Not a Routine Year
The public will be given a chance to comment on the proposed 2010 Fiscal Year Budget during a scheduled half-hour hearing Tuesday night at the courthouse in Watkinsville.
Almost no details of the budget have been released to the public or discussed in the media, so it is unlikely the few citizens who show up at the 6:30 p.m. hearing will have much to say.
That’s not because the budget is likely to be a routine one.
Commissioner Chuck Horton said to me in response to questions I asked him on Thursday that the commissioners are being told the projected revenue from all sources for the budget starting July 1 will be about $21 million.
That is $2 million less than the county expected to collect this year and $4 million less than the county had budgeted to spend this year. The budget approved for fiscal year 2008-2009 drew $2 million from county reserves to cover the $25.2 million in projected general fund expenditures.
According to a report county Finance Director Jeff Benko gave to the BOC on April 21, the county had collected $17.3 million as of the end of the first three-quarters of the year, or 75 percent of the expected revenue.
Benko told the board, however, that he was projecting a $1.2 million shortfall in general fund revenue by the fiscal year’s end on June 30.
Collections from the penny-per-dollar Local Option Sales Tax--one important source of county General Fund revenue--have been running behind most of this year and were down $127,580 in April compared with a year earlier.
The county has frozen spending in many categories to bring expenses in line with revenue.
The Utility Department, which operates with its own budget, had collected only $3.7 million during the first nine months of last year, Benko reported. That represented 57 percent of income, versus the expected 75 percent.
Utility Department Director Chris Thomas told the BOC at a budget meeting on April 15 that he needs a 32 percent increase in base water rates and a 24 percent increase in base sewer rates as part of his budget for 2009-2010.
Commissioners in short order will have to approve that budget and the rate increases as well as figure out how to deal with the $4 million General Fund shortfall. They can cut back on expenses, dip again into the reserves, increase property taxes or do some combination of these.
The budget is supposed to be in place by July 1, and the first item on the BOC agenda at the regular meeting on Tuesday night is the 2010 Fiscal Year Budget.
That meeting starts immediately behind the official public hearing, meaning the public will be commenting without the information given to the commissioners only a few minutes later.
Among the missing pieces of information is the Tax Digest, or the estimated worth of property in the county. The value of property in the county determines the amount of money a set property tax will produce.
The Athens paper has written extensively about budget problems in Athens-Clarke County but largely ignored the problems in Oconee. The local weeklies have been even worse.
Without more information, the public isn’t in a very good position to ask tough questions about the budget at the required legal public hearing Tuesday. Only a half hour has been set aside at any rate.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Oconee BOC Spends 3+ Hours in CEO Debate
How Many Chefs the Question?
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners spent three plus hours tonight trying once again to figure out how to decrease the power of the board chairman and increase the power of the other four commissioners without changing the county’s enabling legislation.
In the end, the board agreed to meet again in five weeks to consider what County Attorney Daniel Haygood can put on paper that reflects what the four commissioners want and what Haygood feels they can achieve given the county’s existing legislation.
That legislation makes the board chairman both the head of the legislative branch of the county’s government and the chief executive officer of the county. Haygood told the board tonight he thinks the chairman must have broad powers as chief executive officer and the board cannot do much to change that.
In the end, the chairman can sue the board if the chairman thinks power has been improperly usurped, and the courts generally have sided with the chairman, Haygood said.
What the board can do, however, according to Haygood, is change the reporting lines in the county.
The board told Haygood to create the legal documents needed to make the county’s administrative officer and finance director report to the full board, rather than just to Chairman Melvin Davis, as is the case at present.
The organizational chart the four commissioners said they want to adopt would put Administrative Officer Alan Theriault and Finance Director Jeff Benko under the control of the full five member board, along with County Attorney Haygood and County Clerk Gina Lindsey.
The other department heads in the county would report to the administrative officer.
The four commissioners and Davis, working with facilitator Gordon Maner of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia, next began elaborating on the things they want Davis as chief executive officer to do.
Included on the list were such things as economic development, public relations, maintaining a full-time office in the courthouse and coordinating intergovernmental activities.
Haygood said he would add to the list some language that elaborated on "what is the general overriding responsibility of a CEO."
Commissioner Margaret Hale expressed frustration with the discussion at several points, saying "I don’t see anything happening."
Davis made his position clear as well: "I don’t think you can have individuals reporting to five people."
The four commissioners had set as a goal having a new organizational chart and new operating procedures in place by July 1.
Haygood said he will send pieces of his proposed document spelling out the responsibilities of the chairman, the administrative officer, the finance director and others to the board for discussion and reaction before the next meeting on June 23.
Earlier in the evening, Haygood had warned the board in another context that meetings by email were covered by the state’s open records laws, meaning they had to be open to the public.
He did not reconcile that advice with his request for feedback on his proposed documents so that the board could hash out differences and come to at least general agreement before it meets again on June 23.
Ten people, including two reporters, attended the meeting tonight. Once again, they were not given any chance to talk. No mention was made during the three hour and nearly 30 minutes of discussion of citizens or how they might be involved in the discussions before any new procedures were put into place.
[I made a video recording of the meeting and will upload it to my Vimeo site as soon as I have edited it.]
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners spent three plus hours tonight trying once again to figure out how to decrease the power of the board chairman and increase the power of the other four commissioners without changing the county’s enabling legislation.
In the end, the board agreed to meet again in five weeks to consider what County Attorney Daniel Haygood can put on paper that reflects what the four commissioners want and what Haygood feels they can achieve given the county’s existing legislation.
That legislation makes the board chairman both the head of the legislative branch of the county’s government and the chief executive officer of the county. Haygood told the board tonight he thinks the chairman must have broad powers as chief executive officer and the board cannot do much to change that.
In the end, the chairman can sue the board if the chairman thinks power has been improperly usurped, and the courts generally have sided with the chairman, Haygood said.
What the board can do, however, according to Haygood, is change the reporting lines in the county.
The board told Haygood to create the legal documents needed to make the county’s administrative officer and finance director report to the full board, rather than just to Chairman Melvin Davis, as is the case at present.
The organizational chart the four commissioners said they want to adopt would put Administrative Officer Alan Theriault and Finance Director Jeff Benko under the control of the full five member board, along with County Attorney Haygood and County Clerk Gina Lindsey.
The other department heads in the county would report to the administrative officer.
The four commissioners and Davis, working with facilitator Gordon Maner of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia, next began elaborating on the things they want Davis as chief executive officer to do.
Included on the list were such things as economic development, public relations, maintaining a full-time office in the courthouse and coordinating intergovernmental activities.
Haygood said he would add to the list some language that elaborated on "what is the general overriding responsibility of a CEO."
Commissioner Margaret Hale expressed frustration with the discussion at several points, saying "I don’t see anything happening."
Davis made his position clear as well: "I don’t think you can have individuals reporting to five people."
The four commissioners had set as a goal having a new organizational chart and new operating procedures in place by July 1.
Haygood said he will send pieces of his proposed document spelling out the responsibilities of the chairman, the administrative officer, the finance director and others to the board for discussion and reaction before the next meeting on June 23.
Earlier in the evening, Haygood had warned the board in another context that meetings by email were covered by the state’s open records laws, meaning they had to be open to the public.
He did not reconcile that advice with his request for feedback on his proposed documents so that the board could hash out differences and come to at least general agreement before it meets again on June 23.
Ten people, including two reporters, attended the meeting tonight. Once again, they were not given any chance to talk. No mention was made during the three hour and nearly 30 minutes of discussion of citizens or how they might be involved in the discussions before any new procedures were put into place.
[I made a video recording of the meeting and will upload it to my Vimeo site as soon as I have edited it.]
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Oconee BOC to Resume Conversation on May 19
What To Do With a CEO?
Oconee County’s four commissioners, who will resume their conversation about county administrative procedures next week, have been much clearer about what they do not want Board Chairman Melvin Davis to do in the future than about what they do want him to do.
The four said at the May 6 work session that they do not want Davis to be the sole day-to-day manager of county activities. They want a county manager–or someone with a title similar to that–to run the county under their and Davis’ supervision.
What Davis is supposed to do under a new organizational chart proposed at that May 6 meeting is something the four commissioners and Davis are set to negotiate at another work session starting at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday at the Community Center in Veterans Park on Hog Mountain road.
At the end of the May 6 session, the five agreed tentatively to an organizational chart for county government that removes Davis from his position as chief executive officer of the county sitting between the board and the departmental administrators and places him off to the side with unspecified responsibilities.
The problem is–or at least could be–that the chairman of the board of commissioners is designated in the county’s enabling legislation as both chief executive officer of the county and chairman of the commission. In other words, he is both head of the executive and head of the legislative branches of the county government.
Davis made it clear at the May 6 work session that he feels he ran for reelection five years ago and again last year promising to be a strong chief executive, and he isn’t going to be in favor of the new organizational chart until he knows what is left for him to do in any new configuration.
Davis’ comment about his election raises implicitly a question about what citizens thinks about the current way county government operates and about how it should operate in the future.
No one knows what citizens think, because no one has asked.
At the May 6 meeting, Gordon Maner of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia made it clear that citizen input was not only not being sought at that time, but was not even wanted.
Commissioner Chuck Horton said at one point at the May 6 meeting that he thought the public ought to be given a chance to speak, but neither he nor anyone else has offered any concrete plans for soliciting citizen input.
What the commissioners have said is that they want to have in place by July 1 a new set of operating procedures for county government, and they expect to implement those procedures via formal votes of the commissioners.
Commissioners Margaret Hale, Jim Luke and Chuck Horton have made it clear that they feel past efforts to solve informally what they see as a problem with county government have not worked.
In their view, Chairman Davis does not provide them with the information they need and does not allow the department heads he controls to do so either.
The meeting on May 6 started with a discussion of creating a county manager–either with that title or another–to do what Davis currently does.
Harry Hayes, also of the Carl Vinson Institute, reviewed for the board his study of Oconee County’s government and of nine other counties selected for comparison.
Each of the nine selected counties has a full-time chairman and an administrative officer, as does Oconee County. The counties vary, however, in how much power they give to the chairman.
In fact, the 159 counties in Georgia have a variety of different forms of government. Hayes reported that 73 percent of them (116) have either an administrator or a manager, but how much power that administrator or manager has varies.
Commissioner Chuck Horton, who has served on the Oconee County Board of Education, said at the May 6 meeting he felt the county could benefit from having a strong manager, somewhat like a school superintendent, with the four commissioners and chairman providing policy guidance to that manager, whom they could hire and fire.
At present, Alan Theriault, who holds the title of administrative officer, is a type of county manager, but, according to the organizational chart Davis provided Hayes for his study, Theriault reports only to Davis.
How far the county can move in the direction of creating a strong manager under the control the whole board without changing the enabling legislation is an open question, but Horton was clear in saying at the May 6 meeting he is willing to change the legislation if necessary.
The enabling legislation for the county can be changed, however, only by the Georgia General Assembly. Local Rep. Bob Smith and Sen. Bill Cowsert are under no obligation to introduce such legislation, and it will not pass the Assembly without their support.
In the past, local members of the Assembly have been willing to introduce legislation only if there is agreement among all the affected parties. In this case, that would seem to include Davis.
Senators and representatives in Georgia serve two-year terms, which means they can be kept on a short leash by the voters. If citizens had a strong feeling about what changes they wanted in the local enabling legislation, Cowsert and Smith probably would listen.
Since no one has asked, however, no one knows what changes the citizens might want in that legislation. The legislation could be changed to increase or decrease the number of commissioners, to create districts for the commissioners and to establish an elected executive who would not be part of the commission.
At present, the only thing that differentiates Davis from the other four commissioners is that Davis chose to run for commission chairman. All five commissioners run at large, meaning they have the same constituency.
In the November general election, when all five ran without Democratic opposition, the four commissioners each got more votes than did Davis, who faced a write-in candidate.
Rather than try to decrease the power of Davis, the four commissioners could try to increase their own power. At present, County Attorney Daniel Haygood and Clerk Gina Lindsey report to the full commission, and the board could turn to these two as sources of information.
Haygood said at the May 6 meeting that the Board already calls on him more now than in the past.
At that meeting, however, the board made it clear it wanted County Administrative Officer Theriault and County Finance Director Jeff Benko to report to the full board, rather than just to Davis, as is now the case.
Davis’ response has been that this will be inherently less "efficient and effective," and CVIOG’s Harry Hayes said the county could lose efficiency and effectiveness as a result of the proposed changes.
Do citizens want an efficient and effective government, or a more open, though perhaps less efficient and effective, one? Would citizens like the commissioners to have the resources to serve as a check on the power of the chairman?
Tools and techniques for learning the answers to these questions exist, but someone has to want to use them.
The focus at Tuesday’s meeting is supposed to be on what to do with Davis in his role as chief executive officer of the county. Unlike in business, as County Attorney Haygood reminded the four, they cannot just fire him.
Note: The video from the May 6 meeting is available at my vimeo site.
Friday, May 08, 2009
GDOT Mitigates Oconee Site in Jackson, Hall
Better Upstream than Down?
The Georgia Department of Transportation will mitigate damage it will do to streams and wetlands on tributaries to McNutt Creek in Oconee County with stream and wetland credits it has purchased from commercial mitigation sites in Jackson and Hall counties.
GDOT has purchased 3.2 wetland credits from Jeffco Boys LLC of Atlanta for a mitigation bank the company operates on the Middle Oconee River in Jackson County and 3,268 stream credits from Environmental Services Inc. of Stone Mountain for a mitigation bank that firm operates on a tributary to the Middle Oconee River in Hall County.
GDOT needed these wetland and stream credits as a condition for a permit the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has issued for construction of the Oconee Connector Extension that will create a loop from SR 316 at the current intersection with the Oconee Connector back to Epps Bridge Parkway near Lowe’s.
The roadway will cross streams and wetlands as it makes the loop.
The GDOT project is being undertaken to open up land for commercial development. Oconee County in October rezoned 63 acres between Lowe’s and SR Loop 10 for a $76 million shopping center to be built by Frank Bishop of Atlanta.
The USACE permit, reissued on Jan. 22, 2008, to GDOT, allows it to impact 726 linear feet of intermittent streams and 0.4 acres of wetlands to build the roadway, identified in state and federal documents as the Jennings Mill Parkway Extension, but referred to locally as the Oconee Connector Extension.
Bishop also will fill or pave over streams and wetlands on the site of his shopping center, and USACE. allowed him to mitigate the damage with credits from a site Bishop purchased in Greene County, south of Oconee County.
The Jackson County site is upstream of the bridge on which SR11 crosses the Middle Oconee River, according to Tim Funk of Wetland & Ecological Consultants LLC, which operates the site for Jeffco Boys.
The Hall County site, called the Chicopee Woods Mitigation Bank, is on Walnut Creek in the Elachee Nature Science Center, according to Kevin Middlebrooks of Environmental Services Inc.
Most of the water the Oconee County Utility Department sells comes from the Bear Creek Reservoir, which draws and stores water from the Middle Oconee downstream from these two sites. The reservoir is in Jackson County.
On May 5 the Oconee County Board of Commissioners referred to the citizen advisory Land Use and Transportation Committee a resolution drafted by attorney Katie Sheehan that would put the BOC on record with the Corps of Engineers as preferring mitigation in Oconee County for damage done to streams and wetlands in the county.
The advisory committee is to report back to the BOC once it has reviewed the resolution, which Sheehan drafted after talking with me and reading several blogs I had written on mitigation for Bishop’s shopping center.
Sheehan told me on Thursday that she had sent to the Land Use and Transportation Committee a revision to the resolution that would state a preference for upstream as opposed to downstream sites for mitigation if none were available in the county.
Sheehan is a staff attorney at the River Basin Center in the Eugene P. Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia.
Jeffco Boys and Environmental Services Inc. were the low bidders for the mitigation credits, according to Bobby Adams in the GDOT Office of Procurement. Jeffco Boys bid $21,440 for the 3.2 wetland units and Environmental Services Inc. bid $179,740 for the 3,268 stream credits.
GDOT issued an invitation to bid on the Oconee Connector Extension credits and 19 others on Feb. 24, 2009. Adams said the state delayed purchasing the credits needed for the project because of a lack of funds. The state has not yet released the names of the competing bidders.
On April 24 GDOT deferred awarding a bid for the Oconee Connector construction. Adams told me on Tuesday that the "lack of mitigation credits was a big part of that deferral."
Mary Dills from USACE told me on Wednesday that the Corps had received the paperwork for the wetlands credits but had not yet received the paperwork certifying that the stream bank credits had been purchased.
Adams said that check was cut earlier this week.
The Georgia Department of Transportation will mitigate damage it will do to streams and wetlands on tributaries to McNutt Creek in Oconee County with stream and wetland credits it has purchased from commercial mitigation sites in Jackson and Hall counties.
GDOT has purchased 3.2 wetland credits from Jeffco Boys LLC of Atlanta for a mitigation bank the company operates on the Middle Oconee River in Jackson County and 3,268 stream credits from Environmental Services Inc. of Stone Mountain for a mitigation bank that firm operates on a tributary to the Middle Oconee River in Hall County.
GDOT needed these wetland and stream credits as a condition for a permit the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has issued for construction of the Oconee Connector Extension that will create a loop from SR 316 at the current intersection with the Oconee Connector back to Epps Bridge Parkway near Lowe’s.
The roadway will cross streams and wetlands as it makes the loop.
The GDOT project is being undertaken to open up land for commercial development. Oconee County in October rezoned 63 acres between Lowe’s and SR Loop 10 for a $76 million shopping center to be built by Frank Bishop of Atlanta.
The USACE permit, reissued on Jan. 22, 2008, to GDOT, allows it to impact 726 linear feet of intermittent streams and 0.4 acres of wetlands to build the roadway, identified in state and federal documents as the Jennings Mill Parkway Extension, but referred to locally as the Oconee Connector Extension.
Bishop also will fill or pave over streams and wetlands on the site of his shopping center, and USACE. allowed him to mitigate the damage with credits from a site Bishop purchased in Greene County, south of Oconee County.
The Jackson County site is upstream of the bridge on which SR11 crosses the Middle Oconee River, according to Tim Funk of Wetland & Ecological Consultants LLC, which operates the site for Jeffco Boys.
The Hall County site, called the Chicopee Woods Mitigation Bank, is on Walnut Creek in the Elachee Nature Science Center, according to Kevin Middlebrooks of Environmental Services Inc.
Most of the water the Oconee County Utility Department sells comes from the Bear Creek Reservoir, which draws and stores water from the Middle Oconee downstream from these two sites. The reservoir is in Jackson County.
On May 5 the Oconee County Board of Commissioners referred to the citizen advisory Land Use and Transportation Committee a resolution drafted by attorney Katie Sheehan that would put the BOC on record with the Corps of Engineers as preferring mitigation in Oconee County for damage done to streams and wetlands in the county.
The advisory committee is to report back to the BOC once it has reviewed the resolution, which Sheehan drafted after talking with me and reading several blogs I had written on mitigation for Bishop’s shopping center.
Sheehan told me on Thursday that she had sent to the Land Use and Transportation Committee a revision to the resolution that would state a preference for upstream as opposed to downstream sites for mitigation if none were available in the county.
Sheehan is a staff attorney at the River Basin Center in the Eugene P. Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia.
Jeffco Boys and Environmental Services Inc. were the low bidders for the mitigation credits, according to Bobby Adams in the GDOT Office of Procurement. Jeffco Boys bid $21,440 for the 3.2 wetland units and Environmental Services Inc. bid $179,740 for the 3,268 stream credits.
GDOT issued an invitation to bid on the Oconee Connector Extension credits and 19 others on Feb. 24, 2009. Adams said the state delayed purchasing the credits needed for the project because of a lack of funds. The state has not yet released the names of the competing bidders.
On April 24 GDOT deferred awarding a bid for the Oconee Connector construction. Adams told me on Tuesday that the "lack of mitigation credits was a big part of that deferral."
Mary Dills from USACE told me on Wednesday that the Corps had received the paperwork for the wetlands credits but had not yet received the paperwork certifying that the stream bank credits had been purchased.
Adams said that check was cut earlier this week.
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Oconee BOC Outlines New Organizational Chart
Board Gains, Chair Does Not
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners spent a little more than three hours tonight in a work session that ended in tentative agreement on an organizational chart that would greatly increase the power of the four commissioners and decrease the unchecked authority of Board Chairman Melvin Davis.
The board cancelled its meeting for tomorrow night and agreed to meet instead at 5:30 p.m. on May 19, again at the Community Center of Veterans Park, to flesh out the organizational chart by detailing the responsibilities of the chairman and the county administrative officer as well as of others on the chart.
After rejecting other charts drawn by board members, Davis tentatively agreed to an organization chart (see picture at left) in which the county finance officer, administrative officer (operational officer), clerk and attorney report to the Board of Commissioners as a whole. At present, only the county clerk and the county attorney report to the full board.
The organizational chart that was tentatively accepted distinguished between the responsibilities of Davis as chairman of the Board of Commissioners and as chief executive officer of the county, but it assigns no responsibilities to Davis as CEO. The board agreed to spell those out at the meeting on May 19.
Davis’ acceptance of the proposed chart, largely crafted by the other four commissioners, is tentative based on learning the responsibilities of the chairman as CEO, he said.
The board would have to formally vote on a set of administrative rules to make the organizational chart a reality. The board stated as a goal putting such changes in place by July 1.
The board reached agreement after discussing for much of the evening alternative charts to describe the operation of the county.
At the suggestion of Harry Hayes of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia, the board tried to focus on changes that could be made without changing the enabling legislation for the county.
The conversation crossed the line at several points, however, with Commissioner Chuck Horton emphasizing that he wanted the chairman of the board to be required to vote. At present the chairman votes only in the case of a tie, as prescribed in the enabling legislation.
Commissioner John Daniell said he wanted the chairman to vote and also wanted to change how salaries for the chairman and the other four commissioners are set. The latter also is controlled by the enabling legislation for the county.
To change the enabling legislation, either Rep. Bob Smith or Sen. Bill Cowsert would have to introduce new legislation that would be passed by the state General Assembly. The two are under no obligation to introduce such legislation.
The meeting covered a lot of territory from an earlier session on Sept. 25, 2008. Complaints about the inadequacy of information filtering down to the commissioners were made forcefully by Commissioners Jim Luke, Margaret Hale and Horton.
Ten members of the public, including two reporters, sat in the back of the room for much of the discussion. Gordon Maner, also from the Carl Vinson Institute, served as facilitator for the meeting and said at the meeting’s outset that the public would not be allowed to participate in the discussion.
Horton said near the end of the meeting that the public should have a chance to voice its preference on administrative structure before a final decision is made by the board.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners spent a little more than three hours tonight in a work session that ended in tentative agreement on an organizational chart that would greatly increase the power of the four commissioners and decrease the unchecked authority of Board Chairman Melvin Davis.
The board cancelled its meeting for tomorrow night and agreed to meet instead at 5:30 p.m. on May 19, again at the Community Center of Veterans Park, to flesh out the organizational chart by detailing the responsibilities of the chairman and the county administrative officer as well as of others on the chart.After rejecting other charts drawn by board members, Davis tentatively agreed to an organization chart (see picture at left) in which the county finance officer, administrative officer (operational officer), clerk and attorney report to the Board of Commissioners as a whole. At present, only the county clerk and the county attorney report to the full board.
The organizational chart that was tentatively accepted distinguished between the responsibilities of Davis as chairman of the Board of Commissioners and as chief executive officer of the county, but it assigns no responsibilities to Davis as CEO. The board agreed to spell those out at the meeting on May 19.
Davis’ acceptance of the proposed chart, largely crafted by the other four commissioners, is tentative based on learning the responsibilities of the chairman as CEO, he said.
The board would have to formally vote on a set of administrative rules to make the organizational chart a reality. The board stated as a goal putting such changes in place by July 1.
The board reached agreement after discussing for much of the evening alternative charts to describe the operation of the county.
At the suggestion of Harry Hayes of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia, the board tried to focus on changes that could be made without changing the enabling legislation for the county.
The conversation crossed the line at several points, however, with Commissioner Chuck Horton emphasizing that he wanted the chairman of the board to be required to vote. At present the chairman votes only in the case of a tie, as prescribed in the enabling legislation.
Commissioner John Daniell said he wanted the chairman to vote and also wanted to change how salaries for the chairman and the other four commissioners are set. The latter also is controlled by the enabling legislation for the county.
To change the enabling legislation, either Rep. Bob Smith or Sen. Bill Cowsert would have to introduce new legislation that would be passed by the state General Assembly. The two are under no obligation to introduce such legislation.
The meeting covered a lot of territory from an earlier session on Sept. 25, 2008. Complaints about the inadequacy of information filtering down to the commissioners were made forcefully by Commissioners Jim Luke, Margaret Hale and Horton.
Ten members of the public, including two reporters, sat in the back of the room for much of the discussion. Gordon Maner, also from the Carl Vinson Institute, served as facilitator for the meeting and said at the meeting’s outset that the public would not be allowed to participate in the discussion.
Horton said near the end of the meeting that the public should have a chance to voice its preference on administrative structure before a final decision is made by the board.
Monday, May 04, 2009
Oconee BOC Faces Power of General Assembly
What’s the Meaning of Unanimous?
If Oconee County’s four commissioners this week decide they want to change the way the county operates through new enabling legislation, they are going to have to deal with the power of state Rep. Bob Smith and Sen. Bill Cowsert.
Smith and Cowsert, neither of whom is elected solely by Oconee County voters, will determine if new legislation controlling the county’s governmental structure gets introduced in the General Assembly when it next meets. Any legislation introduced will not pass without their support.
By tradition, legislators usually have required that requests for changes in enabling legislation have the unanimous support of the government officials making the ask. The Board of Commissioners is made up of four commissioners and a chairman.
But Chairman Melvin Davis only votes in case of a tie.
Does that mean that the four commissioners alone determine what changes are requested, or will Davis, who isn’t very likely to support any change in the enabling legislation that weaken his power, have a voice as well?
Rep. Smith and Sen. Cowsert get to make the rules.
The Oconee County Board of Education learned this lesson earlier this year when it sought to increase its own salary. Smith refused to introduce the legislation in the end, though Board members said he earlier indicated he would.
Cowsert stayed in the background on that controversy, letting Smith set play king.
The Board of Commissioners is scheduled to meet at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday night at the Meeting Room in the Community Center at Veterans Park on Hog Mountain Road in what is labeled a work session. As required by law, it is open to the public.
Technically, the board will talk about a report produced by Harry Hayes, local government projects director at the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government. The real issue is what the four commissioners, each of whom serves part time, wants to do to counter the power of Davis, whose position is full time.
The structure of county government is not set by the state’s constitution, but by locally tailored enabling legislation passed by the General Assembly.
In 1998 the General Assembly made the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners both the "chief executive officer of the county" and the "presiding officer at all meetings of the board."
The chairman gets to "state every question coming before the board and to announce the decision of the board on all subjects," to "execute all ordinances, resolutions and contracts in behalf of the county," and to "act as ceremonial head of the county government."
A departmental organizational chart for the county, given to Hayes by Davis and included in the report Hayes gave to the commission on April 7, shows Davis pretty much in charge of everything.
Hayes’ report lists changes the board might make in five different areas: (1) operational communications and decision making; (2) lines of authority; (3) agenda setting procedure; (4) meeting procedure, and (5) budget procedure.
None of these involves changes in the enabling legislation.
The level of frustration of the four commissioners, voiced at a Sept. 25 meeting with Hayes, suggests they may not be satisfied with anything less.
Commissioners Jim Luke, Margaret Hale and Chuck Horton said they have tried repeatedly to make changes in the past without success. Commissioner John Daniell, whose term started only in January, did not participate in that discussion.
The complaint of Luke, Hale and Horton was simple. They said Davis, through his control the department heads, keeps them from getting the information they need to do their jobs.
The challenge before them now may be convincing Bob Smith and Bill Cowsert to do something about it.
Party won't play a role here. Cowsert, Smith, Davis and the four commissioners are all Republicans.
If Oconee County’s four commissioners this week decide they want to change the way the county operates through new enabling legislation, they are going to have to deal with the power of state Rep. Bob Smith and Sen. Bill Cowsert.
Smith and Cowsert, neither of whom is elected solely by Oconee County voters, will determine if new legislation controlling the county’s governmental structure gets introduced in the General Assembly when it next meets. Any legislation introduced will not pass without their support.
By tradition, legislators usually have required that requests for changes in enabling legislation have the unanimous support of the government officials making the ask. The Board of Commissioners is made up of four commissioners and a chairman.
But Chairman Melvin Davis only votes in case of a tie.Does that mean that the four commissioners alone determine what changes are requested, or will Davis, who isn’t very likely to support any change in the enabling legislation that weaken his power, have a voice as well?
Rep. Smith and Sen. Cowsert get to make the rules.
The Oconee County Board of Education learned this lesson earlier this year when it sought to increase its own salary. Smith refused to introduce the legislation in the end, though Board members said he earlier indicated he would.
Cowsert stayed in the background on that controversy, letting Smith set play king.
The Board of Commissioners is scheduled to meet at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday night at the Meeting Room in the Community Center at Veterans Park on Hog Mountain Road in what is labeled a work session. As required by law, it is open to the public.
Technically, the board will talk about a report produced by Harry Hayes, local government projects director at the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government. The real issue is what the four commissioners, each of whom serves part time, wants to do to counter the power of Davis, whose position is full time.
The structure of county government is not set by the state’s constitution, but by locally tailored enabling legislation passed by the General Assembly.
In 1998 the General Assembly made the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners both the "chief executive officer of the county" and the "presiding officer at all meetings of the board."
The chairman gets to "state every question coming before the board and to announce the decision of the board on all subjects," to "execute all ordinances, resolutions and contracts in behalf of the county," and to "act as ceremonial head of the county government."
A departmental organizational chart for the county, given to Hayes by Davis and included in the report Hayes gave to the commission on April 7, shows Davis pretty much in charge of everything.
Hayes’ report lists changes the board might make in five different areas: (1) operational communications and decision making; (2) lines of authority; (3) agenda setting procedure; (4) meeting procedure, and (5) budget procedure.
None of these involves changes in the enabling legislation.
The level of frustration of the four commissioners, voiced at a Sept. 25 meeting with Hayes, suggests they may not be satisfied with anything less.
Commissioners Jim Luke, Margaret Hale and Chuck Horton said they have tried repeatedly to make changes in the past without success. Commissioner John Daniell, whose term started only in January, did not participate in that discussion.
The complaint of Luke, Hale and Horton was simple. They said Davis, through his control the department heads, keeps them from getting the information they need to do their jobs.
The challenge before them now may be convincing Bob Smith and Bill Cowsert to do something about it.
Party won't play a role here. Cowsert, Smith, Davis and the four commissioners are all Republicans.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Oconee BOC Scheduled To Debate Chair's Power
Are Effectiveness and Efficiency Enough?
Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis would like the discussion of the proper relationship between the chairman and the other members of the board to be narrowly focused.
"I thought I heard you say it," Davis prodded Harry Hayes from the University of Georgia’s Carl Vison Institute of Government at the April 7 BOC meeting. "You were commenting regarding the efficiency and effectiveness of county operations and saying that is a very positive..."
"Yes sir," Hayes responded. "I was very impressed with the operations I saw."
Hayes had just presented to the board a report he produced for the commissioners on county government "Form and Function," and Davis was pleased with the response Hayes gave.
Commissioners Jim Luke, Margaret Hale and Chuck Horton have made it clear, however, they are more concerned about process than efficiency and effectiveness.
Each had stated strongly in a meeting with Hayes and Davis on Sept. 25, 2008, that Davis achieves his efficiency and effectiveness by withholding information from them, making it hard for them to make independent assessments of the issues before the county.
Luke and Horton said they are unwilling to go through their second four-year terms–which started in January--without fixing that problem.
The dispute should play out in public again on May 6 and possibly on May 7 when Davis and the four commissioners are scheduled to meet to discuss the structure of county government.
Davis clearly would like to set the parameters for discussion narrowly. In giving notice of the meeting, he said the board will "discuss and review the Oconee County Assessment performed by the Carl Vinson Institute of Government."
The May 6 session is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. in the meeting room at Veterans Park Community Center on Hog Mountain Road. The board will meet the next night if necessary.
The report by Hayes is an outgrowth of the meeting held back in September. That was a "retreat," but the board did not go out of town, as it had a year earlier, because of the controversy that 2007 improperly announced meeting in Madison caused. The Board met in September around the table in the Grand Jury room at the courthouse in Watkinsville.
I did not attend that meeting, but Sarah Bell, who ran unsuccessfully against Davis in the Republican primary election in July, did attend, and she made an audio recording of the meeting for me.
The conversation around the table makes it clear that the central issue is the differential power of the chairman versus the other four commissioners.
Davis uses his power, Hale, Horton and Luke said, to keep them in the dark, further eroding what little power they have and rendering them ineffective in their efforts to check the power of the chairman.
Davis brought Hayes to the meeting to serve as a moderator, and Hayes began by saying he would like to hear from the other commissioners about their concerns.
Luke was the first to speak. He said he has been frustrated since he joined the board in 2005, but his frustration is now at a new level. Much of the frustration is that the county department heads, who are hired by Davis and report to Davis, don’t release the information the commissioners say they want.
Horton said he is particularly frustrated that the commissioners are forced to vote, often with only the small amount of information Davis will release. Davis, on the other hand, only votes in the case of a tie. According to Horton, Davis controls the vote through his control over information, but his influence is out of the public limelight.
Hale, who started her third term in January, said the problem of information control is long-standing and has been discussed at numerous retreats in the past. She said she often cannot get department heads to give her information even after repeated requests.
Commission John Daniell, who began his first term in January, attended the meeting, but he did not speak. Don Norris, unseated by Daniell and a usual ally of Davis, did.
Norris said he has no complaints because he also got the information he wanted.
According to the enabling legislation passed by the Georgia General Assembly in 1998, the chairperson of the Board of Commissioners has the duty and responsibility "to act as the chief executive officer of the county."
The legislation doesn’t do a lot to spell out what it means to be "chief executive officer," but the chairman serves full time. The four commissioners do not.
The enabling legislation also says that the chairman runs the meetings of the commissioners.
County Attorney Daniel Haygood told the board at the September meeting that a big part of the problem is that there is no clear division between the executive and legislative branches of government in the county.
The enabling legislation puts Davis in control of the executive branch of government, but it also makes him chairman of the legislative branch–the commission. He has the authority to control the agenda and run the meetings.
The board members didn’t respond to this civics books explanation of the problem. They said if they had more information they could be effective as members of the administrative team with Davis.
Haygood technically is appointed by the commission, but he has been held that position since December of 1988–before any member of the current board was elected.
Even if the board would accept that it is a legislative body rather than a part of the executive, it would need information to be effective. It is hard to be a check on power without the ability to independently gather and assess what is going on.
Before writing his report, Hayes and the CVIOG interviewed department heads, elected constitutional officials (sheriff, tax commissioner, clerk of courts, probate judge), the chairman, the commissioners and Haygood.
He also compared Oconee County’s governmental structure with that of Barrow, Cobb, Gwinnett, Houston, Jackson, Murray, Newton, Paulding and Whitfield counties.
The report lists a number of changes the county might make in five different areas: (1) operational communications and decision making; (2) lines of authority; (3) agenda setting procedure; (4) meeting procedure, and (5) budget procedure.
For example, Hayes said commissioners could divide up the departments and "agree to be responsible for contact with those departments."
The commission could annually appoint the clerk and county attorney, and the administrative officer could be assigned to jointly report to the chair and the commission.
The chair and the vice chair could set the agenda, rather than just the chair. Commissioners might be given time to report on their concerns at meetings. A budget drafting committee might be created and include commissioners.
Davis pushed hard at the Sept. 25 meeting to get Hayes to include the conversations with the department heads, all of whom report to him, in the report. They were unlikely to be critical.
And they were likely to allow Hayes to reach his conclusion that the current system is "efficient and effective."
"Changes that you might feel like you need to make will potentially have consequences relative to efficiency and effectiveness," Hayes told the commissioners after he took the underhand pitch of a question from Davis on that topic. "It is always a trade off."
Davis may or may not have liked what Hayes said next.
"The most efficient form of government you’ve got here in terms of county government is a sole commissioner," Hayes said. "There’s no debate. No motions. No second. The commissioner just announces the decisions."
Hayes didn’t state the obvious. Control by one individual may be efficient and effective, but it isn’t necessarily good government.
****
The pictures used with the audio clips above were taken at recent commission meetings. The picture of Don Norris came from a video clip.
The audio from this portion of the Sept. 25, 2008, meeting is available at
Here is an abstract of the session and a key to recognizing the voices:
On Sept. 25, 2008, the Oconee County Board of Commissioners met in the Grand Jury Room at the courthouse in Watkinsville. The meeting began with an open discussion of BOC structure and control. Harry Hayes from the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the Univeristy of Georgia moderated. This is an audio recording of that discussion. To follow, you'll have to recognize voices. Here is the order of speakers: Chairman Melvin Davis; Commissioner Chuck Horton; Commissioner Margaret Hale; Commissioner Don Norris, turned out of office and ending his term; County Attorney Daniel Haygood; Harry Hayes; Horton; Haygood; Hayes; Haygood; Hayes; Haygood; Commissioner Jim Luke. (All speakers have now been introduced.) John Daniell, elected to replace Norton, was present but did not speak.
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