People aren't interested in the cheapest government possible either. Being cheap gets defeated by quality. Imagine that! The folkes in Lumpkin want to honor the natural beauty of the mountains. So would any reasonable person. They also want a few acres of parks, ballfields, and playgrounds for kids to use. That would be a free use of public lands. OH MY!
I can't imagine voters asking the public to pay per visit to parks but it does happen, or does it? I think the user fees and parking fees at public facilities were set up by politicians, not voters.
Enough of my spin and positioning talk. Read about average people involved in the political process way beyond just going to the polls every four years.
Bless them all.
Court Conundrum: Engineers say building over Lumpkin ball field cheaper by a million
The Times
DAHLONEGA
 Scott Rogers The Times Residents filled the Lumpkin County Courthouse to capacity Tuesday evening for the results of a feasibility study on redesigning Courthouse Hill for a new judicial center and health department. A 3,000-signature petition aims to keep the new buildings from demolishing a Little League ballpark and community swimming pool. 
What's next?
Lumpkin County commissioners could decide on the future site of the county courthouse at their 7 p.m. meeting June 21. A rally to keep the courthouse at its current site on 'Courthouse Hill' is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday on the Dahlonega square.
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Lumpkin County Board of Commissioners Chairman Steve Gooch joked Tuesday that he was offended he didn't get a "I'm a voting Neanderthal" T-shirt from a group of citizens opposing the relocation of the county's courthouse. Gooch was promptly given a shirt, which he said he would put in his scrapbook, and then he and other commissioners listened to hours of debate over the future site of the planned $14 million judicial center.
An engineering firm hired by the county for a $10,000 fee to study the feasibility of keeping the courthouse on Dahlonega's "Courthouse Hill" estimated it would cost about $1 million more than commissioners' initial plans to build the 65,000-square-foot structure at the site of several old ball fields on Riley Road.
The $14 million figure includes the nearly $1 million cost for constructing two new ball fields as part of a 150-acre park on Yahoola Creek. There are currently three fields on Riley Road.
More than 100 residents, some who say they were called "Neanderthals" for opposing the commission's plans, criticized officials for wanting to build the courthouse on Ott Anderson Field off Morrison Moore Parkway next to a community swimming pool.
Resident Jim Smulian, who along with his wife presented two options for keeping the courthouse on the hill, said the Riley Road site would put arrested criminals in close proximity to children visiting the pool.
"The jail being built by the library was a mistake," Lumpkin Commissioner John Raber said. "We don't have to make two (mistakes)."
Joe Gardner, an architect who took part in the site analysis for the Courthouse Hill plan, said that plan would force construction on a confined area and would add cost and time to the project. Referring to the site on Riley Road, Gardner said by keeping the community pool children would be able to visit it and a new library planned on the site.
Richard Collins, a construction manager involved in the study, also said the topography of the two sites contrasted.
"Although Courthouse Hill provides a certain ambiance, it brings a lot of inherent problems with building up on a hill," he said. "From a builders standpoint, (the old ball fields site on Riley Road) is ideal."
Collins said the new courthouse, as well as plans for a new library and health department building, could not be built at the same time on Courthouse Hill. He estimated it would take nearly two years to construct the three buildings at the site in phases, compared to just more than a year to build the trio concurrently off Riley Road.
Commissioners, however, have not decided if the three buildings will be built at the same time.
More than 3,000 people have signed petitions against the Lumpkin County Board of Commissioner's initial choice of replacing the recreational fields with an expanded judicial center. A rally to keep the courthouse on its current hill is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday on the Dahlonega square. Flyers for the event have been posted throughout the city.
"We all feel the BOC has wasted $10,000 of taxpayer's money on this proposal (to study building onto Courthouse Hill)," Smulian said. "We need an independent survey by a company that has no ties to anyone on this board."
Pat Gawthrop, president of the Lumpkin Board of Health, pleaded with commissioners to move ahead with the plans to build the courthouse on the ball fields because a $500,000 block grant needed for the new health department building could be lost. The Courthouse Hill project would move the health department into the current library building, while the site on Riley Road would allow for a new facility.
"Moving to the library simply will not work," she said. "We don't have time to look for other land."
Contact: mstewart@gainesvilletimes.com, (770) 718-3432
Originally published Wednesday, June 13, 2007
