Chairman, Barrow BOC: Danny Yearwood

Name: Issac Daniel "Danny" Yearwood, Jr.

Post Seeking: Chairman, Barrow County Board of Commissioners

Family (children, spouse and their ages): Wife, Deborah, married 40 years; daughter, Deanna Lockaby; son, Trey; grandchildren: Daniel, Eli, Elizabeth and Luke (all Deanna's children)

Career Occupation: Sales

Describe your background:

I was born in Barrow County on March 22, 1950. My mother was Frances Hendrix of Winder. Her parents were Clarence Hendrix and Lois McElhannon of Winder. My father was Daniel Yearwood of Crawfordville. My father came to Barrow County in 1945 with 10 employees and rolling sawmill. My mother worked textiles in the plants of Barrow County, which at the time was known as "The Work-Clothes Capital of the World.” They married in 1948.

As a child, I attended Winder-Barrow Elementary and played football and baseball. I attended Winder-Barrow Middle and then Winder-Barrow High School, where I met my wife of 40 years. After we married, we moved to Atlanta where I worked at General Motors from 1968-1973. During this time, I attended DeKalb College during the day and worked all night.

In 1973, we moved back to Winder and I joined my father in business at Yearwood's Used Cars. In 1974, I began building the home we still live in today.
My wife and I have two children, Deanna and Trey. I am a member of the First Baptist Church of Winder.

I have owned and operated a car dealership, batting cages, insurance agency and managed rental properties in Barrow County over the past 40 years. As my children were growing up, I coached many of their teams. I wanted to be a part of making this county great and I still have that passion. I feel very fortunate to have raised my family and own several businesses in this special community.

The potential expansion of the airport has been a hot-button issue in Barrow County. What is your position on the topic?

We have a great airport that serves our county well. However, I am against the proposed runway expansion. No business plan of any type has been presented that projects a positive economic benefit the county would receive by expanding the current facility. In fact, the only word I keep hearing regarding the economic benefit is "hope. Our taxpayers don't manage their individual budgets on "hope,” and "hope" is certainly not a sound business plan.

The current budget to operate the facility is over $1M a year. We need to carefully review that budget to ensure our citizens are receiving the maximum return on their tax dollars.

Barrow County continues to experience strong growth. What are your plans to deal with the growth in a way that will preserve a good quality of life for Barrow citizens?

While growth has already arrived in Barrow County, it's a small sample of what's coming in the next 10 years. We have to be proactive rather than reactive in our planning and execution.

Barrow County is a lot like Forsyth County was 20 years ago. Like Forsyth at that time, we are still largely rural. And like Forsyth with GA 400, we also have a major 4-lane artery that crosses the heart of the county with Highway 316. We have a unique opportunity to learn from the successes and failures experienced by Forsyth and other nearby counties (like Gwinnett) whose development preceded ours.

We must utilize this unique stretch of roadway to attract both new commercial and industrial development to ensure the cost of growth isn't passed along to Barrow County citizens in the form of higher taxes. In order to capitalize on our opportunity, we need to begin working immediately on providing the necessary water and sewage to the entire Highway 316 corridor.

Additionally, we must make the necessary improvements to the rest of infrastructure throughout the county. Roads must be improved, and a solution must be found to alleviate traffic congestion -especially in the Winder area. A solution to this capacity problem must be developed as part of a joint effort between county, city, regional and state officials. There are no easy answers or quick-fixes. We must solve this problem together.

At least two citizens groups addressing various issues have recently been established in Barrow County. In what way will you work with these citizens groups to see that their concerns are addressed?

I welcome any and all input from the taxpayers of Barrow County. We need to provide more time for citizen comment during Commission meetings, as the current 10-minute maximum time for all citizen comment combined is far too restrictive.

Most citizens groups form because their members have the best interest of their county at heart. That also is true for those individuals who attend Commission meetings. It's my belief that every opinion should matter in Barrow County. During my administration, I will make sure that every voice is heard and respected.

The rising costs of the proposed Cultural Arts Center have been a concern. Do you think this is a project that Barrow County needs and can financially support?

In 2005 Barrow County taxpayers voted and approved a SPLOST that included an expenditure of $3M for a civic center in our county. And there is a need for such a facility. Both of my children attended Barrow County public schools and both graduated from Winder-Barrow High School. I know what it's like to have events interrupted by a thunderstorm. It happened during my daughter's homecoming and forced a move into the school gym, where only immediate family members were allowed inside. My daughter was also in the band, and her concerts were always in the gym because no such arts facility existed. The same is true for her Drama Club productions as well. I fully understand the need. I disagree with what the plans for this facility have morphed into. The latest figures I've now seen bandied about to build the Arts Center range to over $10M. That's not what the taxpayers approved.

We also didn't agree to locate the Arts Center on the best piece of potential commercial property that Barrow County owns. This is another example of a wasted precious resource in our county. We need to market that land, which is at a highly desirable intersection on Highway 316, to industrial or commercial buyers and reinvest the profits into other areas of critical need in the county. By building on that property, they've taken an asset and turned it into a liability.

With the economy getting tighter, what would you propose trimming from the budget and why?

•Airport budget: Cut the funds earmarked for the expansion and other unnecessary pet projects.

•Cultural Arts Center: We must construct what we need rather than what we want. More importantly, we need to build what the taxpayers approved and what we can afford. I would not build the Center at the currently proposed location. We should market that property and invest the proceeds in other areas of critical need.
What are the three biggest issues that Barrow County must address over the next five years?

•Growth: We must learn from the mistakes of other counties, and concentrate our efforts to provide the infrastructure that is capable of supporting new industry and residents. We must judiciously identify true areas of need in the budget, and eliminate pork projects and wasteful spending.

•Infrastructure: This goes hand in hand with growth. With sound planning and the aggressive management of the budget, we can find solutions to our growing road, sewage and water needs. We'll only get one chance to get it right, and our time is now.

•Schools: With growth comes more population. And with more population comes increased stress on our school system. A well-educated populace and highly-rated schools are two of the primary magnets for both potential industrial development and future homeowners. We must ensure each child in Barrow County is provided a quality education by working in concert with the Board of Education on the needs of the school system. Our children are indeed our future, and we must prepare them well in order for them to compete in tomorrow's global economy.

What new services, if any, do you propose if elected to office? How do you propose to pay for this service?

We must improve the efficiency by which we deliver our current services before we should consider offering anything new. I will instruct each department to reduce their budget by identifying areas of waste, and present proposals to improve efficiency. If they are unable to do so alone, I will gladly assist.