Barrow Journal

After weeks of public meetings, a citizens committee on Thursday night voted to strip the power of future chairmen of the Barrow County Board of Commissioners.

The Barrow County Charter Review Committee voted unanimously to recommend the following fundamental changes to Barrow County’s form of government:

• replace the county's “strong chairman” with a professional manager or administrator who would run the day-to-day operations of the county.

• change the position of chairman of the Barrow County Board of Commissioners to part time, with his primary duties being to run board meetings and to represent the county around the region and the state.

• reduce the chairman’s salary to reflect his reduced responsibilities.

• remove the chairman’s veto power but allow him to make motions and to vote on all issues like the six district commissioners.

• reduce to three the number of commissioners needed in addition to the chairman or chairman pro-tem in order to constitute the quorum legally required to conduct business at a meeting.

• allow that in the event of the absence of both the chairman and the chairman pro-tem, four commissioners be allowed to call a meeting but require that any approved action have four affirmative votes. [Full Story »] 

In extraordinary action to curtail public access to information about the county government, Barrow County commission chairman Danny Yearwood summoned all department managers and elected officials to the government’s headquarters on Wednesday and ordered them not to allow their employees to speak to the press.

He said any managers who grant newspaper interviews also must charge for any time exceeding 15 minutes, sources said.

Yearwood reportedly cited the Georgia Open Records Act as his legal authority for this unprecedented policy of charging for the interviews of public employees.

However, he did not consult with county attorney Angela Davis about the provisions of the state law prior to the meeting.

And a spokesman for Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker said Friday that the open records act includes no provision for charging money for interviews. [Full Story »]