Republican candidates for the District 1 seat on the Fayette County Commission squared-off at an April 12 forum held at the headquarters of the Fayette County Republican Party in Fayetteville.
The Republican candidates include incumbent Commissioner David Barlow and former commissioner and attorney Eric Maxwell. The winner of the May 24 primary will face Democrat Pam Reid in November.
Up first with opening comments was Barlow.
“In my initial campaign I campaigned as a conservative Republican. I’m still committed to that philosophy going forward. I campaigned on the idea of making Fayette County better and stronger in all areas. Our county is better and stronger than it was three years ago,” Barlow said, adding that the county has a good base of families, schools and Christian values. “That is a good formula for success. I believe in ‘we the people.’ We have a good team on the commission and the county is financially strong. The commissioners work on your behalf and have done a very good job.”
Barlow in reviewing some of the accomplishments of the past few years noted the hire of County Manager Steve Rapson and attorney Dennis Davenport.
“Commissioners, along with Steve Rapson, have yielded millions of dollars of savings to the county,” Barlow continued, referencing the opening of fire station No. 3 in Tyrone and the hire of a number of administrative staff. “The county budget was re-structured and reformed to end the deficit spending and increases in expenditures. Our past three year’s budgets have all been implemented without a tax increase. Our finance staff has obtained a AAA rating from Standard and Poor’s and Moody’s after only one year. The citizens of Fayette County can recognize that we are financially strong along with only four other counties out of the 159 counties in Georgia.”
Barlow said the commission in the past four years amended retirement plans, revised financial and human resource policies, streamlined the Open Records request process, balanced the healthcare program and renegotiated many of the large contracts for goods and services.
Next up was Maxwell with his opening comments.
A resident of Fayette since 1973, Maxwell noted his work as an attorney, former judge and former county commissioner.
“I’ve not been on the county commission for the past six years. I’m running against one county commissioner. I’m not against the county commission. So when you here some of my comments tonight that’s not anything to do with (the two current commissioners in attendance at the forum),” Maxwell said. “For the longest time after I left office I kind of ignored the county. I turned off (the news), quit reading The Citizen newspaper, so that I would not be irritated with what I saw. I finally couldn’t turn it off any longer so I decided to come back and run in this race. For somebody to get up here and tell you they are a fiscal conservative and vote the way that he’s voted is next to impossible for me to comprehend or even put together.”
Maxwell said he would provide more information “if the right question is asked.” That phrase was used several times during the forum, without explanation.
Maxwell maintained that, based on his view of the meetings, Barlow has not been a fiscal conservative.
“He’s spent a lot of money. And he’s been one of the votes. The biggest vote that happened in the last four years, back in January, he spent $800,000 in a (district voting) lawsuit,” said Maxwell. “I think there’s a lot of folks in this room that are pretty upset about that. And so to say that you’re a fiscal conservative and spend $800,000 of the county’s money and then give up on a lawsuit and fold, there’s a problem there.”
A sampling of the questions posed to the candidates included one that asked, as a commissioner, their priorities for the county.
Barlow in response said his priority is to continue with what is being done. Barlow also noted the work done by Steve Rapson.
“(Rapson) has been a marvel at going into the budget and finding areas where we can streamline things and bring things under balance. It’s not a simple remark to say that we’ve balanced the last three years with no deficit spending. That was not the case in the eight years prior to us coming into office,” said Barlow. “We came in with a commitment for no deficit spending. Many of you may remember that we took some hard decisions back in those days, very unpopular decisions. But after one year we balanced the budget with no deficit spending. I intend to continue that.”
Maxwell responded by naming several former county commissioners at the forum, saying “When you talk about a tax increase or a balanced budget, I don’t know how long it’s been since there’s been a tax increase voted on. There’s not been one. And so you (Barlow) to get up here and claim that that’s something that you did is simply not accurate.
“I’ll give Steve Rapson the benefit of the doubt. But y’all give him $200,000 of authority to make decisions the county commissioners ought to be making. I don’t know if it ought to be $25,000, but you don’t give $200,000 of ability for that guy to make that decision. That’s a county commissioner decision. That’s the reason people voted for you and you’re not doing your job.”
The candidates were asked what objectives of the Fayette Visioning Initiative they promote.
Barlow said Fayette has five municipalities and the unincorporated areas, with the municipalities once battling against each other and with significantly little communication with the county.
“Now we have a wonderful collaborative visioning process. So yes, I support it and I think the county (put up no funds of support initially) and I think the county should fund it. The collaborative part is the one I hold true to.”
Maxwell responded saying, “I read an article in The Citizen, it talks about the Millennials. And I’ll be honest, I don’t even know what a Millennial is.”
Maxwell then read the vision statement from the Millennial group included in the article.
“I try to understand that. I think that’s what we’ve already got. I don’t really know if that helps identify what a Millennial really is,” said Maxwell, noting that he grew up in Fayette and attended school here. “I care about this community. I want this community to stay the way it is. Can we do that? No. There’s always going to be change. There’s always going to be smart growth, and that’s what we’re hoping for.”
Maxwell also spoke in opposition to the current Fayetteville Downtown Master Plan initiative up for a vote by the City Council this summer and a proposal, not yet heard by the city, that would construct 80 apartments and retail space in the downtown area.
“That’s insane,” Maxwell said.
Another question asked the candidate’s view on federal grant money being used for local initiatives.
Maxwell said he recalled one federal grant during his time as a commissioner and it was turned down.
Barlow said he is opposed to federal grants to government because they come with attachments.
Maxwell in his closing statement read from the minutes of a county commission meeting earlier in the year that included a statement made by Barlow.
“(The statement he read) was when he voted with that Democrat to bring in district voting that he said he was going to run out of the county. (Commissioner) Steve Brown (at the January meeting) said the county had just spent $800,000 on that lawsuit. That’s not a fiscal conservative. You don’t spend $800,000 on a lawsuit then fold. You make a decision early on what you’re going to do, you line up the cards, you make a decision, you live with that decision. You don’t spend that kind of money as a fiscal conservative,” said Maxwell.
In his closing statement, Barlow noted his previous statements about the achievements of the current county commission.
“We achieved unanimous votes on 90 percent of issues brought to us,” said Barlow. “A commissioner’s job is not just two meetings a month. Our government business is seven days a week and requires a large commitment of my time. I’ve done my best to represent your best interest.”
For a complete video view of the forum visit www.myfayettegop.org
