By Dianne Yost
Biz Buzz Writer

On Tuesday, March 26, members of the Madison-Morgan Chamber of Commerce celebrated the complete renovation of Madison's Super 8 hotel located at 2091 Eatonton Road. Chamber officials and guests toured the newly renovated hotel and enjoyed breakfast.
Super 8 Manager Hiren Patel said, "We redid the whole place. Everything in the hotel was removed and replaced… all of the flooring, carpet, bedding, linens, furniture and accessories are brand new."
Guests are impressed, so much so that Super 8 is rated the No. 1 hotel in Madison among its competitors by the prestigious Trip Advisors. in the area. Super 8 features 58 rooms, each with an ironing board and iron and coffee maker and the hotel offers guests a continental breakfast each morning.
There are suites that feature a small kitchenette area with a microwave and sink area as well as rooms featuring a king-sized bed or two double beds. In addition, the hotel's large parking lot in back is suitable for hosting celebrations and events with tents. According to Patel, "We are already taking reservations for The Masters."

Printed in the April 4, 2013 edition.

By Stephanie Johns
Staff Writer

Twice last week Madison City Councilman Michael Naples voiced his concerns regarding the number of times the council gets together each month.
He first spoke about this during a work session held Monday night and brought it up again during the group’s Friday morning work session.
The group currently has four scheduled times it meets each month: one regular meeting on the second Monday monthly and three work sessions, one of which is held the fourth Monday monthly and the other two held at 8:30 a.m. the Fridays following the two Monday night meetings.
“I suggest we go back to the second and fourth Mondays monthly,” he said, noting that they could have called meetings as needed.
Naples added that the two Friday morning work sessions were added so council members could meet with City Manager David Nunn.
“He’s always been reachable before,” he said.
Naples said that having so many meetings poses challenges to council members who would like to attend but cannot always do so because of other obligations.
Also, he pointed out that two of the work sessions are held at 8:30 a.m. on Fridays, which might prevent the public from attending.
Councilman Joe DiLetto said he thought that the public would show up at the work sessions once the council met with consistency.
“Let’s give it a little more time,” he said.
Mayor Bruce Gilbert reminded councilmen that the public does not always attend the group’s meetings.
“Over the years the public only comes when something concerns them and they’re worried about us making a decision,” he said. “Other than that, they just don’t come and listen.”
Gilbert added that he had envisioned a more casual atmosphere during the Friday morning work sessions.

By Stephanie Johns
Staff Writer

EquiFest, which would have held its fifth event this year, is not going to happen because there aren’t enough people willing to volunteer to organize it, according to founder Rennie Nestor.
“We have plenty of volunteers the day of but as far as organizing it, we just couldn’t get people to commit to that,” she said, adding planning the event could take half a year.
“It’s almost a full-time job for six months,” she said. “It’s really difficult to donate that much time to the event.”
Those who took on the management positions in years past for the volunteer event included Nestor, Susan McCullar, Rose Mary Hughes, Naomi Mims, Lynda Roy, and Ronnie Schommer.
She added that EquiFest may return in a couple of years.
“We may do it again,” she said. “We’re not saying it’s goodbye forever.”
In the meantime, though, Nestor said certain items will be donated: “We don’t want things to just sit there and grow old when they can be used.”
She said that Equifest went halves with Morgan County to upgrade the speakers, wires, and amplifier at the Morgan County Agricultural Center.
“Four-H has always been so gracious to let us use their equipment,” she said. “We want to donate this upgrade to them.”
As for craft supplies for the Kiddie Corral, Nestor said they plan to donate those to the Madison-Morgan County Boys & Girls Club of North Central Georgia.
Any leftover cash will go to Driving Magic, a therapeutic horse-driving program, she said: “It’s such a worthwhile organization.”

By Stephanie Johns
Staff Writer

Drivers in the City of Madison have two new four-way stops along Hancock Street now: one at East Jefferson Street in front of the Morgan County Courthouse and one at East Washington Street in front of SunTrust Bank.
City Clerk Mellie Thomas shared that the stop signs were unveiled mid-day last Thursday. Installation took about two weeks, she said.
She noted that there were a couple of bright orange cones in front of the courthouse to help alert drivers about the new stops.
In addition, the city added a message to the utility bills it sent out in March to help inform people about the changes.

Printed in the April 4, 2013 edition.

By Kathryn Schiliro
Managing Editor

Morgan County public school students eating school lunches are chowing down on locally grown produce.
Through a bid process, the school system is working with Atlanta-based Royal Food Service to obtain locally grown food for school cafeterias, according to Morgan County Director of School Nutrition Phyllis Martin. Royal vets and procures food depending on what the system has requested.
Royal sends Martin an e-mail once a month listing produce that's available. Martin uses a purchase sheet to submit the system's order weekly.
Five to 10 percent of the produce Morgan County students consume in school cafeterias is locally grown, Martin said, and that "locally grown" designation, in this case, means the produce comes from Georgia or a state touching Georgia. That produce has included, from Royal, watermelon, apples, yellow and green squash, cucumbers and some lettuce. The school system has also independently gone out and purchased strawberries from a Mansfield farm and, over the summer, peaches from CJ Orchards.
Martin maintains that the school nutrtion program is self-supporting – 70 percent of the budget comes from federal funding, the rest from state and local funding – and will continue to be, and that using Royal doesn't make for additional costs.
"With Royal procuring for us, it doesn't cost more," she said.
Martin has applied to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the governing body of school nutrition programs nationwide, for a fresh fruit and vegetables grant. About two or three years ago, she got the grant for the elementary school. It's preferential that schools receiving the grant have more than half of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch, so Martin's hoping to acquire the grant for the primary or elementary school. She should hear back by mid-April.

By Stephanie Johns
Staff Writer

Bike stands have arrived and are going up in Town Park as soon as installation can be scheduled, according to Madison Main Street Director Ann Huff.
For this round of stands, Huff said they spent $6,000. Part of that amount – for the stands going in around the park, she said – was paid for by the Downtown Development Authority. 
She added that after the stands go up in the park they also will be installed in front of the Madison Welcome Center and two or three more places downtown.
The stands, each of which holds two bikes, will be installed in groupings of two or three or four, she said: “Probably groups of threes will be more uniform throughout.”
While it doesn’t seem that the stands will be installed prior to Spring Tune-Up 2013 for Bicycle Ride Across Georgia (BRAG) set for April 5 through 7, Huff said that they will be in place for summer cyclists to enjoy.
She noted that this is “a big biking community,” which is what prompted interest in getting the stands in the first place.
“People here bike all the time,” she said, noting that in the past she has seen cyclists chain their bikes to trees or lay them on the ground.

Printed in the April 4, 2013 edition.