County Commissioner's Office

County Talk
By
Lamar Paris - Commissioner

Wal-Mart questions continued

Q.  Seems like the field is getting crowded with people announcing for the office of Commissioner.  I am concerned that you may not run since I have not seen an announcement in the newspaper.  Are you going to run for Commissioner again?
A.  Absolutely YES !!!    Qualifying is not until the end of April and I will make an official announcement by then, if not before. Thanks for asking as I look forward to leading this county to even greater heights over the next four years.

Q.  Wal-Mart primarily hires part time employees, with only a few full time employees. Why is this?
A. I am not here to justify Wal-Mart’s  business plan. Like any business, if you do not make a profit, you close.  When people are hired part time, they have a choice of taking the job or declining it.  If you decide to apply for a job, simply know going in what type job it is and either accept it or decline it on that basis.  No one is forced to work at a Wal-Mart store.  They have a lot of employees who are grateful for their jobs and appreciate the opportunity to work there.  Part time employment is an excellent opportunity for many people, especially for retired and young people.

Q.  I hear people complain about Wal-Mart, but aren’t they an American company?
A. Not only are they a totally American company based in Bentonville, Arkansas, they are the largest retail operation in the world with $374 billion in annual sales in 2007.  Yes they are big, and yes they have certainly hurt some other companies through the years, but they also employ 1.3 million people in the United States and 1.9 million worldwide.  They contribute billions of dollars to the economies of communities all over America. In 2006, the Chronicle of Philanthropy named Wal-Mart the number one corporate cash contributor in America.  In 2007, Wal-Mart became No. 1 on the Fortune 500 list and in 2003 and 2004 was named “Most Admired Company in America” by Fortune Magazine.

Q.  You sound like you are a Wal-Mart fan and have really pushed Wal-Mart on our community.
A.  That is not correct. When I became involved about two years ago, Wal-Mart had already come to Union County and contracted with a private property owner to purchase their property.  At this point I only felt it appropriate to assist when asked.  As many of you may know, I was against Union County selling Wal-Mart county owned  property  back in 2000 for two reason. First, my neighbor and friend, Bill Meeks, had sold this property to Union County at a bargain, prior to his death, to use for county public purposes, not to sell to some retail company.  I had said then, “ that while I was not a huge big box fan, if they wanted to come to Union County, they should look for their own land and not build the store on county property that would have had a devastating impact on North Georgia Technical College, the Senior Center and Meeks Park.”

Well, this time they came to town and found their own property, on a major highway out of town that hopefully will not have a huge impact on our way of life.  

Q. What are the benefits of a Wal-Mart store in Union County?
A. First and most obvious is that it will allow the people that are now traveling to Murphy, N.C., Dahlonega or Ellijay, to be able to shop in our own county.  Saving gas at over $3 per gallon will help a lot of people.  The sales taxes that will return to Union County, plus those that will be brought here from other counties, states and towns, will be a tremendous asset to our tax base.  This should allow us to lower property taxes this coming year and should have a positive impact our property taxes into the foreseeable future.    

Most importantly, with the recession that our community is currently in, the addition of new construction will hopefully help jump start our economy and have a very positive impact for not only our county, but our area.  At a time when new jobs are very difficult to find, new employment opportunities for our citizens will probably be the largest impact of all.  Wal-Mart will probably hire between 250 and 350 employees, full and part time.

Q. What are the negatives of a Wal-Mart store in Union County?
A.  I am not sure I am the one to answer that question.  When I talk to commissioners in other counties that have Wal-Marts, there are very few complaints.   There are always people who try to shop lift with the resulting need for a deputy in the area.  Additional traffic will certainly be somewhat of an impact as we would expect the K Road and Pat Colwell Rd. to both receive heavier use.  This will certainly require some upgrades to these roads over time.  We have already made a request to GDOT for a red light at the Pat Colwell/US 19/129 intersection that we hope will be possible because of this store.

While Wal-Mart is far from a perfect company, they have made giant steps forward with their public relations. Everyone I have worked and dealt with from Wal-Mart and those representing them (attorneys and engineers) have always done what they said they would do and usually more.  I certainly understand that there are many who simply do not like a big box store and are concerned about the impact it will have on our quality of life in the mountains.  Again, I can only point to the nearby counties and the fairly minimal impact the stores have had on them.  I remember when Home Depot announced they were coming to Union County, there was fear of increased traffic congestion in town and putting other hardware and building supply stores out of business. All of that was overstated.  A fourth hardware store has even opened since Home Depot came and prior to the current economic downturn, all four hardware stores were very successful and growing.

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