Three minutes is not a long time given to individual speakers during the public comments opportunity of county commission meetings, but it was just enough to gain some insight into candidates hoping to fill the District 3 seat on the Putnam County Board of Commissioners.
Three of the four qualified candidates for the Nov. 7 special election spoke briefly at the commission’s mid-month meeting last week.
Charles Gray called the recently passed short-term rental ordinance “a solid document,” but one in need of an enforcement policy clearly communicated to homeowners.
Gray rhetorically asked, “How does a homeowner start a complaint? Who do you call? What can you expect?”
He also pushed for the creation of a database for complaints, as in how many, to whom, and whatever resolution may have come.
William Vargo said he is disappointed by the brief campaign time and the disappearance of campaign signs.
Steve Hersey, perhaps the most familiar name among the candidates after serving eight years as chairman of the county school board and another eight as chairman of the board of commissioners, scolded the commissioners for passing a budget and millage rate “without a single comment and no District 3 representative.”
Hersey later asked the board not to schedule a public hearing on proposed changes to the county’s development regulations, fire protection code, and zoning code “until a District 3 representative is seated.”
The fourth qualified candidate, Shona Bales, did not address the board.
In other actions on the relatively short agenda, the commission:
• Honored the Gatewood baseball team for winning this year’s Georgia Independent Schools Association, Level 2 state championship;
• Authorized the staff to schedule a public hearing on proposed changes to the county’s development regulations, fire protection and prevention code, and the zoning ordinance. (Because portions of the changes must first be reviewed by the Planning and Zoning Commission, the hearing will likely come in November, according to county attorney Adam Nelson. See also an adjacent story outlining some of the proposed changes.);
• Authorized the payment of $500,000 to the county’s defined-benefit retirement plan, held by older county employees.
While the county’s plan is funded well over 90 percent of what is required, the difference between what had been contributed and what was necessary at one time was $4.6 million. This year’s allotment will reduce the difference from $3.6 million down to $3.1 million.
• “We are just nibbling at the elephant one bite at a time,” County Manager Paul Van Haute said.
• Heard a plea from District 2 Commissioner Daniel Brown for donations to the Butler-Baker Alumni Association. The association now owns the Butler-Baker property but needs approximately $7,000 to replace water lines constructed in the early 1950s from the street to the building.
Contact association secretary Sandra Parham at 706-473-0508 to donate or for more information.