Questions answered by Lamar Paris, County Commissioner
Q. Which county in the Enotah Judicial Circuit has the most juvenile court cases?
A. The Honorable David Turk, the Juvenile Court Judge for the 4-county Enotah Judicial Circuit, reported that in 2009 there were 1,126 juvenile cases. Of those 1,126 cases, 69, or 6.127%, were in Towns County; 207, or 18.38%, were in Union County; 361, or 32.06%, were in White County, and 499, or 44.316%, were in Lumpkin County. While one is too many, per capita, we are well below White and Lumpkin.
Q. I noticed that the Pro Shop is gone at the Golf Course. When are you going to start building the new one and how are you going to pay for it?
A. The old golf course club house (pro shop) is gone and will not be replaced as such. Currently there are office trailers that are being utilized as the golf shop. As I have mentioned several times before, we will be building a community center at the golf course paid for with SPLOST funds. The facility will be 27,000 sq ft. and will include the Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development Offices, a small grill and a small golf/community shop which will offer some local made and grown products in addition to serving as a golf shop. Then there will be a large community room/conference center which will hold about 175 people and will be available for meetings, conferences, weddings, reunions, etc. All of this will provide one of the most spectacular views in Union County overlooking Butternut Creek Golf Course and the Appalachian mountains beyond. This should provide a tremendous economic development boost to our county and area.
Q. Have sales tax collections improved any since the opening of Wal-Mart?
A. Actually, they have not. The state does not provide us the information on individual businesses, but in general, our sales tax collections have been off significantly for well over a year. Without new business, I am sure they would have been even worse. We are just now starting to see an upward tick in sales and are very positive that this will improve throughout the year. Remember, buying locally is the key to increasing our sales tax collections and keeping our property taxes lower.
Q. I saw in the North Georgia News that you became President of ACCG last week. What will you have to do as President and how will this help Union County?
A. I will have many functions to perform as President. Naturally, I will be presiding over all Board and Executive Committee meetings and all conferences. I just returned from four days in Phoenix, AZ with a large group of Atlanta and metropolitan political, business and chamber leaders studying the operation of government and government facilities in Arizona. We also heard from several people regarding both sides of the immigration issue that was recently passed there. We are also working on coalitions of metro and rural county and city leaders to help carry forward our agendas to improve life for our constituents (taxpayers). Relationships are the key to government and the ability to create new ones and foster old ones has the potential to benefit Union County as well as the state as a whole.
Q. Are there other trips involved as ACCG President?
A. Yes. I will be leaving Wednesday through Friday this week for meetings in Rock Eagle and with the Dept. of Community Affairs in Atlanta to again further the effort to promote county progress and to keep Union County’s name in the hat for grant opportunities. Later in the year I will be attending all 13 ACCG district meetings throughout the state. I will also be attending the National Association of Counties conference in Washoe County, Nevada and will probably make a few trips to Washington, DC to lobby for Georgia counties, including Union County. We have several grant and loan opportunities with United States Dept. of Agriculture that I hope to improve on.
Q. Will all this travel and meetings prevent you from doing your job here in Union County?
A. No, but it means I will spend more time on the computer and telephone. It will put more pressure on some county employees to assist with supervisory work I would normally do. However, with the high quality of our employees, you will not see any difference. On my end, it will mean longer hours than I already work, and that will be a little tough, but in the end, hopefully the benefit to our county will far out weigh the long hours necessary for me.
Q. Who will pay for your travel with all these trips?
A. Fuel for some trips to Atlanta will be covered in my normal office expense budget, but the vast majority of cost will be paid for by ACCG including all out of state travel. It will be a whirlwind year, but one I am really looking forward to. If I can help make life better for my county and my state through this service, it will all be worthwhile, and I am confident that both can occur.