For additional information, contact Gary O’Neill at goneill@georgia.org and (404) 433-8771 or Kelly Griendling at kgriendling@georgia.org and (478) 308-1182.

 

 

This five-year policy document describes the state’s plan to address affordable housing, homelessness, special needs housing, and community development needs using five of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s formula-based programs: Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), HOME Investment Partnership (HOME), National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF), Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG), and Housing Opportunities for Persons with HIV/AIDS (HOPWA).

Please take this five-minute survey and share it with your networks! If you have any questions, please contact Grace Baranowski (grace.baranowski@dca.ga.gov).

Morrow, GA, Nov. 21, 2017 – On Friday, Dec. 8, 2017, from noon until 1 p.m., the Georgia Archives Lunch and Learn program will be The History of the Candler Field Museum and the Youth Aviation Program: Where History Comes Alive and Education Lights the Future by Dave Moffett and Scott Coile. Lunch and Learn Programs are free and open to the public. No registration is required.

The original Candler Field is now Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world’s busiest airport. Candler Field Museum recreates the original Atlanta Airport as it existed in the 1920s and 1930s. The museum’s purpose is to restore and preserve antique airplanes, autos, and machinery in an operational museum with a period time setting.

The Museum is located in Williamson, Georgia, on an old airstrip that has been in operation since 1967.

In keeping with the mission statement of the museum, a Youth Aviation Program was started in December 2013. It is the goal of this program to teach students the skills of restoring, repairing, and maintaining aircraft. In return for the hours students volunteer in the program, students are given the opportunity to earn their private pilot license. In addition to the flying opportunity, time logged in the students’ maintenance logbook can be applied toward the minimum hour requirements for an Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) Certificate. To date, there have been five students who have earned their private pilot license and others who have soloed while working toward that goal. The program has one student working as an apprentice mechanic in the Youth Program who will soon test for his A&P license.

Speaker Dave Moffett learned to fly in high school. He earned his private license at seventeen and a commercial license at eighteen, along with other ratings. He did some commercial flying and instruction throughout college.

After college, he went in to Air Force pilot training and flew in the Mississippi Air Guard for 15 years. He was hired at Delta Air Lines and flew for 31 years before retiring in March 2017.

He has flown general aviation airplanes continuously for 46 years and built his own aerobatic airplane, which he has flown for 18 years.

Moffett has been volunteering at Candler Field Museum since its beginning and works as "Air Boss" at various fly-in events. He also is a museum pilot and flies passengers in a museum biplane. He is the tour guide to groups that visit Candler Field Museum.

Speaker Scott Coile, mentor for the Youth Aviation Program, said: "I always wanted to learn to fly and be a pilot since I can remember. I had to start wearing glasses when I was in first grade. In my teen years I found out the military required uncorrected 20/20 so, I basically gave up, not knowing any better and not having a mentor to lead me. I started working for Lockheed Air Terminal when I was 18." He enjoyed working ground support for the commercial aircraft and eventually worked his way up the ladder.

In a monthly newsletter put out by Ron Alexander in 2013, he read about the idea of starting a Youth Aviation Program and went to a meeting. His 11-year-old son was very interested in flying and he thought this would be a great opportunity for him, one he never had. He said: "I attended the sessions so often that Ron eventually asked me to be an official representative of the program and share updates with the Board of Directors for the Museum." That led to Coile helping Jim Hoak, Bill Hammond, and AC Hutson run the program. Hammond eventually got too busy with work and the team ended up hiring A&P Mechanic Dave Holec, who now helps them run the program full time.

The Georgia Archives is a unit of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. The Georgia Archives identifies, collects, manages, preserves, provides access to, and publicizes records and information of Georgia and its people, and assists state and local government agencies with their records management. This work is done within the framework of the USG’s mission to create a more highly educated Georgia.

# # #

For more information, please contact Penny Cliff: Penelope.Cliff@usg.edu.

Georgia Archives – 5800 Jonesboro Road, Morrow, Georgia 30260 – 678-364-3710