Thanks, commissioners, for doing your jobs well

Thanks, commissioners,

for doing your jobs well

No news is usually good news

when we're talking about people who serve in elected office and the job

they do taking care of their responsibilities.

Recently, we've had a situation

like that. As we're all aware, last year Georgia continued to suffer from

drought. News stories from around the state talked about the dangerously

low water supply levels in many of the areas around us. Sometimes counties

and towns were down to a water supply that was measured in weeks. They

had serious concerns that they would literally run out of water. Think

about what a personal, economic and public health problem that would be.

Fayette County was never mentioned

in these stories, did you notice? Water stories mentioning Fayette were

about the fact that we had an adequate supply of water. Do you know what

was different about us? It was Lake Horton. Over a period of years, several

Boards of County Commissioners did the job they were elected to do. Lake

Horton was built for us on time and under budget and we had it when we

needed it. We owe our thanks to them and to those whom they selected to

manage the project.

I think we see the same pattern

with the new county jail. We've had articles about the location of the

jail, how the jail will be financed and who's going to pay for it. We

won't see articles in the future about the lack of a jail. It will be

a non-issue because the problem will be solved.

This should be our main consideration

when we elect people to public office. Can they manage the job, will they

spend our tax money wisely and will they do what is necessary (as a conservative,

I generally prefer that they only do what is necessary)? Anything else

we get, such as eloquent philosophical expressions or a great personality

should be a secondary bonus.

We've been selective, or lucky,

with some of the individuals we've elected to serve on our Commission.

When elected officials do a poor job, we usually let them know it. But,

what do we do when they do the job they were elected to do and, they do

it well? Usually, we are quiet. No news is good news for them, too.

While I don't think most of

them expect a great outpouring of public praise, I wanted to express a

"thank-you" from one citizen and voter to those who have done

well for us. I appreciate the water and will appreciate having an adequate

jail that won't be in the news in the future.

Peter Pfeifer

Peachtree City