Chris Cohilas named to educational collaborative board

ALBANY — The Dougherty County Commission unanimously selected its chairman, Chris Cohilas, today to serve on the Albany/Dougherty Collaborative Education Board being formed to improve education in the community.

The commission voted 6-0 to name Cohilas to the collaborative.

“(Improving education) is something I talked about on the campaign trail when I ran for office,” Cohilas said after Monday’s short commission meeting. “We need to find a way for the leadership of the county, the city and the School System to work together to set core objectives. This is the way to make that happen. People have to realize, we are separate entities working for the same purposes; we’re not a bunch of fiefdoms.

“So much of what we do in this community is affected by other agencies: The County Commission is directly impacted by property taxes, which directly affect real estate values, which are directly affected by the school system. Sales taxes have a direct correlation to the quality of workers produced by our education system.”

Cohilas said the collaborative approach allows all governmental bodies to join the community’s education leaders in trying to improve the product they produce.

“Quality education helps attract industry,” the commission chairman said. “Having all folks in the community working together is huge, it’s progressive. Perhaps the historical approach we’ve taken in the past is ‘Can one governmental body require another governmental body to do something?’ The answer, of course, is no. But we can set common goals and work together in a collaborative manner for the benefit of the community.”

District 2 Commissioner John Hayes, who works closely with the joint commission/school system Georgia Civic Awareness Program for Students program, had expressed interest in serving on the collaborative as well.

In other action during Monday’s commission meeting, the board approved an alcoholic beverage license for Doo-Dah’s Bar and Grill at 411 Philema Road, OK’d a recommendation to amend the Fiscal Year 2015 budget for three county departments by a total of $100,344 and three departments in the special services district by $1,823, and approved a resolution authorizing Georgia Fund I to add the Bank of America Property, Casualty and Liability account in order to transfer funds for processing payment of claims.

District 6 Commissioner Anthony Jones thanked county officials and employees who took part in a health fair he sponsored Saturday.

“Roughly 150 folks came through during the event, and they had questions,” Jones said. “So, Richard (Crowdis, county manager), I’ll be getting with you about those.”