Subcontractors for Kinetic (formerly Windstream), one of the county’s broadband service providers, hit a high-pressure natural gas line on North Woodlawn Drive, causing a natural gas leak near downtown Crawford on June 30.
No injuries were reported, but residents were forced to evacuate the area.
“They are cutting water lines, gas lines,” Crawford Mayor Alan Erwin said. “Seems like everywhere they go, they’re cutting a line where they’re marked or not marked.”
The Oglethorpe County Board of Commissioners voiced its concerns regarding these issues at its consecutive work session on July 21. The topic, not on the agenda, was brought up by District 5 Commissioner Tracy Norman, who reported receiving multiple complaints from residents.
Norman said more than half the residents on Stevens Grove Church Road were left without phone service on July 14, after a subcontractor cut a portion of Windstream’s phone lines.
“These subcontractors that the money’s trickled down to have been terrible,” said Jay Paul, chairman of the board of commissioners. “There’s been more damage done to existing infrastructure, fiber internet lines, water lines … road destruction (and) personal property, such as my very own mailbox.”
Norman said subcontractors haven’t used flagmen and signs to identify themselves while working, moving trailers without lights and blocking roads.
While the gas company covered the costs of the natural gas leak in Crawford, the city had to fix the water lines. Erwin estimated repairs cost $700-$800 per leak.
“We have a couple that were clearly marked that got cut through that we had to fix that we’re going to bill (Kinetic) back for,” Erwin said.
Paul expressed concern regarding the company’s failure to take accountability for these mistakes.
“I understand that accidents happen, but when accidents happen, own it, fix it,” he said. “We have accidents in the county, and people contact us. We’ll go back there and we make it right. That doesn’t seem to be in their playbook, and it’s gotten real old this week.”
Scott Morris, the associate director for media and external communications for Uniti, the parent company, wrote in an email that subcontractors “immediately notified” the gas company after the line was cut.
He stated that despite notifying Georgia 811 in June that subcontractors would be working in Crawford, utility companies had failed to mark the gas service line.
Morris also addressed damaged phone lines, which were cut by the same contractor, saying they were repaired as soon as the company “became aware of it.”
Regarding road safety, Morris wrote that the company requires all “employees, contractors and subcontractors to mark their vehicles with Kinetic signage at all times and to deploy traffic control mechanisms where necessary.”
He added that the company isn’t aware of any cases where this hasn’t been done, but knows that another telecommunications provider has been active in the area.
Paul and Norman have met with representatives from the company and the regional director regarding the issues. Norman said he has also contacted Lauren “Bubba” McDonald, the vice chairman of Georgia’s Public Service Commission, and filed a complaint on behalf of affected customers.
If damage continues, Norman said the county can petition a judge for an injunction requiring Kinetic to stop work in the county and pay for necessary repairs.
“I hope when it’s all said and done, everybody is happy with their internet, because it’s causing us a lot of headaches right now,” Paul said.
4-H requests funding to fill role
Shanna Reynolds, the county extension coordinator, presented a funding request to staff a program assistant position in the county’s extension office. The role will be jointly funded by the board of commissioners and board of education, and Reynolds requested $23,500 from each entity.
Reynolds initially went to the boards with this request a year ago when DOGE cut the AmeriCorps funding for the position. However, that funding was unexpectedly extended for 12 months, causing the request to be dropped and revisited this summer.
While leftover federal funds are keeping the assistant on staff, the office is down a 4-H agent, leaving it with one full-time employee.
“That’s the reason I was asking (the board) to please move forward with this position anyway, so we’d have two people now,” Reynolds said.
This request was tabled at the board’s July 6 meeting, and will be revisited on Aug. 3.
Data center ordinance being written
Progress is being made on a comprehensive data center ordinance.
Jeff Sharp, the director of planning, zoning and compliance, has started drafting one, and Norman has received several more from other counties for review.
Norman said the ordinance will focus on square footage limitations for the facilities, distance from property lines and residences and noise, specifically differentiating between A-weighted decibels (dBA), audible noise, and C-weighted decibels (dBC) and low frequencies humans can’t hear.
“We want to be sure that if we have data centers, they’re well placed and that they are not causing some of the issues we’ve seen, especially on some of the older ones,” Norman said.
Hart County jail contract discussed
The BOC discussed financial challenges with inmate housing. The sheriff’s office entered into a contract with Hart County in 2024, allowing Oglethorpe County to house 25 inmates there.
But while the county is paying $55 per bed, per day, it is receiving only $35 from the state to cover this cost, creating a deficit.
“We set this year’s budget based off of last year’s actions, and this represents a pretty sharp increase,” Lewis said.
Lewis said the county also has to house prisoners who have been sentenced to state crimes longer before the Georgia Department of Corrections takes custody of them.
The commissioners discussed whether repairing or adding 25 beds to the county jail would be more cost effective.
“I’d much rather see us repair whatever necessary we need to our jail (and) put our sheriff back to putting inmates in the jail here instead of putting them out in Hart,” District 3 Commissioner David Clark said.
Jefferson Mill has potential buyer
The Historic Jefferson Mill in Crawford was put up for sale in October 2025 and now a potential buyer wants to establish small manufacturing spaces on the site. However, half of the property is in Crawford while the other half is in unicorporated Oglethorpe County.
The prospective buyer has requested the property be deannexed, or removed, from the city and placed solely under the jurisdiction of the county.
“His main reason for that request is truly (that) he likes some of our zoning districts,” Sharp said. “He likes the fact that he can come into Oglethorpe County and ask me or (assistant county planning and permitting coordinator) Teresa (Campbell) a question, and that’s very difficult to do with the city of Crawford.”
County attorney Chip Ferguson said the request for deannexation must be approved by the city before coming back to the board of commissioners.
In other news, the BOC discussed:
Millage rates and the county’s 2027 budget, which haven’t been set due to a delay in the tax assessment process and a departmental request from the sheriff’s office.
- Vandalism at the recreation department. Several items in the restrooms that were damaged, and progress was being made on identifying and prosecuting those responsible.