Georgia to Cut Access to the Archives – and Lay Off Employees

The following is from the September 13, 2012 edition of macon.com:

ATLANTA — The State Archives in Morrow will open by appointment only and its employees will be laid off because of budget cuts sought by Gov. Nathan Deal, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp announced Thursday.

The move takes effect Nov. 1. The facility houses a range of historical records used by amateur and professional historians, genealogy researchers, librarians, students, attorneys, instructors and others.

The secretary did not say how many state employees will be let go or when their jobs will end. Because state law gives Kemp discretionary control over his budget, the layoffs are not subject to any civil service review.

Kemp said he believes the moves will make Georgia the only state in the country without an accessible archive that has regular hours.

Deal has ordered every state office to reduce spending by 3 percent for the remainder of the current budget year, which runs through June 30, 2013, and again in the following year. That totals almost $733,000 for Kemp’s office.

Kemp emphasized that those aren’t the first reductions in recent years. “These cuts do not eliminate excess in the agency, but require the agency to further reduce services to the citizens of Georgia,” he said.

Read the full article.

About Leland Meitzler

Leland K. Meitzler founded Heritage Quest in 1985, and has worked as Managing Editor of both Heritage Quest Magazine and The Genealogical Helper. He currently operates Family Roots Publishing Company (www.FamilyRootsPublishing.com), writes daily at GenealogyBlog.com, writes the weekly Genealogy Newsline, conducts the annual Salt Lake Christmas Tour to the Family History Library, and speaks nationally, having given over 2000 lectures since 1983.

2 Replies to “Georgia to Cut Access to the Archives – and Lay Off Employees”

  1. Secretary of State Brian Kemp must not have any interests in tracing his family roots. What about those of us who do? And those of us who live out of state and need this information for health reasons? My daughter and I have heart defects and I’m trying to find out where they came from. She suffered a heart attack at the end of her pregnancy and her son suffered from oxygen deprivation. He went to be with our Lord on Christmas Eve morning at the tender age of 22 months. We are deligently searching for information. Did he stop to consider the impact his decision makes not only to the employees, but the researchers? Is he proud that GA will be the only state without an accessible archive with regular hours? This makes me angry! Some genealogists do this for a living, as well. Stop and THINK before you act!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Time limit is exhausted. Please reload the CAPTCHA.