County Business – Charlotte Nash

Energy efficiency. Water conservation. Green buildings. Reducing the impact on our water, air, and land. Environmental sustainability means all of these things and more.

On January 6, 2015 my fellow board members and I adopted Gwinnett County’s 2015 Budget. We’re planning to invest about $1.42 billion to operate County services and build new capital facilities for all Gwinnett residents in 2015.

Everyone I know seems to get very busy as the holidays approach – and this year is no exception. Sometimes all it takes is the eager face of a child or the gratitude of a senior to remind us that gifts of time and attention are far more satisfying and rewarding than any gift we can buy.

One-hundred seventy-six gallons every day – that’s how much water the average single-family home in Gwinnett County used last year. Our source is Lake Lanier on the Chattahoochee River, which provides water to 60 percent of Georgia’s population. 

Pouring a little bacon grease down the drain may not seem like a big problem, but every little bit adds up and can create major blockages in sewer lines. Fats, oils and grease, known as FOG, cause hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to residential property in Gwinnett every year. Property owners are responsible for cleaning up sewage overflows on their property. 

Gwinnett residents have seen the benefits of SPLOST, or special purpose local option sales tax, ever since the state legislature gave us the option to ask voters to support it nearly three decades ago. In fact, Gwinnett voters have approved nine of 10 proposed programs, most recently by a 58 to 42 percent margin. The new SPLOST sales tax program took effect this past April when the previous one ended. 

It’s been a wild summer at Gwinnett’s Animal Welfare and Enforcement Center.

A Korean manufacturing company, Dasan Machineries, announced in May that it is opening a U.S. headquarters in Duluth, bringing an estimated $30 million investment and 150 jobs over the next three years. They make precision steel parts and components for the defense, auto, and avionic industries.

During election years, people pay more attention to government spending at all levels. Here in Gwinnett, my fellow commissioners and I have been working for over three years now to achieve more transparency and accountability in our financial operations.