HIAWASSEE, Ga. – As winter officially reached its end, Towns County Commissioner Cliff Bradshaw announced that preparations are underway to welcome the spring and summer seasons. The commissioner reported that crews are hard at work, striving to make the county as presentable as possible for residents and tourists.

Bradshaw said that the road department has been working each day to clear debris from roadsides and culverts, and detainee laborers are making an effort to maintain county land. “I’m pushing them as hard as I can,” the commissioner said. A clean-up project is progressing at county-run Chatuge Woods campgrounf, with brush piles formed for Towns County Fire and Rescue to burn.

Correction: FYN originally listed Bald Mountain Park as county-maintained. Commissioner Bradshaw informed that Chatuge Woods, located near Bald Mountain Park, is in the process of county upkeep in hopes of also drawing visitors to the privately-owned camping resort.

Commissioner Bradshaw said that the county beach, located west of Hiawassee, is preparing to re-open for the season, and landscaping maintenance is taking place to make the area appealing to visitors.

The Towns County Courthouse is scheduled to be pressure-washed and repainted, via a scissor lift, by a detainee crew this summer. “We keep them so busy that it’s actually hard to pull them off their regular schedule in summer to do something else,” Bradshaw explained.

Rocks were removed from the outfield of the Little League baseball field, and fencing has been replaced.

Litter control efforts are advancing, with the Adopt-a-Road program recently initiated, and Clean Sweep Week has been extended to two weeks in late April.

“I’m just very, very picky and try to make our county look as good and presentable as possible,” the commissioner said.