Helen City Hall Lobby to Close on July 26

Community, Education

HELEN, Ga.- The Helen Commission voted to close the city hall lobby from July 26 through July 29 in order for staff to work on a software change.

The commission also continued looking at ways to improve the broadband and cell phone problems in the city. Vicki Aiken presented the commission with her non-profit organization at the meeting and ask for their support.

The city has been working on switching out its water meters to a new system for the past few months. Now that most of the meters are in place City Hall has to go through a software update. To help staff focus on the update and make the process go as quickly as possible the commission voted to close the City Hall lobby to the public.

The plan is to still have someone working the phones for calls, it could either be members of the Helen Police Department dispatch or Commissioner Cinnamon Ruston has volunteered her time. They will also have a table set up outside with any documents the public might need just as they did during the COVID lockdown. The dropbox currently located outside will also still be available for use to pay bills.

As soon as the update is complete they plan to open the lobby back up to visitors. They will also be changing their IT provider to one provided through the ACG. The new provider will have someone available for tech support 24/7 and will cost $64,020 a year and it will be separate from the system that the police department uses.

At the Jun. 21 commission meeting, they brought up concerns about how cell phones function in the city, especially at peak business times. They had a study done to try and determine what the problem actually was with being able to call out. It has been determined that there is a cell signal but there is no bandwidth to use to make calls.

This is a problem that will have to be fixed by the providers such as AT&T and Verizon. That means that the commission will likely have to get State representatives involved to get the process going.

Windstream has a possible solution until the issue can be worked out with the providers, they have suggested a city-wide wifi network. This would allow people to make calls using wifi calling. The city would be able to determine how much broadband people could use and that can change throughout the year.

Windstream believes that the task to bring the city up should not be a hard or expensive one since the fiber is already in place in the city. The commission has asked Windstream to provide a proposal for them to review and vote on before moving forward.

The problem with the cell phones not being able to call out is dangerous because individuals that need emergency assistance have no way of getting through to dispatch. It is also hurting the local business because people are jumping on their wifi and it’s making registers freeze up and credit card machines slow to process transitions. The problem is also impacting tourism to a degree because people aren’t able to post about their experiences in Helen until after they leave and most people don’t actually do that once they’ve gone.

Heard in the clip above is Commissioner Steve Fowler expressing the need for more action to be taken to get the providers to understand the gravity of the situation.

Vicki Aiken while presenting Foundational Literacy to the commissioners.

Aiken is a co-founder of Foundational Literacy and this is a program partnered with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to bring books to children from birth until five in White County. The program is completely free to the parents of the children.

They would receive one book a month every month until they age out of the program. Aiken has been fundraising since May to start the program in Aug. Currently she is $2,000 short of her $10,000 goal to kick off the program.

Aiken went before the Cleveland City Council in May. To review that meeting please visit https://white.fetchyournews.com/2022/05/10/council-denies-rezoning-request/. She did not ask either council for financial support simply that they help spread the word about the program. If anyone wishes to donate make checks payable to Foundational Literacy and they can be sent to P.O. Box 1353, Cleveland, Ga.

She is already in talks with the Cleveland library to be a place where parents can sign their children up for the program. Aiken has also been working with the care center, head start, and all four elementary schools to spread the word about the program. Parents can also go to https://imaginationlibrary.com/ to sign up at home. The program will kick off on Aug. 1.

City Manager Jerry Elkins and Bill Thorthan from GMA after Elkins was presented his award.

Bill Thorthan from the GMA presented City Manager Jerry Elkins the GMA Lifetime Service Award for his 46 years of public service. Elkins has been with Helen for 23 of those 46 years. He is retiring at the end of this year. The City also honored him by placing him on their Heritage Wall of Fame in the Commission Chambers at City Hall.

“I certainly appreciate that from everybody, Bill thank you for coming, I didn’t have a clue that this was happening today,” commented Elkins.

Collins urges Windstream to provide increased access to rural broadband

Press Release, State & National
Windstream

GAINESVILLE, Ga. — Reps. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), Austin Scott (R-Ga.), and Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.) today sent a letter to Windstream underscoring the importance of providing increased access to broadband – particularly in rural areas – in the midst of COVID-19.

“As representatives of thousands of Windstream customers, we write today regarding the impact coronavirus has had on broadband access in rural communities throughout Georgia,” they wrote. “In the past, we have written to you regarding the inadequate internet service our constituents are receiving despite your company’s acceptance of federal dollars to expand access. While we know Windstream has upgraded some areas that are more populated and less rural, many of our constituents continue to struggle with poor broadband speeds.”

For years, Windstream customers across Georgia have consistently struggled to gain access to reliable broadband speeds. Congress has taken significant steps toward expanding rural broadband infrastructure in recent years, including securing federal funding to providers in rural areas. However, some carriers – like Windstream – have failed to provide adequate broadband speeds to consumers despite collecting taxpayer dollars. As this pandemic is forcing more and more Georgians to rely on the internet, access to reliable broadband is more critical than ever before.

“Due to the coronavirus outbreak, thousands of Georgians are being forced to work, learn, and recreate from home. This undoubtedly has increased the strain on the networks your consumers depend upon. Over the past several years, we have heard complaints of a network that is overburdened and cannot keep up during peak use. Even though we have been calling for increased internet access in rural areas for years, this moment in time shows that Windstream has yet to meet the mark.”

Read the full letter here.

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