Rousseau presses for joint countywide planning efforts

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Fayette County Commission members attending the 2018 retreat on April 18-20 included, from left in the foreground, commissioners Chuck Oddo, Charles Rousseau and Randy Ognio, Chairman Eric Maxwell and Commissioner Steve Brown. Photo/Ben Nelms.
Fayette County Commission members attending the 2018 retreat on April 18-20 included, from left in the foreground, commissioners Chuck Oddo, Charles Rousseau and Randy Ognio, Chairman Eric Maxwell and Commissioner Steve Brown. Photo/Ben Nelms.

Among the discussion items at the Fayette County Commission’s 2018 retreat were the creation of a countywide comprehensive plan, strengthening the ethics ordinance and the county attorney’s contract.


Above, Fayette County Commission members attending the 2018 retreat on April 18-20 included, from left in the foreground, commissioners Chuck Oddo, Charles Rousseau and Randy Ognio, Chairman Eric Maxwell and Commissioner Steve Brown. Photo/Ben Nelms.


As is customary each year, the 2018 retreat comes as budget time is just around the corner.

All the items came with a brief discussion. One of those, submitted by Commissioner Charles Rousseau, dealt with the idea of creating a countywide comprehensive plan.

By law, each county and municipality in Georgia must operate under a comprehensive plan, essentially looking at what a given community envisions for itself in the coming two decades. Central to comprehensive plans are land uses and zoning.

Commissioners suggested that County Administrator Steve Rapson check with the municipalities to determine interest in developing a comprehensive plan that would review the entire comprehensive plan of each entity and include areas of potential annexation and those relating zoning issues.

Also submitted by Rousseau and pertaining to the ethics ordinance, commissioners suggested looking at future local legislation that would include consequences for issues such as the public disclosure of items from executive session.

Another item, brought by Commissioner Steve Brown, dealt with a discussion of the county attorney’s contract. Brown requested that attorney Dennis Davenport submit a professional letter of engagement, a letter outlining the legal services his firm provides and the associated costs.