County
Commissioner's Office
County Talk
By
Lamar Paris - Commissioner
Q. Are you keeping the
public informed about what is happening in the county?
A. Yes. When running for office eight years ago, I made a commitment
to do what was necessary to make this a better county. Part of
that has been my commitment to keep you better informed about what is
going on in the county.
Q. How do you keep the public informed?
A. The many extra hours I spend on the job are for the purpose
of keeping you informed and responding to your needs and questions. That
is why you will receive emails and phone calls often after hours. Unless
it has accidentally slipped through the cracks, I have always responded
to every phone call and every email. To further keep you informed, I
started the Q & A column so that I could take individual questions
and let the public in general know and understand the answer. We have
more public meetings than required, often after hours, to explain how
and why we are spending your money.
Q. Do you need an appointment
to see you in your office?
A. Absolutely not. The majority of people that I see are drop-ins,
and you are always welcome to do that. However, since I am often out
of the office at meetings or looking at roads or other county business,
making an appointment is easier for some people.
Q. Why did you discontinue funding for the Book Mobile in Union
County?
A. I did not discontinue funding for the Book Mobile. I had
nothing whatsoever to do with the Book Mobile being taken out of service. This
was a decision made by the Mountain Regional Library Board that covers
Towns, Union and Fannin County Libraries. I was not made aware
of this decision by the board until months later, and had nothing to
do with the decision.
Q. Didn’t the county recently
have to absorb extra funding for the library?
A. Yes. I had to come up with $38,000 in additional funding that
was not in the budget. The school system, because of state funding shortfall,
had to cut their funding for the library. The county picking up
this additional funding helped prevent severe cutbacks or layoffs at
our local library, and has helped create a tighter situation with the
county budget.
Q. Is there any way for people to receive reading material without
going to the library?
A. Absolutely. There are three main programs. First is the Talking
Book Center that will deliver books on tapes by mail for the
Blind and Physically Handicapped. Second, Books by Mail are
offered to those either ill or handicapped. You must sign up and
have a Pines Library Card for this program. Third is Homebound
Delivery for those who live in certain areas of the county near
other readers, where home delivery can be set up economically. For
more information on any of these programs, please call the Regional Library
office at 706-379-3732.
Q. Didn’t you provide
funding in our recent SPLOST referendum for expanding our library?
A. Yes, I included the library
expansion in our SPLOST projects for up to $900,000. This funding
is allowing them to apply to the State for matching grant funds, and
hopefully there will be well over $2 million dollars available next
year for this expansion. The “Friends of the Library” were
very supportive in the county effort to pass the SPLOST referendum
(this is the same referendum that one of my opponents tried to defeat
- it passed overwhelmingly!)
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