Oconee County Officials Won't Say Who Is Requesting Median Cut On Mars Hill Road At Humane Society Clinic

Oconee County officials are refusing to disclose who requested a median cut on the new Mars Hill Road at the Athens Area Humane Society Adoption Center and Spay and Neuter Clinic.

Public Works Director Emil Beshara said on Thursday that he could not indicate who asked that the Georgia Department of Transportation modify the design in the roadway because “I have not been specifically authorized to discuss” the request.

County Administrative Officer Jeff Benko, to whom Beshara reports, also refused to provide the information.

The median cut would provide access not only to the Human Society facility but also to property owned by Dickens Farm Inc., according to the existing design plans for the roadway.

Doug Dickens is president of Dickens Farms Inc. and has close ties to Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis.

Discussion of changes in the design are ongoing even at this late stage in the project, and payment of $5,000 for the design work already completed is part of a $44,550 change order with Moreland Altobelli Associates Inc. that the Board of Commissioners tentatively agreed to pay at its meeting on June 28.

The payment is on the consent agenda for Tuesday night’s meeting, meaning it will be approved without further discussion unless one of the commissioners asks that it be removed from the consent agenda.

For more on the story, with a design drawing of the current median at the Humane Society clinic, go to Oconee County Observations.

Pictured: Humane Society Clinic.