Dear Editor,
I attended the Aug. 4 Putnam County Commissioner’s meeting, the first since Alan Foster of District 3 resigned after citing bad faith dealings by other commissioners on the new regulations on SRO regulations. I attended the meeting because calls to the commissioner’s office went unanswered or a person was unavailable.
I attended to voice my concern over the county paving of Highway 44 and Harmony Road/Old Phoenix Road on one of the last Fridays before the school year started. Needless to say, strong words were spoken by many residents and I was allowed to speak of my concerns.
I went through the horrible traffic congestion that eventually made the second-busiest traffic light in the county impassable. No flagman or traffic control was there, and anyone wanting to enter Old Phoenix left those using 44 or Harmony unable to move and left the Old Phoenix fire station unable to respond to calls.
Seems from my attendance I learned some things about our commissioners. From the earlier portion of the meeting, a number of questions about the number of SROs were discussed between commissioners and private meetings, where some commissioners were not invited to those discussions. The second discovery is the commission doesn’t really care about the concerns of the citizens who elected them.
I felt that pain, too, for just as I was going into my personal concerns, I was told my time was up and I could no longer speak. What I saw was a lack of effective leadership and avoiding responsibilities. It’s time for more of the public to attend meetings on our future in Putnam County in protest.
Peter Crockett, Eatonton