Toccoa Veterans Service Office Re-opening, Says State

The Toccoa office of the Georgia Department of Veterans Service is back to its normal operations.

Officials with the state’s Veterans Service Office announced this week that service to all of its satellite locations is resuming.

That took effect on Monday and includes the Toccoa satellite office.

Georgia Department of Veterans Service Spokesman Jon Suggs said that it is now set to be business as normal.

“In most cases, we will be resuming our satellite service with the same schedules that we had previously operated,” said Suggs.

The Toccoa satellite office had closed back at the start of April because the Department of Veterans Service says it ran out of money to operate the satellite offices in its budget for the fiscal year that just ended on June 30.

When the office closed, the Department said it would re-open once the new fiscal year started.

Suggs said that the department is trying to take steps to ensure that this does not happen again as this fiscal year moves along.

“It kind of caught us all a little off guard last year when we ran low in a few accounts unexpectedly,” said Suggs. “I think this year we have a little more forward planning in that area.”

The Georgia Department of Veterans Service provides service on a periodic or as-needed basis at 24 satellite locations around the state.

Suggs said these satellite offices supplement the services provided by the department’s 50 full-time offices.

“They are in locations where we do not have the numbers to justify a full-time office, but we do have people we want to reach,” said Suggs.

The Toccoa Veterans Service office is in the Stephens County Courthouse Annex on Tugalo Street in downtown Toccoa and is traditionally open two days a week, while the other three days Manager Randy Woodie works out of the Clarkesville office on Georgia Highway 115.

The state Veterans Service office said that Toccoa’s office typically serves residents mainly in Stephens and Franklin counties, while the Clarkesville office covers Banks, Habersham, and White counties.

For more information, contact the Clarkesville Veterans Service office at 706-754-4316.