I have a few more meetings this week with other citizen groups.  I think we are starting to find some areas of compromise and I continue to look forward to working with the home owners in the South Hall area.  

There are basically 3 items that make up the rates for any utility: 1- operating costs, 2- debt service, and 3- capital improvements.  The commission reduced the debt service by using SPLOST dollars to make the debt service payment on the $30+m sewer line back up to Gainesville.  However, I feel mislead in the use of the SPLOST dollars because I now find that they are only making the payments on the debt.  That means in 6 years when SPLOST has expired, we are back where we started.  Talk about kicking the can down the road. 

The other issue is the operating costs of over $780k per year.  I figure that cost to be at least $200k per year more than it should be.  That alone would reduce the rates by another $10 per month.  

So here we are 1 year later and it seems like we are back to square 1. 

It took the commissioner 78 days to direct a staff person to send a fax to our staff person requesting that we postpone a public hearing; a public hearing that was advertised in the paper and where the city took the expense to mail out letters to over 300 residents in the area.  The county couldn't even make the effort to express what their concerns may be to the council or to propose a course of action.  

As the white knight rode into the council meeting to save the day, he did not ask to speak to the council, nor did he sign up for comment; instead he sat there and listened to the majority of the citizens agree with the city that they did not want the quality of structure the county would allow (i.e. the dollar store on Atlanta Highway) in that area.  Then when it was all said and done, he followed the reporters out of the meeting to ensure that he got his quotes on how the city was bashing the county.  The most improbable quote from the commissioner had to be, "you don’t belong here you don’t live in Flowery Branch go home".  

Unlike the county that never lifted a finger until it was too late, the city's staff has been working for months with the community on their concerns.  If you want to see community service, watch the City of Flowery Branch in the next couple of weeks as we work with the community to improve South Hall County.  

The people that spoke out against the annexation and rezoning can be classified into 3 basic groups: 1- those that did not want anything built, 2- those that were misinformed about the type of rezoning, and 3- those who didn't care as long as they don't see it, hear it, or smell it.  

The first group of people just don't want anything to be built.  They spoke out against residential in 2004, and against highway business and light industrial now.  They moved to the area and would now like the government to prevent a landowner from exercising their land use rights.  All I can offer to that group is to let them know that the property is for sale.  If you would like to buy it, the government will not force you to build on it.  I should mention, however, that once it is rezoned, the property taxes will increase because M-1 and HB are more valuable than agricultural.   

The second group is a little difficult because there are some underlying issues and I think the message got lost.  To this group I would like to say that while I tried to delay the rezoning, we still have time.  Please feel free to contact me or the City Staff to learn more about the land uses prohibited in the zoning application.  I think when you line it up to the county uses, you will find that we have essentially created a light industrial area.  

To the last group, please know that I will be working with our staff over the next couple of weeks to mitigate the impacts on the area by applying conditions requiring offsets and buffers.  Our current zoning codes offer a lot of protection, but I will work to try and make the impact as minimal as possible. 

Over the past several weeks, I have received a lot of calls on this issue.  The vast majority of people know that I am running for County Commission.  I think some see this as a litmus test on the type of commissioner I would become.  I can say this, I hope this vote shows that I am pro quality growth; I would like more time to communicate the message; and I am willing to make the hard decisions, even if it has a political cost.  I think Commissioner Banks may have been right when he said after the meeting that he got more votes tonight than I did.  While that may be the case, at least I was willing to take action.  More to come.... 

In other news, I have been talking with Hall County about the operating costs for the sewer plant on Spout Springs.  If we can lower the cost, then we can keep the sewer rates down.  I talked to our city manager about the possibility of Flowery Branch operating the plant.  We feel that if Flowery Branch were to operate the plant, then we can reduce the cost by a third.  

It sounds like we may be getting some traction on lowering the operating costs.  I was told that Hall County will issue a RFP (Request for Proposal) by September.  Since it will cost the City between $3-5k to put together a proposal, I insisted that the RFP be issued.  Unfortunately, the RFP will be issued to late to impact the inevitable rate increase that we will see in a month or so.

As Paul's website, www.hccfeg.org/study, points out, home values have plummeted in Hall County over the past several years.  We need to ensure that everyone is paying the correct amount of property tax based on the law.  We also need to assure the citizens of the County that people working for the county are acting with the utmost integrity and ethical standards. 

Good luck Paul, I will be pulling for you. 

I knew from the James Mills / Dr. Chris Strickland campaign in '08 that someone from the left would point out that my kids do not attend Hall County schools.  At this time, it is true.  My girls are blessed to be able to attend the same school where my wife teaches.  Since her school system and the Hall County school system are on different schedules, it only makes sense that they go to elementary school with my wife.  That way when my wife works, we do not have to worry about the kids being home alone.  I would think the taxpayers in Hall County would be happy that I am saving us about $85k in educational expenses over the time my girls are in another school system.  

And just for your information, I am employed by AT&T and my wife is a Gwinnett County school teacher.   I don't know what kind of benefits a Hall County commissioner gets, but it can't be better than what I have now; and based on the qualifying fee, there can't be much of a paycheck in this gig.  

As I have said to anyone that asks, I believe I can help.  If the voters don't think so, then I will continue on with life.  As far as my "chances".... I believe that by running, we will have a better commissioner in South Hall county.  If I lose, then the winner will either adopt the planks in my platform or the voters will decide that it isn't important.  Either way, we get a better, more accountable commissioner in the future.  However, if you want to bet against me, I am sure the others will accept your donations to their campaigns.  

Probably the most important item to be addressed in a campaign is who can help manage the organization allowing the candidate, me, to campaign.  The Campaign Manager has to know the election strategy, act as a sounding board for the candidate, and coordinate the organizational aspects of the campaign.  Today, I was blessed to have someone that I truly respect offer to take on this roll.  Kerry Cook who served as the Republican District 1 vice chair from 2004-2005 and the Hall County Republican chairman from 2005-2006 has offered to take on this challenging role.  He is my number 1 draft choice and I am so glad that he will be on the team.  

Kerry Cook is a well respected member of the party, a terrific advisor and a friend.  I am proud to have him serve beside me for the next 6 to 9 months as we take our message on the road in South Hall County.  

Mayor, Council and Citizens, 

Last Friday, Council member Fetterman and I met with the Hall County Chairman, Mr. Andrew and the county manager. The purpose of the meeting was to see if we could get some assistance with the Spring Street culvert that was washed out on December 9. This was a last hope measure after we received word that the bureaucracy involved with any state assistance proved to be more of a hindrance than help. Going into the meeting my thought was that the citizens of Flowery Branch were also county taxpayers. I was hoping to find some relief to the 10% budget hit the city will take. Any assistance would prevent us from pushing out desperately needed projects until future budget years. The money that we are using to repair the culvert was earmarked to replace a police car and fix other transportation issues in the city. 

Unfortunately, all we could come back to this council with is the promise of a cooperative meeting between the state, county and city. I have copied the letter of commitment and passed it out to the council members. 

Then yesterday, several members of the community were invited to attend a briefing on the South Hall sewer rate study. While the study seems to be fair, it highlights that there are long term issues with the rate structure that if left alone will come back to hurt the sewer users financially in just a couple of years. 

The fundamental problems that lead to the lack of funds to assist our community with the culvert and to the sewer issues are both founded on issues that could have been resolved with conservative thought and action. As members of government, we have a fiduciary duty in how we expend the taxes that are collected. It seems that when times were good our county over spent. While that mistake is in the past, I feel that we are further compounding the issues by poor project prioritization like parks being prioritized over roads. Yes, parks are a good thing to have in the community, but if there are no roads to get you there, then what good to they serve? Roads are also the lifeblood of development and jobs, both of which are in short supply at the moment. With time to reflect on these thoughts, I believe that our issues in this county have less to do with change, but more to do with direction and vision. 

With this in mind and after talking with my family and friends, I have come to the conclusion that the only way to correct our course is to become more involved at the county level. Therefore, I would like to declare my intent to run for County Commission, post 1, this year. 

In moving forward with my campaign I want to assure the citizens of Flowery Branch that if a special election is needed to fill my seat, I will pay for it. I also want to say that while there is still business to conduct here in Flowery Branch, it is my hope that the voters of South Hall County will agree that I can help more if I were allowed to represent the community at the county level. I believe that I can help bring peace and cooperation between the county and municipalities. Through a cooperative effort, I believe that we can get the county back on the right track.

Yes, as reported Council member Fetterman was the 1st person to endorse me.  Thanks to everyone that was there to share the moment.  

This afternoon, I met with Commissioner Banks, Hall County Staff and several residents from Deaton Creek, Reunion and Sterling on the Lake to discuss the proposed sewer rates and study.  The major revelation for me occurred when we were told that the current SPLOST is only paying for the debt service on the $34m line to Gainesville.  If we do not renew the SPLOST in 6 years, we will be sunk.   

Good luck in what ever you decide to do in the future.  

The Chairman also mentioned that he wanted to get the cities together to discuss the collection of sales tax.  He said that the county has been working with the department of revenue and turned up several issues that could be costing the county and municipalities as much as 30% of revenue.  Interesting.  The meeting is scheduled for next week.  

Former Council member Ed Lezaj approached the council to remind is that even though 4 of us are from one neighborhood, we represent everyone in the city.  Mr. Lezaj should command a lot of respect from the council because as he said this was once a dysfunctional council and there were times when there was heavy representation from one area.  

As normal, I have archived my blogs to make them faster to load.  The old blog can be found here.