Our City Needs Leadership, Not Political Stunts

I love Peachtree City. I’m proud to serve on the Board of our Convention and Visitors Bureau, volunteer as one of Launch Fayette’s Entrepreneurs-in-Residence, and, as a graduate of Peachtree City 101, possess working knowledge of how our local government operates. Through these roles and programs, I’ve had the privilege of meeting and working with many of the incredible employees who keep our city running.

These are the people behind the municipal awards we’ve won, the grants we’ve earned, and the everyday excellence most residents never see, but we all benefit from. Our Fire Department, for example, is one of the few in Georgia with a “Class One” rating, a distinction that saves lives and lowers insurance premiums for every household in town.

Over a period of six months this past spring and summer, those same city employees worked countless hours putting together a comprehensive, transparent budget. They carefully responded to every single request from members of City Council, often replying to calls and email at night and on weekends. 

The result was a responsible financial plan that balanced our needs with our resources, even as we adopted GA House Bill 581, freezing assessed home values at a 3% increase and rolling back the municipal millage rate, giving most homeowners a reduction in city-controlled property taxes from 2025 to 2026 (recognizing, of course, that the city has no control over the county/school portion, which makes up two-thirds of the bill for most taxpayers).

When that budget was presented, Councilman Clint Holland praised it. He told City Manager Justin Strickland, “Compliments to you, Mr. City Manager, for putting together that budget.”

But when it came time to vote at the August 21^st City Council meeting, Mr. Holland did something no one saw coming. He torpedoed the very same budget he’d praised. He demanded, at the last minute, that the city dip into its reserves to lower property taxes. 

To be clear, every fiscally responsible leader of any party knows that no government entity should use its reserves for ongoing expenses. Reserves are for large capital expenditures, to save the city from having to issue bonds and pay interest for 30 years, or for major natural disasters, like the tornado that hit Newnan in 2021. And yet, Mr. Holland wanted to score easy political points by irresponsibly using our reserves to lower taxes, and his plan was to hold the budget hostage until he got his way. 

It might have sounded good in a social media post or as a campaign soundbite.
It wasn’t good governance.

Councilwoman Laura Johnson immediately pointed out that what he was proposing wasn’t even legal. His plan wouldn’t have lowered property taxes for homeowners at all, it would have only lowered business taxes. When she explained that, Mr. Holland changed his story on the spot, claiming that lowering business taxes was what he meant all along.

Let’s be clear: that wasn’t leadership. That was a political stunt.

But this kind of grandstanding doesn’t just hurt reputations. It hurts people.

Our city employees spent months building that budget. They should have been feeling the three things every great workplace depends on: a sense of accomplishment, autonomy, and acknowledgment for their great work. Instead, they got a taste of the number one cause of workplace unhappiness: toxic leadership.

When someone in authority undermines hard work just to score political points, it sends a message to every employee: your effort doesn’t matter, your expertise doesn’t matter, your contribution doesn’t matter. 

That’s how morale collapses.
And when morale collapses, costs go up.

Gallup has spent decades researching what makes people happy and engaged at work. The results are crystal clear: happy workplaces have 41% less absenteeism, up to 59% less turnover, 28% less theft, and 70% fewer workers’ compensation claims.

And what did Clint Holland achieve, in the end? At the September City Council meeting, he and Suzanne Brown eliminated less than 1% of the previously submitted budget by nickel-and-diming each line item, including cutting the training tower our Fire Department requested (yes, that would be the Fire Department that saves both lives and money by having a Class One rating). 

Far worse, before agreeing to pass the budget, they demanded we eliminate merit pay for city employees, which many of them had been promised. That “win” saved Peachtree City residents a whopping FIVE DOLLARS PER HOUSEHOLD. It also sent the message, once again, to every city employee that their contributions have little value to those two Council Members and to anyone who supports them. 

When one of the other Council Members at the September meeting asked city manager, Justin Strickland, what he wanted in the budget, Ms. Brown leapt in, flexing her limited power, and proudly announced, “He serves at the pleasure of Council,” before he could even respond. It was demoralizing. That is the behavior of a terrible boss and a bad leader. That is the kind of unskilled manager that makes people quit their jobs. 

And what does it cost to lose an employee and have to recruit, hire and train someone new because the previous one was made miserable by toxic leadership? The most conservative research comes out to 40-60% of their salary, and for some positions, it could be as high as 150%. If we lose ten percent of the skilled members of our incredible city workforce so that Clint Holland and Suzanne Brown can brag about being “fiscally conservative,” it will cost our city well over seven-figures, far more than they cut. 

In government, where personnel costs are a major portion of the budget, those numbers matter. When morale tanks, the best employees leave. Replacing them costs time, money, and institutional knowledge. When engagement drops, mistakes happen and productivity slows. In the private sector, that hurts profits. In government, it hurts taxpayers. 

It is significantly more expensive to have an unhappy municipal workforce than it is to give what amounts to $150 per employee in merit pay. And nothing is farther from fiscally conservative than saving one dollar that ultimately costs us ten more in safety, services and staff wellbeing.

Unfortunately, the budget stunt isn’t the only example of baseless political games we’ve seen from these two recently.

Also at the September City Council Meeting, Mr. Holland and Ms. Brown blocked the appointment of two qualified residents from serving on volunteer committees: Joe Campbell who was being re-appointed to chair the Convention and Visitors Bureau (“CVB”), and Michael Polacek, who was one of the most respected volunteers on the city’s Recreation Advisory Board. 

These aren’t controversial positions. They are unpaid, community-serving roles filled by residents who had gone through the city’s interview process and were recommended based on their qualifications. There was no legitimate reason to block them. None.

Except, of course, that Joe Campbell is Mr. Holland’s political opponent for his City Council seat, and Mr. Polacek is running for City Council against one of Holland and Brown’s preferred candidates. 

This was even more shocking given that Mr. Campbell has run such a clean and honorable campaign against Holland. 

To date, neither he nor any of his campaign proxies has brought up Holland’s hit-and-run accident, the pornography site his published campaign URL linked to, nor the fact that Holland’s HOA constructed an illegal gate to prevent citizens of Tyrone that they deemed “undesirable” from driving through their neighborhood, and Holland consistently exploited his city council position to block any vote on the removal of that gate, potentially costing our city $1.7 million in county road funds and preventing a disabled young woman from getting to her job. 

Ironically, the outcome of blocking those appointments is that both Campbell and Polacek keep their positions on the committees indefinitely, by default, so nothing was achieved other than a weak attempt at humiliating political rivals. It was pure politics. What could be more petty? 

And, as I was the only person present at the September City Council meeting who was part of both the interview process for Joe Campbell and the CVB Board meeting where his potential election success was discussed, I fully expected to be asked what the possible consequences were of appointing Joe Campbell to the Board and then having him beat Holland in the City Council race. That exact question had been researched on the CVB Board’s behalf, and I could have addressed it, but Holland and Brown were so resolute in their commitments to pull this baseless stunt that there was no point attempting to sway them. 

Brown claimed that it would disrupt the volunteer committees if these two men are elected and would have to be replaced. Once again, that is simply not true, and Holland and Brown both knew it. The only thing that would disrupt normal CVB and Recreation Advisory Board operations is if they are not elected and the next City Council vindictively refuses their appointments, leaving our city spending even more City Council, staff and volunteer time and resources to find their replacements, who I cannot imagine would be more qualified for the roles than these two men. 

And once again, the people who suffer are the residents of Peachtree City.

When capable volunteers are turned away simply because an elected official wants to score points, it discourages civic participation. It sends the message that your willingness to serve doesn’t matter unless you’re on the right “side.” That kind of behavior makes our city smaller, meaner, and less effective. We deserve better. 

Here’s the truth: Peachtree City runs best when good people work together, whether they’re paid staff, elected officials or volunteers, guided by professionalism and mutual respect. Political games and personal grudges don’t serve anyone. They just waste time, energy, and goodwill.

Leadership isn’t about posturing. It’s about partnership. It’s about recognizing that the people who keep our city safe, clean, and beautiful deserve respect and support, not sabotage.

Because when employees are trusted and appreciated, they perform better. They take ownership. They innovate. They stay longer, which saves the city money and strengthens service quality. That’s not just good management: it’s fiscal responsibility. That’s what it looks like to be an actual fiscal conservative, not just a performative one. 

When leaders put ego above evidence, everyone pays the price. Turnover rises. Efficiency drops. Residents get frustrated. And ironically, the costs they claimed they were trying to cut start to climb.

Real fiscal stewardship isn’t about chasing headlines or punishing political rivals. It’s about safeguarding the long-term health of the city and the people who make it thrive.

That means treating our staff and volunteers with dignity.
It means respecting their expertise.
It means telling the truth, even when it’s inconvenient.

Peachtree City deserves leadership that brings people together, not divides them for sport.
We deserve honesty instead of spin.
We deserve collaboration instead of chaos.

And if Mr. Holland and Ms. Brown truly want to lower the tax burden for residents, there’s a much better place for each of them to start: stop being a toxic boss.

Our employees and volunteers have already proven their commitment to this community. It’s time these two elected officials proved theirs.

So to anyone on Council tempted to play politics instead of doing the work, please stop the stunts. Start leading.

Because when we put people first, whether it’s city staff, volunteers, or residents, Peachtree City is the real winner.