Items from the Winder and Barrow political notebook:
•The Nov. 8 vote locally was termed “historic” by some.
I suppose that’s accurate. Barrow County will have a new form of government and while it was given approval by somewhat of a wide margin, I still can’t help but wonder if it was the correct decision.
This whole change was brought about primarily because many citizens don’t approve of how county chairman Danny Yearwood has conducted himself since being elected. That’s fine. There is certainly a case to be made that Yearwood has not done everything perfect.
Still, if you don’t like the job Yearwood has done then the solution was simple: don’t re-elect him. Instead, we had a major case of overkill that took place. To ensure Yearwood would not be able to run the day-to-day operations of the county, we will now have a manager form of government. (A massive 12 percent of the people turned out to vote.)
Well, I don’t think it has dawned on people that a county manager does not answer to the citizens. He or she will answer to the board of commissioners who handle the hiring. Sure, you can complain to your commissioner that you don’t like the way something has been handled, but, in the end, I firmly believe that will mean little if the county manager hasn’t done anything to cause the BOC to be upset.
I can picture the scenario now: “Hello, commissioner. I want something done about the county manager, who is not acting in the best interest of the citizens.”
Commissioner: “OK, your complaint is noted.”
The end result: nothing is done about it and your complaint is filed in the garbage can.
To me, Barrow citizens made a mistake in giving up their power to elect the person who oversees the day-to-day operation of the county. It makes me very nervous to know a county manager, whose salary will be out the roof, does not answer to me. I can’t vote him or her out. I can’t encourage someone to run against them. We are moving into uncharted waters and it seems we are leaving shore with a hole in the boat.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
•••
James Cooley received a good bit of criticism for having the nerve to say Charlie Eberhart doesn’t actually live within the City of Winder.
However, I think Cooley deserves credit for caring enough to run for elected office. Many people complain about what’s going on at City Hall, but how many actually take the time to run? The overall number of candidates for the Winder City Council was not great this year. One race was not even contested.
It’s easy for some to dismiss Cooley. He’s different in ways and isn’t afraid to speak out against a long established Good Old Boy Network that does exist here.
So does Eberhart actually reside in Winder? Let me present this to you. I could make just as strong a case that I reside at 77 East May Street, where our newspaper office is located. Afterall, we have two bathrooms and a kitchen and we receive a city utility bill here.
I’ve had many people tell me since we opened for business that they’ve seen my car at the office at all hours of the day and night. They’ve even seen me here on Sundays.
Despite all of that, I do not live at the office. This is not my residence. However, various groups and even a judge have declared I have met all the requirements to say I do reside at 77 East May Street. Hey, I even receive mail here.
Something still doesn’t sit right about this entire situation with me. Some supporters of Eberhart took the route of making fun of Cooley to detract from what was really the real issue in this race and one that I still don’t think has been properly resolved.
Chris Bridges is editor of the Barrow Journal. You can reach him at cbridges@barrowjournal.com.
If you don't vote - you are just a Peasant and no one stole anything from you.
DuWayne
There was opportunity for a vigorous debate before this proposal ever made it to the legislature. How many of those who are complaining ever showed up at one of the hearings? There certainly was vigoruous debate about the proposal leading up to the election - do you read your own blogs? Am I disappointed that only 12 percent of the citizenry showed up to vote? Of course I am, but it's not like this was a deep dark secret.
I know to whom the county manager will answer - not a handful of his cronies but to the board of commissioners. I suspect that if he or she does something that I don't like, and I let my commissioner know about it, that he or she will look into it. The difference - they can actually get something done instead of butting heads with a used car salesman.
Will this system be perfect - of course not. There will be bumps along the way. I hope that the commission looks far and wide to find the very best candidate - someone with proven effective experience in managing government operations. They are out there.
Finally, a few words about Charlie Eberhart and Jim Cooley. I live in this precinct and I voted for Charlie Eberhart. Does he live 24/7 at his funeral home? I don't know. I doubt it, but I suspect that he spends many nights there. That's the nature of his business. He says that is his residence, and Jim Cooley was unable to convince both the elections board and a state court judge otherwise.
Jim Cooley never chose to debate the issues, and, quite frankly, is a liar. I wouldn't vote for him if we were electing street sweepers. (I only hope my comments don't cause him to emerge from his hole.)