Oconee Commissioner Norris and the Land Planner II

To Recuse or Not to Recuse?

On Jan. 3 of this year, landscape architect and land planner Ken Beall came before the Oconee County Board of Commissioners representing his client, Ronnie Kittle, developer of the Coldwater Creek project off Whippoorwill Road in Oconee County.

Kittle had discovered an extra 9.9 acres when surveying the original property for Coldwater Creek, and Beall was asking the BOC to rezone that 9.9 acres from A1 (Agriculture) to R1 (Residential). The 9.9 acres had not been included in the earlier rezone for a Master Plan Development.

Beall and Oconee County Commissioner Don Norris, who was hearing Beall’s request with the other four commissioners, both serve on the Board of Directors of North Georgia Bank.

As it turns out, Kittle also had a relationship with North Georgia Bank at the time the request was before the Board of Commissioners.

On July 20, 2007, Kittle secured loans from North Georgia Bank on five pieces of property in Phase 3 for Coldwater Creek, according to deed records filed in the Oconee County Superior Court clerk’s office. Kittle signed for the loans, which totaled $1.28 million, as president and CEO of Oconee River Development Inc.

What Commission Norris knew on January 3 about Kittle’s relationship with North Georgia Bank is not public record. Norris and Beall, as trustees of the bank, are ultimately responsible for all activities of the bank. The Board of Trustees meets to review bank transactions for that purpose.

The effect of the Jan. 3 rezone on the loans held by Kittle for the five pieces of property in Coldwater Creek also is not known. According to records in the Clerk’s office, loans on the 9.9 acre out parcel had been secured on May 19, 2006, from McIntosh Commercial Bank in Covington, and March 14, 2008, from Chestatee State Bank in Dawsonville.

The ultimate success of the development, including the success of development of the 9.9 acres, does have impact on the ability of Kittle to repay his loans.

Norris did not recuse himself on Jan. 3, 2008, and the rezone request made by Beall on behalf of Kittle and Coldwater Creek was approved 3-1, with Commissioner Jim Luke voting in the negative.

Beall next asked the Commissioners to vote to allow for the construction of a new section of road through the 50 foot perimeter buffer that was part of the original Coldwater Creek Master Plan Development. The five lots on which the North Georgia Bank had made loans were part of the MPD.

Norris again did not recuse himself. The Board voted unanimously to approve Beall’s request.

At the Candidate Forum organized by citizens on June 2, Norris was asked about the impact of his serving on the Board of Directors of North Georgia Bank on decisions he makes as a commissioner.

"If a rezone comes before the Board (of Commissioners), and the bank has a financial interest in the rezone, I would recuse myself," Norris said. "What happens in many cases is, when the rezone comes before the board, the bank has no financial obligation. Later on, it sometimes, it may acquire an interest in that. But, again, too, I don’t make loans."

The Coldwater Creek rezone illustrates the complexity of the relationship between members of the development community and the Board of Commissioners. It shows how difficult it is for a commissioner who is a member of the development community to keep responsibilities separate.

This issue has been prominent in this campaign, where the business interests of Norris, Esther Porter and Mike Maxey in particular have come under question. All are part of the development community. Norris is seeking reelection, and Porter and Maxey are seeking to be elected to the Board of Commissioners.

Of course, the issues is not whether members of the development community can serve on the Board of Commissioners, but those circumstances under which they should recuse themselves.

Norris has been challenged many times over the years on his policy of infrequently recusing himself. His answer is that he relies on the advice of County Attorney Daniel Haygood.

Charlie Baugh, who is a retired IRS agent, and I spent an hour in the Clerk of Court’s office on July 7 looking for votes by the Board of Commissioners where the Bank of North Georgia had made loans. That was when we found the security deeds for the five loans by North Georgia Bank to Kittle.

Charlie went back and spent more time going over the records of loans to Kittle a day later. He found no evidence of additional loans to Kittle for any of the properties in Coldwater Creek after the January 3 vote.

The security deeds that had been filed for the five properties in Coldwater Creek on July 20, 2007, were filed for recording by Daniel Haygood, in his capacity as an attorney in private practice.

Mike Maxey's Does What He Says

Bidding Strategy Illustrated


Mike Maxey, candidate for Post 4 County Commissioner in the upcoming July 15 Oconee County primary election, is a man of his word.

At the June 2 Candidate Forum organized by citizens and held at the Oconee County Library in Watkinsville, Maxey said he would gladly do business with companies that come before the Board of Commissioners should he get elected–after he has voted to approve their rezoning projects.

If, "three months" after approving a project, Maxey said, "a project manager, ...a general contractor, whatever the case may be, comes to me and asks me to put a bid on a project...I’m going to submit the bid."

Maxey is president of M&P Grading Contractors Inc., headquartered here in Oconee County, and he also is a member of the Oconee County Planning Commission.

On March 19, 2007, Glades Commercial Properties LLC came before the Planning Commission with a request to rezone 7 acres of land on Daniells Bridge Road near the Oconee Connector in preparation for building a hotel and conference center on the site.

Four citizens from nearby Settler’s Ridge subdivision spoke in opposition on the grounds the hotel would create too much traffic for Daniells Bridge Road.

The Planning Commission voted 7-2 to approve the rezone. Mike Maxey, according to the minutes, voted with the majority.

On April 3, 2007, the rezone, with the recommendation of the Planning Commission, was before the Board of Commissioners for final action.

Chairman Melvin Davis recused himself, because Larry Benson, builder of the hotel, has been a long-time supporter of Davis. The Board, in Davis’ absence, approved the rezone unanimously.

In May of this year, grading work on the site began in earnest. Trucks labeled M&P Contractors adorned the site.

When Maxey landed the contract for the grading isn’t public record, of course, but, given Maxey’s statement on June 2 that he has never voted on any zoning request before the Planning Commission in which he had a vested interest, Maxey must have landed the deal after he voted to approve the rezone.

"In not one instance, since I have been on the Planning Commission, have I voted on a project that I knew, at the time it was presented to the Planning Commission, that I was involved in. Not a single time. Not even not one," Maxey said at the June 2 forum.

Had the Board of Commissioners--on which Maxey is seeking a seat--not approved the rezone, however, Maxey could not have gotten the job. So Maxey as a Commissioner would have a strong incentive to rezone property for which he might get work.

Maxey has made no secret that he originally planned to run against Chairman Melvin Davis, rather than against incumbent Post 4 Commissioner Chuck Horton. Maxey said at the June 2 forum he decided he wasn’t ready yet for the chairman position.

Horton has been Davis’ most outspoken critic on the current Board of Commissioners, so the switch from a challenger of Davis to a challenger of the critic of Davis’ was interesting.

Even if Larry Benson’s contract had no influence on Maxey’s decision not to challenge Davis, neither Davis nor Benson is likely to have been very upset about the coincidence.

Oconee Campaign Spending Figures Released

Publisher Waves Advertising Fee for Favored Candidate

Perhaps the most interesting contribution listed in the Campaign Contribution Disclosure Reports filed by Oconee County Board of Commission Candidates on June 30 is one listed for Post 3 candidate Esther Porter.

Vinnie Williams, owner and publisher of The Oconee Enterprise, contributed three newspaper advertisements free of charge, each to be one quarter page in size. The estimated value of the contribution is $852.

Newspapers are usually more discrete about their favors for political candidates.

Porter reported total contributions of $2,453 and spending of $3,606.

Incumbent Post 3 Commissioner Margaret Hale reported contributions of $3,450 for the campaign and a carryover of $1,887 from before the campaign began, for a total of $5,336. She spent $3,945.

Hale did not list any spending with The Oconee Enterprise.

Incumbent BOC Chairman Melvin Davis raised and spent the most money, according to the records filed in the Board of Election office. But Mike Maxey, seeking to unseat Chuck Horton in the Post 4 Commission race, raised nearly as much money as Davis, including loans he made to his campaign, and spent heavily as well.

Incumbent Chairman Davis raised $13,325 since the campaign officially began with qualifying in April. He also carried over $16,118, giving him $29,443 in campaign funds. He reported spending $17,375.

Davis’ biggest contributor was Melissa Bourbeau, listed as a housewife, who gave $2,300. Stuart Cofer, home and garden store owner, Jack Quackenbush, a financial advisor, and Richard Garrett, a grading and paving contractor, each gave $500.

Davis’ biggest expenditures were for advertisements placed with The Oconee Enterprise ($4,928) and The Oconee Leader ($4,120).

Sarah Bell, also running for chair of the commission, reported raising $7,243 during the campaign to June 30, and spending $6,129. Her biggest donors were herself ($1,150), Walter Gordon, listed as retired, who contributed $1,000, and Charles Baugh, also listed as retired, who contributed $500.

Bell’s largest expenditure, other than the qualifying fee, was for yard signs.

Incumbent Post 1 Commissioner Jim Luke raised $14,035 and carried forward from before the campaign $68, for a total of $14,103. He spent $9,980.

Johnny Pritchett, also seeking Post 1, raised $3,500, mostly via a loan to his campaign from himself, and spent $3,246.

Incumbent Post 2 Commissioner Don Norris raised $8,200 and carried forward $143. He spent $5,414. He loaned his campaign $1,000.

John Daniell, also seeking the Post 2 slot, raised $2,450 and spent $2,445. He contributed $1,000 to his own campaign.

Incumbent Post 4 Commissioner Chuck Horton raised $6,185 and carried forward $1,377, for a total of $7,562. He spent $5,298.

Maxey, also seeking the Post 4 position, raised $13,194 plus another $2,000 in in-kind contributions. He spent $10,487. Maxey lists $5,094 of the raised money as a loan from himself to his campaign.

Maxey spent $1,078 on advertisements with The Oconee Enterprise, $1,800 for advertisements with The Oconee Leader, and $1,770 for outdoor (billboard) advertising, making him the biggest spender on advertising with the exception of Davis.

Only Esther Porter got by without paying.

Oconee County Voters Have Election Sources

News Stories and Recordings of Forums Available

A variety of information about the candidates for the Board of Commissioners, the Board of Education and coroner is available to Oconee County voters who will be making crucial decisions about the future of the county on July 15.

All the local action is in the Republic primary on July 15, and any voter can ask to participate, since registration is not by party in Georgia.

All the Republican contests except the coroner race will be decided at the July 15 primary, since only two candidates are running for each of the other open positions. If none of the three candidates for coroner gets a majority of votes, that race will go to a runoff on August 5.

Democrat Rich Clark, who is unopposed in the Democratic primary for Board of Education Post 5, will face either Tom Breedlove or Kyle Martin, Republican candidates for that post, in November. This will be the only contested election for a county office in November.

The free weekly newspaper, The Oconee Leader, has run a series of helpful stories on all the races, and these are available at the paper’s web site.

The Athens Banner-Herald has summary stories on the Board of Commissioners races, and there are available at:

County Commission Chairman (Bell and Davis)

County Commissioner Post 1 (Luke and Pritchett)

County Commissioner Post 2 (Daniell and Norris)

County Commissioner Post 3 (Hale and Porter)

County Commissioner Post 4 (Horton and Maxey)

Tim Byrant from WGAU interviewed all the candidates for the Board of Commissioners and for the Board of Education. These are archived and can be located and listened to or downloaded at the stations website.

The Candidates for Board of Commissioners and for the Board of Education participated in two candidate forums, one organized by a consortium of citizen groups and the other organized by the Chamber of Commerce. The coroner candidates were included in the Candidate Forum organized by the citizen groups.

Through the work of citizens, these are available for viewing at:

www.vimeo.com/OconeeBOC and www.vimeo.com/OconeeCounty .

Additional stories relevant to the elections have been posted on this blog on 7/1, 6/22 and 6/10.

Another source of information on the elections is Another Voice from Oconee County. A series of critical reports on Incumbent Chairman Davis reflects the perspective of former Chairman Wendell Dawson, who stepped down rather than run for reelection eight years ago.

ADDED on 7/9/08

The Athens Banner-Herald, in today's edition, contains brief reports on the Board of Education contests and the coroner race.

Coroner (Carson, Mayberry, Quillian-Carr)

Post 2 (Guest and House)

Post 3 (Argo and Hood)

Post 4 (Hunter and Toney)

Post 5 (Breedlove and Martin)

ADDED on 7/12/08

The Athens Banner-Herald ran two stories yesterday that offer very concise summaries of the various races. If you were going to read only two things, these might be the best.

BOC and Coroner

BOE

Oconee Commissioner Norris Votes for Banking Buddy

Now How Do You Define That Word "Recuse"?

Since January of this year, Ken Beall, a landscape architect and land planner and one of seven members of the Board of Directors of North Georgia Bank, has appeared before the Oconee County Board of Commissioners five times.

On Jan. 3, Beall brought three rezone requests before the Board for action.

On Feb. 5, Beall brought four rezone requests and three variance requests to the Board.

On March 4, Beall made a special use request of the Board.

The Board interviewed Beall on March 25 for a possible position on the Impact Fee Study Committee.

On May 6, Beall was back before the Board with the same four rezone requests he made on Feb. 5 and a single variance request.

Commissioner Don Norris, who is another of the seven members of the Board of Directors of North Georgia Bank, attended each of those five Board of Commissioners meeting.

He did not recuse himself from any of the discussions, and he voted with the majority to delay action on Bell’s petition on Feb. 5 and to approve Beall’s other petitions.

Norris also voted on April 1 when Beall was appointed to the Impact Fee Study Committee with a slate of other candidates. Included in the appointed Impact Fee Study Committee list was Chuck Williams, president of North Georgia Bank and another member of the Board of Directors of the bank. Norris voted for Williams as well.

Williams was appointed an "ex-officio non-voting" member of the Study Committee. No reason was given for the designation. Williams is chairman of the Oconee County Development Authority, whose members are appointed by the Board of Commissioners.

The first four months of 2008 are hardly exceptional in terms of Beall’s involvement in Board of Commissioners meetings. He is clearly the most prominent representative of developers in Oconee County.

As members of the Board of Directors of North Georgia Bank, Beall and Norris, as well as the other five board members, are responsible to shareholders for all phases of the bank’s operations.

That includes responsibility for loans made to developers. The Bank’s list of clients is confidential, as is the composition of the Board of Directors itself.

Norris’ link to the North Georgia Bank is hardly a secret. The Oconee County official web site as recently as June 2 listed him as chairman of the Board.

At the Candidate Forum organized by citizen groups on June 2, Norris was asked about the connection between the Bank and his votes at BOC meetings. Norris said he was no longer chairman of the Board, and today the County web site lists him only as a member of the Board of Directors of the bank.

Following the June 2 Candidate Forum, I asked Bank President Williams to tell me the names of the members of the Board of Directors of the Bank, but he ignored my request.

I posted a report on Norris’ comments at the June 2 Forum and my request of Williams on this blog on June 10.

Subsequently, three shareholders of the bank told me who the members of the Board of Directors are, and one sent me a copy of the Proxy Statement used to elect the Board members on April 17, 2008.

According to that proxy statement, both Norris and Beall have served together on the Board of Directors since the bank was founded in 1999. Williams also has been on the Board since 1999, as have James A. Bowers Jr., Patricia W. Ivy, Edwin R. Thaxton and Harry B. Thompson.

Bowers is listed as a stockbroker and financial adviser, Ivy is in real estate sales and development, Thaxton is in real estate sales and development, and Thompson is an HVAC equipment distributor. Norris is listed as an insurance adjuster, not as a member of the Board of Commissioners.

At the June 2 Candidate Forum, Norris was asked to defend his decision to vote on development issues before the Board even though they might result in future financial transactions involving North Georgia Bank.

"I don’t make loans," Norris said.

But members of the Board of Directors do have oversight responsibility for loans made for the Bank.

Beall, who is the Principal in Beall & Associates, certainly is in a position to discuss loans and other financial aspects of development with his clients, both before and after he brings their rezone requests before the Board of Commissioners. According to the company website, Beall founded the land planning firm in 1985 to "help clients develop the best use for their land and real estate investments."

The more rezones banking partner Don Norris approves as a member of the Board of Commissioners, the more clients Beall can advise on financing their developments.

That’s a pretty strong incentive for rezoning, and a pretty strong relationship between public official Norris and private citizen Beall.

Here’s how the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines recuse: "to remove (oneself) from participation to avoid a conflict of interest."

Oconee County Candidates and Rocky Branch Monitoring

Five Willing to Work with Citizens


Five of the 10 candidates for the Oconee County Board of Commissioners, representing one candidate each for the five open slots, have committed to work with Friends of Barber Creek to establish independent monitoring of the outflow of the Rocky Branch sewage treatment plant into Barber Creek.

Sarah Bell, a candidate for the chairman post, stated support for working with the group on monitoring, as did Johnny Pritchett (Post 1), John Daniell (Post 2), Margaret Hale (Post 3) and Chuck Horton (Post 4).

Incumbent Chairman Melvin Davis did not respond to two email messages on the issue. Incumbent Post 1 Commissioner Jim Luke said he was undecided. Incumbent Post 2 Commissioner Don Norris did not respond. Esther Porter, seeking Post 3, said she did not have enough information to offer an answer. Mike Maxey, seeking Post 4, said he was opposed.

On June 10, I sent the following message via email to all of the 10 candidates seeking to be elected to the BOC at the July 15 Republican primary:

Dear Candidates,

We did not get a chance to pose the question below at the June 2 Candidate Forum because there were so many questions from other members of the audience. We ask that you respond to the question now via email. We will post the responses for our members.

QUESTION:

Friends of Barber Creek is pleased that the design for the Rocky Branch sewage treatment plant will guarantee water treated to a very high standard and will allow the county to hold water in times of flooding. Now we need help from the BOC in setting up an independent monitoring system. Will you commit to working with Friends of Barber Creek to this end?

The message was sent on behalf of myself and Karen Kimbaris, Tim Price, Joe Block, Eleanor Cotton. We make up the Board of Directors of Friends of Barber Creek.

I followed on June 14 up with an email message, addressed individually to the candidates who had not responded to the first message (Davis, Daniell, Norris, Porter, Horton and Maxey).

For all of the mailings, I used email addresses that I know are working. For Davis and Norris, who never responded, I used their official Oconee County email addresses. For Norris, I used a personal email address as well.

Independent monitoring of the outflow of the Rocky Branch plant is important for at least three reasons.

First, the county has agreed to meet a higher standard than set by the state Environment Protection Division, which has granted the permit to discharge into Barber Creek. The EPD would not register any complaint unless the lesser standard it has set had been violated.

Second, the EPD standards are averages for a month and allow fluctuations during that period.

Third, the EPD, because of funding limitations, relies almost entirely on data reported to it by the plant operators to judge whether the plant meets standards.

Friends of Barber Creek has asked that the county work with it to develop an independent monitoring system. It has not put forward a firm proposal, preferring to work with the county to that end.

Here are the responses of the eight candidates who responded to the email messages, in the order of receipt:

---------------
June 11, Margaret Hale.
Lee,
Have no problem with working with your group to ensure the treatment plant lives up to it promise and potential. This might be a double way to check the quality by organizing monitoring (by both groups) at different times.
Thanks again for Friends of Barber Creeks support in hosting the forum.
Margaret Hale

---------------
June 11, Jim Luke.
Lee
Maybe? I am not sure what you have in mind, could you share some more detail on the proposal.
Jim

---------------
June 11, Sarah Bell.
Dear Friends of Barber Creek:
Independent monitoring is essential, I believe, for ALL water sources in Oconee County. I definitely support an independent monitoring system and will work with you to create and implement one.
Sarah V. Bell

---------------
June 11, Johnny Pritchett
Lee,
If elected I want input from citizens and have no problem with your request.
thanks,
Johnny

---------------
June 15, Chuck Horton

Lee,
Sorry. I do support a monitoring system or systems with which citizens feel comfortable.
Chuck Horton

---------------
June 16, Mike Maxey
Mr. Becker,
I am responding to your question concerning the Rocky Branch sewage treatment plant.
My response is that I have great faith in the Oconee County employees that are assigned to the plant to do what is required by the EPD concerning the monitoring. I also trust that Oconee County has employed qualified personnel to perform this and perform it well. If for some reason or another you do not think that the monitoring is up to standards set forth by the EPD then I would be receptive to independent monitoring but not at the expense of the county taxpayer. If you think that the requirements are not being met, to your standard, then it is your right to have an independent monitoring company come in and check those standards and make sure they are correct. Once again, this should not be at the expense of the taxpayer of Oconee County and only paid for with private funding.
I hope this helps you understand my opinion on this matter.
Sincerely,
Michael W. Maxey

---------------
June 17, Esther Porter

Lee,
I am not as informed on this issue . I do know that the EPD has in place monitoring for these types of sites and they are very strict. I have placed a call to Chris Thomas to get info on this subject. Also I read in the booklet from the county that Oconee received a Gold award for the Barber Creek site. I guess I don't understand why you would want an independent group unless you had reason to believe the county was not meeting required testing. I will get back to you after I talk with Chris.
Esther Porter

---------------
June 17, John Daniell
I am open to discussions on this issue. I look forward to hearing more, so the county can address your concerns and increase the level of trust between the government and the citizens.

---------------

I responded to Jim Luke by telling him that we did not have specific plans. I only acknowledged each of the other responses.

Chris Thomas, referred to in Porter's message, was the head of the Oconee County Utility Department until late last summer and resumed that position just this month.

Ethics at Issue at Oconee Candidate Forum

Bid Me Now, Bid Me Later



It is perfectly ethical for members of the Board of Commissioners to do business with individuals and companies that come before them for such things as rezones, as long as no money has changed hands or contracts been written before the BOC has voted, at least three of the candidates for the Board said at the June 2 Candidate Forum at the Library.

Others expressed a different point of view, and at least one seemed confused by the question of ethics.

The second half of the June 2 Candidate Forum contained an exchange that focused on the business interests of the candidates and the potential impact of those business interests on decisions the candidates have made and will make in the future.

That half of the program had been set aside for citizen questioning of the four incumbent commissioners and each of the four challengers.

After being recognized by moderator Russ Page of Oconee Citizens for Responsible Growth, Charlie Baugh asked each of the eight candidates if "it is ethical for a member of the Planning Commission to hear and vote on rezone petitions and then profit by doing work on the project?"

To a candidate, each said it was not, but further questions showed that there really was not agreement on the principle behind question. At least three of the candidates said profiting was acceptable in the case of the Board of Commissioners under some circumstances.

After the question by Baugh, president of Citizens for Oconee’s Future, Page recognized Ann Hollifield, a professor of telecommunications at the University of Georgia. Hollifield is a former television journalist and former editor of a weekly business newspaper, and she is my wife. I could only guess about her question before she asked it and played no role in her being recognized.

"I have a follow up to that I’d like to ask to...address to Mr. Norris and to Mrs. Porter and Mr. Maxey afterwards, because if they are elected they will find themselves in a very similar situation," Hollifield said.

Norris, according to the Oconee County official web site, is chairman of the Board of Directors of North Georgia Bank. Porter and her husband own a building products company. Maxey, who currently serves on the Planning Commission, is president of a company, M&P Grading Contractors.

Hollifield reminded Norris that as an incumbent member of the Board of Commissioners he had been asked by her and others in the past to recuse himself because of his role as chairman of the Board of Directors of North Georgia Bank and he had not done so.

"So if you don’t believe, Sir, that being chairman of the board of the bank that is financing the project you are voting on is not a conflict of interest," Hollifield said, "would you please give us an example of what would be a conflict of interest that you would recuse yourself from."

Norris said that he is "no longer chairman of the board of North Georgia Bank," but he did not deny that he is still a member of that board. He said if a rezone "comes before the Board (of Commissioners), and the bank has a financial interest in the rezone, I would recuse myself. What happens in many cases is, when the rezone comes before the board, the bank has no financial obligation. Later on, it sometimes, it may acquire an interest in that. But, again, too, I don’t make loans."

Hollifield then asked Porter and Maxey to respond. Porter is challenging incumbent Commissioner Margaret Hale, and Maxey is challenging incumbent Commissioner Chuck Horton.

Porter said her company does business with the county and that she would not vote on any issue in which she had a business interest. She didn’t indicate how she would vote if there was the potential of future business coming from an issue being decided on by the Board of Commissioners and had difficulty following the line of questioning.

Mike Maxey did understand, and he gave a clear answer. He said he would gladly bid on projects after he voted on their approval.

"Three months later, if a project manager, if a general contractor, whatever the case may be, comes to me and asks me to put a bid on a project, I’m going to submit the bid," he said.

Commissioner Hale thought the issue was more complex than that. "It is a tough, ethical thing to evaluate," she said, and then indicated that she recused herself when a piece of property she had owned in the past was up for rezone.

"I went to our county attorney and I said I’m not comfortable sitting and listening to this," Hale said, even though she had no financial interest in it at that time.

Incumbent Commissioner Jim Luke also decided to chime in, supporting the position of Norris and Maxey. "It would be hard to run a government without somebody who sells something to that government who might get elected to it at some point," he said.

Commissioner Horton had a simple answer: "I don’t own anything."

John Daniell, who is challenging Norris, is vice president of operations at Boswell Oil Company. The question was not directed to him, and he did not respond.

(A transcript of the entire exchange is available here. Also, the full video is available for viewing here.)

The position taken by Norris and Maxey, and, it seems, Luke ignores the simple fact that the commissioners in the construction and development business cannot make money on a rezone if they turn it down, giving those who are likely to benefit from the rezone plenty of incentive to do the rezone.

Across time, as well, commissioners certainly understand who is likely to bring them money in the future based on what has happened in the past.

Luke’s position that business people are going to get elected ignores the point of the question as well. Hollifield did not challenge Norris for running for office or getting elected, but for failing to recuse himself when North Georgia Bank might profit from the decision.

In any small community, of course, the local banks play an important and sometimes crucial role. They also often are involved directly and indirectly in government.

Chuck Williams, the president of North Georgia Bank, is currently the chairman of the Oconee Development Authority, a legislatively created body in the county whose members are appointed by the Board of Commissioners. Williams replaced Amrey Harden in that position last year. Harden is president of Oconee State Bank.

Williams also is an associate director of the Oconee County Chamber of Commerce and a frequent attenders of Oconee County Board of Commission meetings.

In fact, though Williams was not at the June 2 Candidate Forum, he was prominent at the June 4 forum for school board candidates. During the first half of the meeting, he was seated, but he stood at the rear or the room, flanked closely by incumbent Board of Commission Chairman Melvin Davis, for the entire second half of the meeting. (See the picture above, with Williams on the left and Davis on the right.)

In May a neighbor told me he had just visited North Georgia Bank to take advantage of a promotional rate for Certificates of Deposit and a gift certificate of $25 for opening a new checking account.

A few days later, on his advice, I purchased a CD from North Georgia and opened a checking account myself to take advantage of these incentives.

One June 5, I sent an email message to President Williams on the advice of my "Personal Banker" at North Georgia, and asked Williams if he would tell me the names of the Board of Directors of North Georgia Bank, since they are not listed on the web.

He wrote me back this nice message on June 6:

"Good afternoon and thank you for your interest in our organization. I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you for discussion of North Georgia Bank and your areas of interest. Feel free to contact me for consideration of a mutually convenient time if you so desire."

He didn’t provide the names of the members of the Board of Directors.

My CD expires in a couple of months and with it, I guess, my financial link with North Georgia Bank.

Oconee State Bank, where I also have an account, lists the members of its Board of Directors on the web. None of them serves on the Oconee County Board of Commissioners.