Bernard’s thoughts on the Peachtree City Debate

The PTC Rotary got the Mayoral and Council member candidates (Posts 3 and 4) together for a debate on Tuesday, 9-23-25. The event was extremely well attended. 

As many of you know, I was a fiscally conservative/socially liberal County Commissioner/Chair known for cutting taxes in another rural Georgia county. And I was the Republican Party Chairman in that county (I’m now a Democrat). I have seen some poor, unqualified candidates there- but not here in our city. Frankly, all of the PTC participants were sharp and well prepared, which says a lot about our fine community. 

In a limited column like this, I cannot go through the detailed positions of each candidate. They can be found on their individual websites. Candidates are- 

Mayor: current Mayor Kim Learnard versus former Mayor Steve Brown

Post 3: incumbent Clint Holland versus Joe Campbell

Post 4: Michael Polacek versus James Clifton (for the open post after Frank Destadio resigned due to health concerns)

I have said many times before that PTC is a wonderful place to live. And it truly is. Therefore, it disturbs me to see the negativity that some of the candidates displayed at times, slamming others. 

For example, Clint Holland did a good job of answering questions, but towards the end went off on unnamed other candidates for not being “true conservatives”, whatever that means in today’s world. I suppose some people think that right leaning former US House Representative Liz Cheney is not a true conservative because she pushed to impeach Trump. Based on her positions on social, defense and fiscal issues, I would disagree.

Also, Clifton kept coming back to cutting the budget and what we need to avoid (like expansion of recreation outlets) versus what we can do to make PTC an even better place to live. Likewise, Steve Brown, bright man who often seems to lose track of PTC priorities, went on an extended rant about the national political contributions of his opponent. Frankly, there is no Republican or Democrat way to pave a road. I personally found that bridging the gap between fellow Commissioners regardless of party was the only way to get things done.

Mayor Learnard brought up Steve Brown and his rejection of the TDK extension project back, killing it when he was Mayor 2 decades ago. Brown responded by stating that he did kill the project because he thought it would increase traffic from Coweta. He also gave his opinion that Learnard was also against the project, funded by the state, designed to provide an alternative east-west route to Georgia Highway 54.

Here is what I failed to clearly hear from any of the candidates- a. a detailed plan for expansion of PTC to bring in more commercial development to help the tax base stay low; b. how we are going to get better arts, entertainment and recreational opportunities; and c. what we are going to do about our biggest issue- the increasing traffic mess on Georgia Highway 54 in the middle of our town.

On the traffic problem, I do agree with what Campbell suggested- that a comprehensive traffic plan be drawn up for the City and implemented. Realistically, this plan must contain alternative routes for traffic going east and west on Highway 54. I have yet to hear anyone provide any options to the TDK corridor which in my opinion should have been started back when Brown was first Mayor. Furthermore, it disturbed me that none of the candidates talked about working with Coweta County, Sharpsburg, Fayette County and Tyrone in a coordinated effort to address the issue, which directly affects their resident’s quality of life. If all of these political entities agreed on a plan of action via alternate routes around the PTC traffic bottleneck, I believe that the state would come up with the funds.

Before the election, I would hope to see each of the candidates give more specifics, particularly on the traffic problem.