Registration Is Open for Cherokee County Safety Town This summer, Safety Town is coming back to Bascomb ES. Through this program, local students learn how to stay safe with fun, interactive lessons each day. Safe Kids partners, including US Army Corps of Engineers, Cherokee Sheriff’s Office, Cherokee County Marshal’s Office, School Police, School Bus Transportation, and Animal Shelter will teach about subjects such as water safety, school bus safety, and other topics. Safety Town also provides an opportunity for teens to earn community hours by registering as counselors. Students entering kindergarten in the fall can attend the first session, June 19-23. Students entering first grade can attend the second session, June 26-30. The camp runs from 9:00am-12:00pm each day. Registration is open at SafeKidsCherokeeCounty.org. Cherokee County Safety Town is hosted by Safe Kids Cherokee County and Cherokee County Fire & Emergency Services. For questions, please contact Lisa Grisham at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 678-493-4343.
Cherokee County Elections and Voter Registration Opens New Headquarters Cherokee County Elections and Voter Registration recently celebrated the opening of its new headquarters, which brings all operations under one roof. The purchase of this building was necessary to comply with Georgia State House Bill 202, which mandates increased viewing areas, parking capabilities, and storage. Located at 193 Lamar Haley Parkway in Canton, the facility was purchased for $1.5 million by the Board of Commissioners in August 2022.The building previously housed the Cherokee County Division of Family and Children Services. For more information on the Cherokee County Elections and Voter Registration office, visit CherokeeGaVotes.com.
Holly Springs Optimist Club Presents Annual Middle School Awards The Holly Springs Optimist Club recently honored seven CCSD students, along with an outstanding teacher and a paraprofessional at its annual Middle School Awards breakfast, which recognizes distinguished special needs students and their supportive teachers and staff. 2023 Honorees Creekland MS: Aniya Lott, Positive Attitude Dean Rusk MS: Arshuan Styles, Student of Integrity ET Booth MS: Kenny Diffin, Most Improved L.R. Tippens Center: Liam Klein, Outstanding Achievement Mill Creek MS: Xiomara Rubio Alvarado, Outstanding Achievement Teasley MS: Juana Gaspar-Miguel, Most Improved Woodstock MS: Shaun Haring, Most Improved The teacher award for Outstanding Achievement in Education: Ryan Cherry, Mill Creek MS Paraprofessional of the Year: Dane Holcomb, L.R. Tippens Center
Canton’s New Mural The Canton Cultural Arts Commission announces that the city's newest mural — It's a Vibe — has been completed. Located at 110 Academy Street, at the City Hall downtown parking deck, the mural was painted by artist Lauren Stumberg. The mural is a celebration of the vibe that cultural arts and community create in the city.
Coming Soon — Heritage Park Playground If you noticed some digging in the dirt going on at Heritage Park, it's because there is a new playground coming soon in the area between the mounds. The new inclusive playground will feature two play structures with slides, climbing apparatus, bridges, and shade canopies, as well as a swing set with six swings for all ages and different abilities. A turf carpet will cover the entire area of play, and a 4-ft sidewalk will circle the playground, which is expected to be complete and open by the start of summer.
New Automated Speed Enforcement at Teasley MS The City of Canton Police Department is now utilizing speed detection devices to enforce the speed limit at Teasley MS. The enforcement will be conducted using automated school zone cameras that were installed on Reservoir Drive. The program was instituted after a nationwide spike in pedestrian fatalities over the past decade in which Georgia became one of the five deadliest states for pedestrians, with the seventh-highest fatality rate. Canton PD conducted speed studies within all its school zones, which produced over 3,000 speeding violations in a single day. Automated Enforcement is endorsed as a safety tool by the Governor’s Highway Safety Association, AAA, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, and the National Safety Council. For more information, visit CantonGa.gov/news.
Canton City Council Adopts Resolution in Opposition to HB 514 and HB 517 During the March 2 City Council meeting, Mayor Bill Grant and Canton City Council adopted a resolution seeking to keep local control over design standards, development fees, zoning regulations, and decisions related to development moratoriums at the level of government closest to the citizens most impacted. “Current legislation circulating at the State Capitol (HB 514 and HB 517) would eliminate local powers related to development and building standards and regulations,” explained City Manager Billy Peppers. “These bills would strip enforcement of decisions made through public processes at the City level in an effort to make homebuilding more profitable and faster for builders. This move for profit and productivity comes at the cost of public health, public safety, and citizen input related to the styles and standards of residential projects to be built on neighboring properties.” Canton Mayor Bill Grant added to Peppers’ sentiments, “Our citizens rely on their local government to control housing standards, quality of development, and the character of our community. House Bills 514 and 517 would undermine the mayor and Council’s control of maintenance and zoning standards in our city and, therefore, give developers an upper hand.” Among some of the items these bills seek to remove from local control include standards related to building materials, minimum lot sizes, minimum square footage requirements for residential units, and minimum requirements for road frontage for the development of a lot. Eliminating these controls removes local character from design, inhibits safety on public roadways, and impacts the property values of existing residents in favor of profiting national builders. The City Council will transmit the resolution to the local delegation and encourage concerned residents to reach out to the members of the House and Senate to voice their opinions on this preemptive legislation. A link to the resolution can be found at CantonGa.gov. Details about House Bills 514 and 517 can be found at Legis.Ga.gov.
City of Canton News To Note • Canton designated as City of Civility by the Georgia Municipal Association (GMA). The City adopted a civility resolution in GMA’s new Embrace Civility program during a Council meeting in February. Canton is the third city in Georgia to make this commitment. • The City of Canton participated in the first ever More Than Murals Workshop. The workshop is a three-day intensive on using art to address community challenges and is organized and sponsored by the Georgia Council for the Arts, the City of Thomasville, the Georgia Municipal Association, and the Thomasville Center for the Arts. Participating community teams left the workshop with a specific arts-based strategy that addresses the challenges that their cities are facing. Canton also received an $8,000 Creative Placemaking Project Grant. For more information, visit CantonGa.gov.
CCFES Awarded International Accredited Status Cherokee County Fire & Emergency Services (CCFES) has received Accredited Agency status with the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI) for meeting the criteria established through CFAI’s voluntary self-assessment and accreditation program. CCFES is one of approximately 300 agencies in the world to achieve this status with the CFAI and the Center for Public Safety Excellence, Inc. (CPSE).“We have been able to use the CFAI accreditation process as a mechanism to plan for the future of our department and identify areas where we can improve the quality of service we provide,” said Fire Chief Eddie Robinson.CFAI is dedicated to assisting the fire and emergency service agencies throughout the world in achieving excellence through self-assessment and accreditation to provide continuous quality improvement and the enhancement of service delivery to their communities. The CFAI process is voluntary and provides an agency with an improvement model to assess their service delivery and performance internally and then works with a team of peers from other agencies to evaluate their completed self-assessment.
CSO Announces Award Winners Sheriff Frank Reynolds bestowed the following awards to Cherokee Sheriff’s Office (CSO) employees and citizens at a recent Board of Commissioners meeting: Life Saving Awards were presented to Deputies Andres Gavina and Tripp Ohar, Steven Parker (not pictured), Brett Hall, and Michael Jones. Sheriff’s Commendations were presented to Inv. Benjamin Botzong, Cpl. Tommy Thompkins, and Deputy Jeff Steer. Sheriff’s Outstanding Citizen Awards were presented to Mabel Ntiamoah, Brittany Kim (not pictured), and Jill Washburn (not pictured).Sheriff Reynolds then recognized past and present CSO Reserve deputies and announced the inaugural Eisenbrandt Leadership Award in honor of the late Reserve Capt. Greg Eisenbrandt who served Cherokee County for 25 years as a Reserve Deputy and was the commander over the unit for 15 years. The award will be presented each year to a deserving CSO Reserve deputy. The inaugural award was given to Greg’s wife Peg Eisenbrandt.
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