Ben Hendrix
Ben Hendrix, BOC district 6 candidate
Post seeking: Re-Election as Commissioner, District 6
Describe your background:
I am currently serving in year six as the District 6 Commissioner. The first two years I served after being elected to complete the remaining two years of the previous Commissioner’s term after he resigned. I was then re-elected for a full four year term. I have worked for Gwinnett County since 1994. I began working with Gwinnett as a Corrections Officer, and three years ago took over as the Fuel Manager for the county. I am also a retired veteran with over 24 years of service in the Army and Army National Guard.
Given the current economic difficulties, what would you propose trimming from the budget and why?:
One thing that I proposed last year, when the Board of Commissioners began discussions about the budget shortfall, was the idea of asking those county employees that were eligible or that were nearly eligible to retire to consider doing so. Based on figures that I was given by our Finance Department, the county could save somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.2 million dollars by doing so. I still feel that this could be a viable option for the county, and I think it should be looked at more in depth. I also believe that we need to take a real hard look at all capital spending. If some capital spending can be delayed, without sacrificing Public Safety, then I think we need to do so.
What are the three biggest issues that Barrow County must address over the next five years?:
One complaint that I hear from people all over the county, and not just in my district, is the traffic situation in our county. At times, it is nearly impossible to move from one end of the county to the other, because of the gridlock in and around Winder. We should make a priority of working more closely with the City of Winder and GDOT to solve some of these traffic problems.
Another issue that needs our attention is encouraging more commercial growth. We had several years of very good residential growth, and we need to balance that with good revenue streams that would come from new businesses locating in our county.
A third issue we should concentrate on is better working relations between the county and local municipalities. In a county this size, we should be working more closely with each other. We have a wealth of talent in this county, both with county employees as well as city employees. Sometimes we forget that we are all on the same team, and that we all serve the same customer, the taxpayer.
What new services, if any, do you propose if elected to office? How do you propose to pay for this service?:
One thing that I have thought about, and have talked with our Sheriff about, is expanding the use of inmate work details in the county. I know from my own experience in Gwinnett County that this program can be of a huge benefit to us as a county. First, you have a workforce already in place, and the labor is at no cost. There is a cost associated with a Deputy to supervise the inmates, but that is minimal in comparison to the money saved by the labor provided. For example, we could use additional inmate details to pick up trash on the side of the road, to do janitorial services for the county and other local municipalities, as well as landscaping and mowing of our grounds and right of ways. I have discussed this plan in detail with our Sheriff, and I believe that he would support such a plan.
Do you support hiring a county administrator to manage the day to day operations of county government? Why or why not?:
I absolutely support hiring a county administrator/manager/chief of operations, or whatever you want to call this person. I have gone on the record many times in support of a full time, professional staff person to manage the day to day operations of our county government. There is money in the budget for this position now. I believe that the Commissioners should be concentrating on developing policy as well as short and long range goals for our county government, and allow the administrator to take care of the day to day operations. Think about it this way, Barrow County is a 30 + million dollar per year business. We have several hundred employees. If you owned a private business with that kind of budget and that many employees, would you be trying to run everything yourself, or would you delegate some of your responsibility so you could concentrate on running the business?
I am currently serving in year six as the District 6 Commissioner. The first two years I served after being elected to complete the remaining two years of the previous Commissioner’s term after he resigned. I was then re-elected for a full four year term. I have worked for Gwinnett County since 1994. I began working with Gwinnett as a Corrections Officer, and three years ago took over as the Fuel Manager for the county. I am also a retired veteran with over 24 years of service in the Army and Army National Guard.
Given the current economic difficulties, what would you propose trimming from the budget and why?:
One thing that I proposed last year, when the Board of Commissioners began discussions about the budget shortfall, was the idea of asking those county employees that were eligible or that were nearly eligible to retire to consider doing so. Based on figures that I was given by our Finance Department, the county could save somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.2 million dollars by doing so. I still feel that this could be a viable option for the county, and I think it should be looked at more in depth. I also believe that we need to take a real hard look at all capital spending. If some capital spending can be delayed, without sacrificing Public Safety, then I think we need to do so.
What are the three biggest issues that Barrow County must address over the next five years?:
One complaint that I hear from people all over the county, and not just in my district, is the traffic situation in our county. At times, it is nearly impossible to move from one end of the county to the other, because of the gridlock in and around Winder. We should make a priority of working more closely with the City of Winder and GDOT to solve some of these traffic problems.
Another issue that needs our attention is encouraging more commercial growth. We had several years of very good residential growth, and we need to balance that with good revenue streams that would come from new businesses locating in our county.
A third issue we should concentrate on is better working relations between the county and local municipalities. In a county this size, we should be working more closely with each other. We have a wealth of talent in this county, both with county employees as well as city employees. Sometimes we forget that we are all on the same team, and that we all serve the same customer, the taxpayer.
What new services, if any, do you propose if elected to office? How do you propose to pay for this service?:
One thing that I have thought about, and have talked with our Sheriff about, is expanding the use of inmate work details in the county. I know from my own experience in Gwinnett County that this program can be of a huge benefit to us as a county. First, you have a workforce already in place, and the labor is at no cost. There is a cost associated with a Deputy to supervise the inmates, but that is minimal in comparison to the money saved by the labor provided. For example, we could use additional inmate details to pick up trash on the side of the road, to do janitorial services for the county and other local municipalities, as well as landscaping and mowing of our grounds and right of ways. I have discussed this plan in detail with our Sheriff, and I believe that he would support such a plan.
Do you support hiring a county administrator to manage the day to day operations of county government? Why or why not?:
I absolutely support hiring a county administrator/manager/chief of operations, or whatever you want to call this person. I have gone on the record many times in support of a full time, professional staff person to manage the day to day operations of our county government. There is money in the budget for this position now. I believe that the Commissioners should be concentrating on developing policy as well as short and long range goals for our county government, and allow the administrator to take care of the day to day operations. Think about it this way, Barrow County is a 30 + million dollar per year business. We have several hundred employees. If you owned a private business with that kind of budget and that many employees, would you be trying to run everything yourself, or would you delegate some of your responsibility so you could concentrate on running the business?
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