HB 615 & SB 292: Proposal For A Walker County Board Of Commissioners
Senator Jeff Mullis (R-Chickamauga), with SB 292, and Representatives Steve Tarvin (R-Chickamauga) and John Deffenbaugh (R-Lookout Mountain), with HB 615, are moving legislation to bring the opportunity to give citizens in Walker County to decide if they want to keep the current sole commission form of government or opt for a multi-member board. The district commissioners would be part-time drawing a $12,000 annual salary with the full-time drawing a salary of the highest paid elected county official plus an additional $500 with an amount that doesn’t exceed $100,000 per year.
This has been a touchy issue for the past 6 or so years with people from LaFayette seeming leading the charge. Under the law as proposed (which will probably end up passing by Sine Die), voters would directly elect a commissioner from their district and the at-large, full-time commission chairman. Currently, voters in Walker County directly elect the sole-commissioner thereby having a 100% affect on their local government. If the proposal is approved in 2018, voters would cede 60% of their current power in favor of directly electing 2 out of 5 members of county government in order to have a more representative county government.
It does diversify the county government with each incorporated city in Walker County being in one district (if you refer to the map above, Lookout Mountain in green, Rossville in blue, Chickamauga in pink, and LaFayette in yellow). The thought is that a commission with part-time commissioners representing the “four corners” of Walker County (my term) and a full-time commissioner handling the day-to-day operations, that we will end up with better government and prevent a single person getting us into the situation.
Will it prevent a single person from controlling everything? Potentially. Will it prevent bad government? Don’t count on it. I’ve stressed this before: voters can elect an excellent sole commissioner and have a good county government as easily as they can elect a board full of awful commissioners and have an awful county government. Voters are the only preventative for bad government. That’s why we have elections.
I’m still on the fence, but I have until 2018 to make up my mind all things being equal. With the majority of citizens living in the northern end of the county versus the southern end, I would not be surprised by a county government dominated by commissioners from the Lookout Mountain, Rossville, and Chickamauga districts. That would give LaFayette’s district the short-end of the stick since the part-time commissioners would be directly accountable to their respective districts. That should put the onus on voters to elect commissioners who will represent their home districts but who understand that their decisions affect all citizens in the county.
About Author
nsmith
Father. IT Geek. Former 14th District GOP Chairman (2015-2017). Former Walker GOP Chairman (2009-2013). Resident of Chamblee. American. Georgian. Conservative.
Add a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Is this the county that got some attention for the sole commisioner who “ruled with an iron fist”? Bebe something or something like that? I remember reading about it in a national news publication and being surprised at the level of shenanigans involved.
Am I misremembering here? Someone help me out.
Bebe Heiskell was our previous commissioner. She was defeated by our new commissioner Shannon Whitfield. Commissioner Whitfield is continuing to do a good job sorting out the mess that his predecessor left behind. It’s a monumental task, but he’s taking it in stride and being very transparent about the situation.
Ok. Glad it’s the right case I remembered.
So would Ms. Heiskell have been able to get away with what she did and the mess she created if there was a sole commissioner configuration to the government in your opinion? I seem to remember that much of the problem is that there is no check on the sole commissioner and the decisions they make other than waiting for the next election to vote them out.
It honestly depends on the type of commission that was elected. Having a board may have opened things up, but that’s not a guarantee either.
A lot of her issues came during her last term (including the Hutcheson albatross), and I think that stemmed from a near defeat in the 2012 GOP primary. It seemed like that rattled her and she became more combative. The guy that ran against her in 2012 was a bit out there, but he came within 200 votes of defeating her. Had a more credible candidate actually ran against her, she probably would have lost, and we probably wouldn’t be as far down the road that we’re on now.
I don’t agree with my right honorable friend on this one. I’m completely on one side of the fence.
To my knowledge, Bartow, Bleckley, Chattooga, Murray, Pulaski, Towns, Union and Walker counties are the only remaining sole commissioner counties in the United States. The fact of the matter is that no one is perfectly happy with how his or her local government works, no matter what form of government it is. Still, there are some serious enough flaws with sole commissioner government for the overwhelming majority of communities in the country and state to have sent this form of government into the history books.
Based on what I have seen in Walker County, the biggest problem with a sole commissioner form of government is that it potentially creates a dangerous political power structure which can lead to wrecking organization and financial management in county government. When a sitting sole commissioner has the support of the majority party, all municipal and state incumbents and all the major campaign donors and business owners, the sole commissioner may be so entrenched that even major mistakes are disregarded or remain under the radar. In the worst case scenario, it can create enough political cushioning to make defeat at the ballot box such a far-removed threat that a sole commissioner and his or her advisors in high level county positions take advantage of county government for personal gain.
While these problems can still happen with a board, spreading out party and donor support across more county offices, having more eyes in county government, and requiring approval of the board to spend above a certain amount makes running off a cliff less likely. Imagine a city run only by a mayor or a state run only by a governor. Yes, things would be more efficient. Yes, voters could hold the strong mayor or governor accountable at the ballot box. Nevertheless, checks and balances are useful at every level of government. It is time for Walker County to join the majority of our sister counties and shake off this Boss Hogg evoking form of government.