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To Putnam County Citizens,
We have an issue that people need to be aware of and its consequences. On the surface, it appears to be just another agenda item on the BOC list, but after taking a deeper look, it could undermine the vote we just cast in November.
Regarding House Bill 581, I am concerned that our vote may get negated by just five people through our four Putnam County commissioners and the chairman. In the November election, Putnam County residents approved this ballot issue almost 2:1! The vote was 8,023 in favor of HB581 and 4,226 against.
Our State House and Senate nonpartisanally negotiated this bill and then passed it unanimously in January last year. Only three house reps who were absent from the vote, and one abstained. All of our State Representatives can’t be wrong.
So now we have full House and Senate approval and 2:1 county voter approval. It appears that our board of education has already expressed its plan to opt out (negate our votes), and I’m hearing that our commissioners are thinking of doing the same thing. If the citizens had voted this issue down, I would expect the commissioners to do the same. We all expect our commissioners to follow the wishes of the people who voted them into office.
This allows for more corruption at the county level. Flipping the vote is all our commissioners have to do. Four people will now rule. What new law will be next? The practice of writing bills with each county commission having the right to accept or reject a law is nonsense.
Our commissioners and chairman were voted in by the people, and we expect them to follow the citizens' wishes. Had the state and the county residents rejected this issue on the ballot in November, then I would expect our commissioners to follow the citizens’ voice and reject it, but that is not the case here.
Can you see where this could be going? By allowing our county leaders to change our vote we are on the doorstep of becoming a Banana Republic in a thirdworld country.
Where, sure, the people can vote, but a handful of so-called “leaders” can overturn their will. This is NOT the definition of a democracy!
This is a much bigger issue than many may think. We could be heading down a road that could bite us later. Contact your commissioner and stress to him that they all need to follow the wishes of county and statewide voters. Their contact info is listed here in The Eatonton Messenger.
Don’t let them undermine us voters. Attend one of the open public forums and voice your opinion. The following county commission forum is on Jan. 21st at 6 p.m. at the county commission building.
Sincerely, Bill and Barb Vargo, Putnam County