County Commissioner's Office

County Talk
By
Lamar Paris - Commissioner

If you ever have any questions concerning my Questions and Answers article, please email me at unioncounty@uniongov.com, or call my office at 706-439-6000. You can also access a great deal of information about the county from our web site www.unioncountyga.gov.

Q. What is being built next to CVS on Hwy 515?
A.  It is a restaurant called FATZ Cafe.  This is their 41st restaurant (café), each owned by the company with no franchisees.  It is only their 4th restaurant in Georgia with another one due to open soon in Jasper.  Primarily, their restaurants are located in North and South Carolina.  The menu is similar to an O’Charley’s or Applebee’s restaurant.  They are planning to open on November 5th.

Q.  Is the Union County Development Authority part of county government?
A.  It is considered a quasi-governmental agency.  They are governed by a board with the members appointed by the commissioner.  However, they are autonomous and run their own operation without interference from the commissioner’s office.

Q. Can the Development Authority cause the county to assume debt?
A.  No.  Their financial obligations must be covered by their revenue.  By state law they are allowed to borrow money and purchase real estate without it being a liability to the county, so long as they can identify funds to repay the loans.  However, most development authorities are at least partially supported by the county budget.  In the case of our authority, starting last year and for the first time, I began budgeting funds so the Authority would have adequate funds to advertise, operate and hire a full-time executive director.  The Authority will also have access to additional funds as they sell property in the Airport Industrial Park to industrial prospects.

Tom Murphy was the previous Executive Director and did an excellent job for many years until recently retiring. The Authority is now beginning the process of interviewing potential candidates for that position.

Q. Why are you spending tax payer’s money to bring in industry? Aren’t we already growing too much? 
A.  This question has a simple answer.  If your son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, husband or wife, is either living here, in school, or wants move here, wouldn’t you like for them to be able to find a decent job in this county? Likewise, shouldn’t we be promoting new jobs in our community that will afford our young (and even our older) talented workers the opportunity to work here, trade here and help share in the financial support of our community?  I believe that it is a part of my obligation to lead an effort to improve the quality of life and strive to offer everyone the opportunity to find work here.  Without this effort we are letting all of our citizens and taxpayers down.

Working alongside the Development Authority, I have made several trips to Atlanta to visit with professionals in the Economic Development field.  I have hosted visits in my office from State staffers and met several times with the Commissioner, who is appointed by the Governor.  I have also worked closely with Economic Developers on staff at Blue Ridge Mountain EMC, the Tennessee Valley Authority, GEMC, and SEIDA, and recently had meetings with these folks to emphasize our desire to cooperate with them and to seek high level employment opportunities.  I have also participated in visits from companies interested in Union County as a business location, and worked with existing companies who want to expand or just want to stay here and keep their business going.  We have all worked hard during my tenure as Commissioner to be pro-business and industry, and I believe that Union County will reap the benefits of these efforts now and in years to come.     

Q. Don’t more people mean more traffic?
A.  Although more jobs and more people certainly means more traffic, it also means more opportunity for our citizens with better services and medical care.  Our growth has made it possible for us to have our new medical facilities along with many new doctors.  These services will only continue to improve.  We can build more roads, but it is very difficult to build financial opportunity for our families without help from outside industry and businesses, as well as those companies already doing business in our community.  Many in our county are currently witnessing what happens when economic growth comes to a sudden halt.  The financial hardships are felt across all sectors of our economy.

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