GAINESVILLE - Property holders along Beards Road persuaded Hall County Commissioners to deny abandoning that dirt road Thursday night.<br />
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Reggie Morgan supported abandonment; he said shutting down a 1200 foot section would cut down on crime and litter.<br />
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"The reason why is because there's been nothing but trouble on this road, Morgan said. "We're just trying to stop what is an ongoing problem."<br />
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Jeff Pruitt presented a 52 signature petition, signed by residents who don't want Beards Road abandoned. <br />
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"We feel that the road should be kept open and paved all the way through," Pruitt said. "We think paving it will alleviate some of the problems like throwing garbage."<br />
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South Hall Commissioner Craig Lutz made the motion to deny abandonment.<br />
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"You can never get that road back once it's given up," Lutz said. "It's a goner."<br />
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Public Works Director Ken Reardon said Beards Road is scheduled to be paved this year.<br />
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STREAMLINE THE PAYROLL<br />
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Commissioners indicated they still want to streamline the county's payroll process. They approved Commissioner Scott Gibbs' motion to meet with ADP, which he said was the world's largest payroll solutions firm. <br />
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"We now have 68 time keepers who, every two weeks, have to touch the payroll process, "Gibbs said. "What we would like to do is go to some sort of electronic format to do that."<br />
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Gibbs said one option might be to let ADP contract to handle the county's payroll for 2,100 employees. He proposed setting up a meeting with ADP, Human Resources Director Bill Moats and County Administrator Randy Knighton.<br />
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"I think we're probably behind the trend," Gibbs added. "We're trying to catch it up so that not so many people have to touch the process."<br />
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Gibbs said going to the electronic system may not affect whether employees get paid every two weeks or twice a month.<br />
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"The amount of paper work we're required to do was the only reason that I was ever interested in trying to cut out those two payrolls," Gibbs said, adding that he's interested in seeing if ADP could do the county payroll cheaper and more efficiently.
