Have our incumbent commissioners been good stewards of the citizens’ tax dollars? In my opinion, no. Let me give an example.
On April 12, 2012 on the agenda item #5 of the consent agenda was a request to approve a bid of $98,000 for the architectural services for the new Tyrone fire station.
Looking closer at the information supplied, there was a bid of $48,000 to do this work.
The fire department stated that they reached a consensus on the top four proposals and they were invited to make presentations.
Why was the company that was the awarded contractor invited, they being #8 in the bid list going from lowest to the highest?
I did some research and found that the lowest bidder is an architect that lives in the county and has his business in the county. To find an example of his work you can look at the Town Square Jewelers in the center of Fayetteville.
This was not a good decision. It cost the citizens $50,000 extra. Plus, it took a job away from a Fayette County citizen. This type of decision is why they raise our taxes. If it was a home project for one of the incumbent commissioners, would they have spent the extra $50,000 if it was coming out of their pocket? I would bet not.
Some of the other candidates running for office are very good speakers but do not address the specific problems of the county. They speak in general about values, but there are no facts to back up their words. Some of them signed up with the Fayette County Republican Party just about the same time they qualified for the election.
Why were they not already members? Do they really have Republican values? What do we know about these people? They are asking the citizens to vote for them so they can represent the citizens? How do the citizens know a candidate will represent them?
There are candidates that have been involved in both the Fayette County Republican Party and the commission meetings. It is easy to see what we stand for. Just look back through the minutes of the commission meeting. Ask citizens that have come to the commission meeting. Look at the commission meeting videos put on YouTube by one of the candidates.
David Barlow has spent a lot of time trying to show the citizens the things that are happening because of the incumbents. Yes, these videos were done by this candidate without any charge to the citizens, working hard for the citizens. We both want what is best for the county and hope we can count on your support.
My message to the citizens is please research the candidates and vote July 31st. Better yet, vote early on July 9th. Visit my website and learn more about me www.ognioforcommissioner.com.
Please check it out.
Randy C. Ognio
Candidate for Commissioner Post 3
Fayette County, Ga.
