County Commissioner's Office

County Talk
By
Lamar Paris - Commissioner

Q. Wouldn’t a commission board form of government make the commissioner’s job easier?
A.  No. It would actually serve to make it more difficult and inefficient. Many of the decisions I now make would have to wait until the next commission meeting.  If the commission board members had not had time to go out to the location or talk to the constituent and look at the issue, then it would be put off to the following month’s meeting.  That is one reason we get so much more done for less in Union County.

Q. How many counties still have a sole commissioner form of government? 
A. There are nine counties in Georgia.  Seven in north Georgia (Towns, Union, Pickens, Murray, Bartow, Walker and Chattooga) and two in south Georgia (Bleckley & Pulaski).

Q. How large are the counties in north Georgia that have sole commissioner forms of government?
A.  Towns(Hiawassee)- population 10,894, Union(Blairsville)  20,968 , Chattooga(Summerville) 26,797, Pickens(Jasper)  30,488,  Murray( Chatsworth)  40,664,  Walker(LaFayette) 61,121,  Bartow(Cartersville) 92,834.

Q. Are there other issues that make a commission board less desirable?
A. Yes and it is accountability.  With a sole commissioner, you know exactly who to blame and who to go see to make a final decision. Try that with a commission board. It is often difficult to find who is to blame.  Many commission boards do not all get along, and the vote is usually 2-1 or 3-2, with the losers often causing dissention with other board members and the public.  It is disappointing how much dissention is currently occurring in most of the commission boards in our area. 

Q. How much of your job is actually doing commissioner business?
A. Actually, while the commissioner function of my job is a very important part, it takes up a relatively small amount of the time. The commissioner function is similar to a school board.  Most commission boards are there to set policy and adopt ordinances, hire and fire, sign legal papers, adopt the budget, and conduct at least one public county meeting each month. Rarely does a multi-commission board run the daily operation of the county.   

Q. If you do not spend much of your time doing commissioner duties, why are you called a commissioner?
A.  Because I perform a dual function as a commissioner as well as an administrator.  The majority of my job is functioning as a county administrator, with the remaining time being commissioner related duties and keeping the public informed.  Commission boards usually only meet once or twice a month with the vast majority of commissioners in the state being part time.  However, all Sole Commissioners are full time since they perform both functions. 

Q. I am not comfortable with just one person running our government.  We had seven commissioners where I came from and I just can not understand how one person can be better than seven.
A.  I would not suggest that I or any other sole commissioner is better than three, five or seven other people who get along. I would suggest to you that when we are full time and it is our only job, we are more involved with every facet of county government and  we have time to get many more opinions and ideas from the public.  Some have asked, “Did you like the government in the town you came from and did you think they were doing a good job and looking after your tax money?”  If the answer is no, then maybe you should consider not being against an excellent form of government just because it is not what you are used to.

Q.  How does a county change the form of government?
A.  It requires a vote of the people.  Union County voted it down in 2000 nearly 2 to 1. Towns Co. voted it down by two to one in 2005, Bartow County (Cartersville) voted it down two to one in 2006.

Q. Will the commission board issue come up for a vote in Union County again?
A.  It probably will some day, but at this time I am not hearing an outcry to change our form of government, except from one commissioner candidate. 

Q. Is there a part of your job that is not fun?

A.  This could be a loaded question.  However, while I love to read recreationally, I get pretty tired sometimes of all the reading required in this job.  I spend many hours each week just reading emails, reading documents delivered by the many state agencies, reviewing contracts, reviewing open records requests, reviewing grant applications, reading endless newsletters from different groups and other county newspapers, and the list goes on and on.  I have read and/or responded to over 13,000 emails since January of 07.  I usually take reading materials home and read for at least an hour in order to keep up.

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