Monday, July 30, 2012

Oconee County Could Have Big Changes In Its Government by End of Day Tomorrow

And Fewer Robo Calls

Oconee County voters could go to bed tomorrow night having elected a new sheriff, a majority female Board of Commissioners and a new chairman, a Board of Education chairman who knows the schools but has never been on the Board itself, a tax commissioner with legal experience but no experience in the tax commissioner office, and a woman to represent part of the county in the General Assembly.

And they could have added an additional 1 percent sales tax to the 7 percent sales tax they already pay as part of a proposal to improve regional transportation, including interchanges on SR 316.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

All Four Oconee County Board of Commissioners Candidates Want to Keep Power Balance with Chairman

No Rollback Sought

Regardless of which of the two candidates running for the chairmanship of the Oconee County Board of Commissioners wins on Tuesday, he is going to be confronted with four other commissioners who say that they want to share governance equally with the chairman.

The current four commissioners, over the objection of incumbent chairman Melvin Davis, in August of 2009 approved an ordinance requiring the county administrative officer and its finance director to report to all five Commission member, not just the chairman, as had been the case prior to passage of the ordinance.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Oconee County Commissioners Accuse Chairman Davis of Playing Politics With Salary Increases

Luke, Daniell Take Lead

The ongoing election for chairman of the Oconee County Board of Commissioners spilled over into the agenda-setting meeting tonight as the Board debated a proposal to give cost-of-living wage increases to employees of three departments funded by the state but supplemented by the county.

In the end, the Board voted unanimously to give the salary adjustments to staff members in the Superior Court, County Extension and District Attorneys Office, but only after Commissioners Jim Luke and John Daniell criticized BOC Chairman Melvin Davis for bringing the issue up in the last week of the election.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Oconee County Citizens Turn Out To Question Candidates and Learn About T-SPLOST

2 Forums 2 Nights

More than 80 people turned out for the Candidate Forum on Monday night featuring the six candidates for the Oconee County Board of Commissioners, two for the Board of Education, and one of the two candidates for sheriff.

For the second Forum on Tuesday, more than 50 people turned out to ask questions of the two contenders for the office of county Tax Commissioner, the pose questions to the two candidates for the House District 117 seat, and to hear four incumbent or former state legislators from Oconee County talk about the history of the Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax ballot issue.

Sunday, July 08, 2012

Oconee County Board of Commissioners and Board of Education Contests To Start Candidate Forums Monday and Tuesday

Other Contests Follow

The Candidate Forum scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. tomorrow night in the Community Center at Veterans Park on Hog Mountain Road will begin with all six candidates running for the three Commission posts at center stage.

Each candidate will be given two minutes to introduce herself or himself before taking questions directly from the audience.