I have been attending the Fayette County Board of Commissioners meetings since April as one of the Animal Advocates Task Force members. Needless to say I am very disheartened with what I am seeing and hearing.
I will admit that my reason for attending was solely to share my displeasure with the new animal shelter and the conditions the dogs and cats are kept in. As I sit through the meetings week after week, I have become so disillusioned with our county government concerning most issues.
For example, the meetings are now at 5:00 p.m. instead of 6:00 or 6:30 p.m. because it is better for the commissioners. It makes it extremely difficult for the working citizens who elected them and have 9 to 5 jobs to attend. Perhaps that’s what the commissioners and county administrator want. No citizens are there to object to their decisions.
One issue our commissioners don’t seem to care about is large group of property owners being affected by the new data center and Georgia Power. Georgia Power is trying to steal their property through eminent domain and run high voltage power lines through their yards. Both the Fayetteville city government and the county government have jerked around these folks.
Our county commissioners listened and offered no help just excuses. I do have to applaud Commissioner [Charles] Rousseau, as I know he has attended gatherings the homeowners have had and is trying to show support.
Did you know that a new gas station complex is being built across from the historic Starr’s Mill? This beautiful Fayette County landmark is being disturbed by this new development. It is also being built near a water source with the potential of polluting the water, not to mention added traffic in an already congested area. Already passed with no recourse for citizens being affected.
At the August 22 meeting our commissioners passed several proposals for rezoning for new home construction. They were impressed that some of the homes would go for close to a million dollars. At the same meeting they denied a military family a special exception to live in an older existing house on the property they inherited while building a new home. There is a current ordinance that says an existing structure can’t be on the property while a new home is being built on said property. The family will tear down the existing home once the new home is finished.
Commissioner Hearn led this family to believe that this kind of exception could be possible only to vote no when the time came. The gentleman has made a career of serving our country and keeping us safe. He is going to retire in a year and wanted to go ahead and get his family settled. He is commuting home every other weekend to be with his family. To try and find a rental home for his family so the existing house can be torn down before the construction of a new home is a financial impossibility for them. Exceptions have been made in the past, but not this time.
It is time for the citizens of Fayette County to show up to meetings or view them from home through the live feed. So much is being decided in a public forum, but since few citizens pay attention, many things are being passed without public knowledge. Once issues are voted on, it’s too late.
They certainly slipped the plans for the new animal shelter right under our noses because we weren’t paying attention. Since April we have complained, begged, nagged for every little improvement made, and we still aren’t getting any of the big-ticket items that are so desperately needed.
As a side note, we the citizens voted in the most recent SPLOST for a $14 million multi-purpose recreation center. It is now in the planning stages. The commissioners and our county administration wasted $3.2 million dollars on the animal shelter because they wouldn’t seek professionals who knew best practices in animal care. Imagine how badly they can misuse $14 million in an attempt to build a new recreation center.
The Animal Advocate Task Force speaks at every meeting asking for much needed improvements to a shelter that is already having system failures in air conditioning, drainage and sewage, electrical issues, etc., not to mention kennels that are already falling apart. They keep saying they are listening and things will get done, but they have a “process” and it takes time.
It is my personal belief that their process is to stall until November. Three of the five commissioners are up for reelection. They seem to believe reelection is a given, and once they are securely back in office they can then ignore us completely. We need change in November, either in our current commissioners’ attitude toward serving the people who elected them or new faces.
Commissioner Maxwell, District 1, Commissioner Hearn, District 2, and Commissioner Oddo, District 5, are all up for reelection. I strongly encourage every one to do some research before early voting begins. (Early voting begins Oct. 14 in Fayette County)
I am in no way telling you who to vote for, but I am asking that you be fully informed. Check out their opponents and make a wise and educated decision on your county leadership. Vickie Butler is challenging Commissioner Maxwell, Bobby Jones is challenging Commissioner Hearn, and Commissioner Oddo is being challenged by Darryl Hicks.
I live in District 2 and plan to attend the meet the candidate for Bobby Jones at the log cabin in Fayetteville on September 7 from 11-4. My plan is to ask questions and be informed. Being informed on who governs us starts at the local level with us. So many decisions are made in plain site and we turn a blind eye.
Information on all six candidates can also be found on the Internet. Let’s make our vote count in November starting at the local level.
Laura Line
Fayetteville, Ga.
The board Considered “Ordinance 2024-05 amending Chapter 110. Zoning Ordinance, amending Sec. 110-125. – A-R, Agricultural-Residential, to add a provision to allow an existing home to remain temporarily while a new home is being built.
Commissioner Rousseau moved to deny Ordinance 2024-05 amending Chapter 110. Zoning Ordinance, amending Sec. 110-125.- A-R, Agricultural-Residential, to add a provision to allow an existing home to remain temporarily while a new home is being built.
Vice Chairman Gibbons seconded. The motion passed 4-1, with Chairman Hearn voting in opposition. ”
— from the minutes of the 8-22 meeting.
Mr Rousseau whom you praised so much moved to DENY the modification allowing the original home to remain. All BUT Mr. Hearn, sided with with Mr Rousseau, thus the amendment which would have allowed the veteran to keep his old house during the construction was denied on a vote of 4-1. Mr Hearn voted with the veteran, not against him as you insinuate.
The gas station that Mr. Jones has been lobbying so hard against was to the family that owned that property and had a gas station at that location before their land was taken to widen the intersection of 74 & 85. Historically there has been a gas station at that location that were the family lived. It’s only fair that they be given the opportunity to rebuild what they once had before their land was sacrificed for the intersection.
As for the animal shelter, it is not the job of the county commission to run the day to day affairs of any county department, much less that of the animal shelter. Responsibility for oversight of all county departments including hiring and firing rests with the county manager. If anybody should be replaced in this for mismanagement, it should be him. Perhaps if the animal rights groups put the pressure on the county manager where it belong by asking the county commission for his replacement, he would feel a bit more pressured and things would move a little quicker. The county commissioners can’t replace people under the manager, but they sure can replace him.
As far as the power line issues, as previously written elsewhere the issue there lay with the Fayette County Development Authority who brokered the deal without paying adequate considering how to supply the power. Then they worked to have it annexed to the city of Fayetteville as to fall out of county control. The power need that QTS is advertising as the size of the datacenter is enough to power 82,000 homes. The FCDA is who I hold responsible for that fiasco. Lots of luck to anybody trying to jump in front of Georgia Power’s immanent domain to stop that steam roller.
I am quite satisfied that unlike Peachtree City, that spends all that they can lay their hands on, at least our county commissioners have been able to roll back the millage rates and still maintain services.
Hearn’s vote was predictable and ceremonial. He did not try and persuade others to vote no to the motion. The waters got muddy by the inference that a change could apply to other smaller properties. Hearn seemed all too happy eliminating the application of the ordinance that places a limit of 3 companion animals for people that live on AR 5+ acres; if he really cared, he could have done more on this issue.
Time to thank these commissioners that are up to re-election in November and then kick them out. We need new faces and new thinking, people staying too long in office forget the meaning of accountability.
Absolutely – remember this when early voting starts in Oct!