Oconee County Board of Education Changes Course on Plans to Fill Vacancy

Thanks, but No Thanks

The Oconee County Board of Education, having invited Carter Strickland to apply for a vacancy on the board less than a month ago, passed him over tonight and decided instead to open up the process to other applicants.

Board Chairman David Weeks tonight proposed the change in procedures for filling the Post 5 position vacated when Tom Breedlove resigned on May 10, saying that he had gotten a lot of feedback indicating that the board was interfering with the election.

Strickland is running as a Democrat for Post 2 on the BOE and is unopposed in the July 20 primary.

At the called meeting on May 19, Weeks proposed that the four qualified candidates for Post 2 and Post 3 be invited to apply rather than open up the position to everyone in the community.

The other three board members accepted the proposal. That included Mack Guest, incumbent Post 2 commissioner and a Republican candidate for that position in the July 20 primary, and Kim Argo, incumbent Post 3 commissioner and a candidate for that position in the July 20 Republican primary.

Argo and Guest subsequently declined to apply for the Post 5 vacancy, as did Mark Thomas, who has qualified to run against Guest in the Republican primary.

Strickland alone said he would be willing to drop out of the race and accept the vacant slot.

Argo has no one running against her in the primary and, unless someone qualifies to run as an independent, will have no opposition in November.

Guest now has to get through the Republican primary and, if successful, in November get past Strickland and any independent who might qualify.

Strickland has been critical of the board, indicating dissatisfaction with it motivated him to launch his candidacy.

At the candidate forum organized by Russ Page and me last week, Strickland accused the board of “ineffective leadership” but said that characterization applied only to “some members of the board.”

Weeks said that the procedures the board put into place last month were chosen because of “extenuating circumstances” resulting from the fact the election was underway.

He said, however, that he had heard from people in the community who said the selection procedure actually “was hindering the election process.”

Weeks tonight thanked Struckland for applying, “But at this point, I think--I feel-- that we need to let the election process play out.”

In other action, the Board approved a $53.5 million budget without discussion. The budget had not been released to the public at the time of the meeting, which began at 5 p.m. at the school central offices in Watkinsville.

The board also agreed that the four members present would not accept the $1,800 each is entitled to as compensation for serving on the board this fiscal year.

The new board member or members will have to decide on compensation separately.

The board will accept applications for the Post 5 position from June 15 to July 15, interview applicants in early August, interview finalists in early September and make a decision in late September or early October, according to Weeks’ proposal, which was accepted unanimously.

Weeks said the board wants candidates to be concerned about the entire system, not just parts, to be team players, to be unafraid of controversy, to understand that the superintendent actually runs the schools, not the board, and to be willing to stay in communication with the other board members.

Guest, who was not able to attend the candidate forum last week, today sent me a copy of a statement he said he had asked board member Mike Hunter to read at the forum.

When I asked citizens present at the end of the half-hour session for BOE candidates if they wanted to ask another question or hear Hunter’s summary of the statement, no one asked to hear the statement.

In the statement Guest sent to me today, he said he was in Colorado at a business meeting with one of his largest clients at the time of the forum. Guest is the founder of LAD Logistics, which has warehouses, a logistics center and offices in Watkinsville.

He said that “Despite what some would have you believe, we are clearly on the right track.” He cited upgrades to technology, infrastructure, classrooms and athletic facilities in the system as examples.

Oconee County Board of Education Candidates Give Cautious Answers to Tough Questions

Monday Meeting Maybe

Board of Education candidates stepped carefully around a series of pointed questions from citizens at the Oconee County candidate forum last week, which might not be surprising given that two of the three candidates present as well as two others in the audience are engaged in discussions about an open position on the board.

The Board of Education is scheduled to take up that vacancy at its regular meeting, scheduled to start at 5 p.m. Monday night at the central office board room on School street in Watkinsville.

Incumbent Post 3 BOE member Kim Argo, who participated in the forum, could be voting at that meeting Monday on whether to appoint Carter Strickland, another of the forum participants, to the open slot on the Board. Board member Mike Hunter and Board Chairman David Weeks were in the audience.

Citizens asked about the recent replacement of top school administrators, whether the board was cutting administration adequately given the cuts to teaching, and what the board in the future will do to make sure schools are sited properly.

The language used by the citizens was direct.

The responses from the candidates were guarded.

Citizen Robert Wyatt said that “To the outsider, there seems to have been a lot of turmoil and turnover in the Oconee County school system in the past two years,” which is the time when the current Board of Education has held power.

Wyatt gave as evidence “the flap over increased compensation for board members, the land purchase and new superintendents and principals.”

“What do you see as the cause,” Wyatt asked, “and how would you go about fixing it?”

Argo, incumbent Post 3 BOE member, said the administrative turnover had been normal. She acknowledged that “there has been some turmoil,” but she said it also was normal for five members to have some disagreement. She said she had learned from the experience.

Carter Strickland said he thought the problem was that there was not enough disagreement. “They vote as a bloc. There doesn’t seem to be any discussion on issues that I can tell.”

“Some of the things that have been done brought me to a boil,” Strickland said, “and that is why I’m here.”

Strickland said the problem has been “ineffective leadership by the board–not by all members of the board--but by some members of the board.”

Thomas “said people moving and changing jobs” was to be expected. He said, however, he would commit himself to “open communication with the teachers, the administrators, the students and the parents and have everybody part of this process.”

If there is turmoil, Thomas said, the solutions will be much easier if all of these people are involved.

Post 5 BOE member Tom Breedlove resigned on May 10, and, at a specially called meeting on May 19, BOE members Weeks, Argo and Hunter, along with incumbent Post 2 member Mack Guest, decided to invite the four candidates who have filed for Democratic and Republican primaries on July 20 to apply for the Post 5 position Breedlove vacated.

So Guest and Argo were inviting themselves to apply, along with Strickland and Thomas.

Thomas, who had filed to run against Guest in the Republican primary, and Guest himself, subsequently declined.

Guest, who said in advance he could not attend the forum, which Russ Page and I organized, because he had to be out of town on business, was not at the session on Wednesday.

Argo, who is unopposed in the Republican primary and, unless someone files as an independent, in the general election in November as well, also declined to apply for the open spot.

Strickland, running unopposed as a Democrat in the July 20 primary, said he was interested.

Strickland told me on June 7–two days before the candidate forum–that his reason for applying was quite simple.

He said he is a Democrat in a heavily Republican county, yet he really wants to be on the board. He said he’d take the appointment if it is offered to him.

Pam Hendrix, another citizen who asked a question at the forum, also was pretty sharp in her criticism of the board, which has announced teacher furloughs as part of its Fiscal Year 2011 budget. The board is scheduled to vote on Monday night on that budget as well as deal with the Breedlove vacancy.

“I’m kind of tired of hearing we need to cut teachers,” she said. “It doesn’t seem like anyone ever considers cutting administration costs.”

Thomas said administrative operations need to be evaluated. Argo said she favored cutting administrative costs rather than spending for the classroom. Strickland said there should be “no sacred cows” when it comes to cost cutting.

Chuck Williams, president of North Georgia Bank, said “there have been allegations in the past that previous school boards have made siting decisions on schools” without considering the total costs to county tax payers.

He wanted to know if the school board candidats would give consideration to existing county infrastructure and costs to taxpayers rather than simple academic goals when it considered future school locations.

All three said county infrastructure should dictate where future schools go.

++

The video of the full meeting is on my Vimeo site.

Oconee County Board of Commissioners Candidates Discuss Views of Teamwork at Candidate Forum

Infighting and Involvement

Melvin Davis’ name will not be on the ballot for the Republican primary in Oconee County on July 20, but comments at the candidate forum on Wednesday night indicate he is very much a part of the election.

And Board of Commissioners Chairman Davis’ presence in the election is likely to increase if former Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Russell Lee runs as an independent against incumbent John Daniell in the Post 2 Board of Commissioners race in November.

I spoke with Lee by telephone today and asked him if he intended to file as an independent in the June 28 to July 2 window set by state law.

“I prefer not to say” was his response.

The Board of Commissioners voted 4-0 in August to redraw the organizational chart for the county to give all five members equal supervisory responsibility over the county’s administrative officer and budget director.

Davis, who previously alone had supervisory power over these two top administrators, strongly objected to the change. Because the chairman of the Board of Commissioners votes only in the case of a tie, Davis did not cast an official vote on the ordinance redrawing the organizational chart.

Margaret Hale, who, with Daniell, pushed hard for the change, is being challenged by Tammy Gilland for the Post 3 slot, who, with Lee, has a strong Chamber of Commerce base.

Gilland accused the current board of “infighting” and said her experience in communication and mediation would help create a “more team-oriented environment” so the board could be more productive.

Hale responded that four of the five commissioners were happy with the changes the board made and that the result was more “transparent” government.

Daniell said the changes mean that “information flows more freely” and that the board is much more involved in decisions than in the past. “It has been a totally different atmosphere,” he said.



If Gilland were to defeat Hale in the primary and Lee were to defeat Daniell in the general election in November, the balance of power in the commission could shift back toward Davis.

Keith Bradberry qualified to run against Daniell in the July 20 primary but withdrew for health reasons a few days after filing.

Approximately 80 people turned out at the candidate forum, which Russ Page and I organized on behalf of Oconee Citizens for Responsible Growth and the Friends of Barber Creek, respectively.

The forum was broken into three, 30-minute sections. The first was for Board of Commissioners candidates.

In addition to BOC candidates Daniell, Gilland and Hall, the forum was attended by Carter Strickland and Mark Thomas, seeking Post 2 on the Oconee County Board of Education, and Kim Argo, seeking re-election to BOE Post 3. Thomas and Argo are running as Republicans, while Strickland is running as a Democrat.

Incumbent Post 2 BOE member Mack Guest told me in advance he would not be able to attend the forum because of a business commitment and indicated he would send a representative to answer questions. I learned at the beginning of the meeting that he chose instead to ask BOE member Mike Hunter to read a statement he had written.

At the end of the half hour period devoted to the Board of Education, which I was moderating, I asked audience members if they wanted to hear from Guest or ask an additional question. I did not hear anyone ask to hear from Guest, so I recognized another questioner.

Suzy Compere, Hank Huckaby, Tommy Malcom and Kirk Shook, all seeking to be elected as state representative from the 113th District, also attended and answered questions from the audience. Compere is running as a Democrat, and the other three candidates will compete in the July 20 Republican primary.

Voting for the July 20 primary actually began on Monday, and Pat Hayes, Oconee County Director of Elections, told me at 4:30 today that 129 persons voted this week. The office closed at 5 p.m.

As of June 1, the county had 22,203 voters registered, according to Hayes. Since this is the first time the county has had an election in which only two of the five commissioners and two of the five members of the BOE stood for election, it is hard to know what to expect in terms of turnout.

The county moved to staggered terms with the November 2008 election, when Daniell, Hale, Guest and Argo were elected for two-year terms.

If Lee or anyone else wishes to qualify to run as an independent, they must turn in a nomination petition signed by 5 percent of those who were registered in November of 2008, Hayes said. That means the candidate must have 1,020 petitions signed by certified registered voters.

Once the petition were submitted, Hayes, her staff and the Board of Elections and Registration would undertake the certifications process.

Voters have until June 21 to register to vote in the July 20 primary.

The video of the candidate forum is available for viewing at my Vimeo site.

I will summarize some of the comments from the other two sections of the forum in another posting.

Citizen Committee Moves Forward With Public Hearing on Oconee County Courthouse

Concerned about Rear-Ends Too

The Oconee County Land Use and Transportation Planning Committee tonight decided to go forward with a plan to hold a public hearing in late July or early August on its recommendation that the county build a separate judicial facility near the courthouse.

County Strategic and Long-Range Planning Director Wayne Provost showed the committee a first draft of a presentation that he proposed he give to citizens who turn out at the future public meeting.

The committee took no note of the action of the Board of Commissioners, who on May 25 decided to move county offices now in the leased Courthouse Annex across the street from the current courthouse in downtown Watkinsville to the Government Annex on SR15 on the south side of the city.

Commissioner John Daniell told me after that meeting that he wanted to see what kinds of renovations could be done to the Government Annex to accommodate administrative needs of the county before he made any decision about future space needs for either administrative or judicial activities of the county.

Maybe all county administrative offices could be moved to the Government Annex location and the current courthouse could be dedicated to court functions, he said.

The BOC decided to toss out the previously approved plans to redesign the space now used by the Public Works Department in the Government Annex and instead to redesign the entire facility to accommodate Code Enforcement and the Planning Department as well as other smaller departments now in the Courthouse Annex.

The two buildings that make up the Courthouse Annex are referred to as the Dolvin property in deference to previous owners.

County Administrative Officer Alan Theriault told the commissioners on May 25 that he expected construction at the Government Annex to start in January of 2011.

At the Land Use and Transportation Planning Committee meeting tonight Provost offered a rough estimate of between $20 and 22 million as the cost of acquiring property for and building a judicial facility and renovating the existing courthouse for administrative offices.

The Land Use and Transportation Planning Committee voted on March 9 to recommend to the BOC that the county build a separate judicial facility near the courthouse to accommodate the future needs of the county.

Provost said tonight he thinks it is a good time to acquire property and suggested that the county might use some of the estimated $4.2 million in unspent Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax revenue for that purpose.

The BOC has decided to use an undetermined amount of that money for the renovation of the Government Annex.

Provost said he would revise the presentation he gave tonight taking into consideration comments made by committee members. They asked that he include pictures, more details about possible funding and a time line for the construction of the judicial facility.

The plan now is for Provost to bring that revision back to the committee at its July 13 meeting, which was nearly canceled. By a vote of 4 to 3, the committee turned down a motion that it not meet in July because of the difficulty of getting a quorum during the summer vacation period.

The committee canceled its May meeting because it could not get the required eight of 14 members to agree to attend.

At the July 13 meeting the committee is scheduled to decide the details of its public hearing. Committee chairman Abe Abouhamdan said he hoped that at least some of the commissioners would attend.

Following the discussion of the courthouse, Bob Isaac, a member of the committee, said that he was concerned about the likelihood of traffic accidents at the QuikTrip gas station and convenience story set to open later this month at the intersection of Daniells Bridge road and the Oconee Connector.



“We’re getting ready to have a nightmare,” Isaac said. The entrance to the gas station off the Oconee Connector from the turn lane to Daniells Bridge road is unsafe, he said. “You’re going to have rear ends. You are going to have collisions.”

Abouhamdam said the intersection was under the control of the Georgia Department of Transportation, not the county, and the county couldn’t do much about it. Provost said improvements could be made when the Oconee Connector was widened, but he said that could be as late as 2020.

Committee member Shane Carson said he thought the problem was going to be particularly bad about 5:30 in the evening when a driver decides “I need a drink on the way home” and turns suddenly into QuikTrip to pick up some beer or wine.

The Board of Commissioners granted QuikTrip its alcohol license at its meeting on June 1.

Oconee County Board of Commissioners Approves FY 2011 Budget After Hearing

Darn Those Set-up Fees

On July 1, it will cost $50 to get a plumbing permit for a residential property here in Oconee County. It costs $40 now, if you happen to want or need one.

It will cost a resident of the county $90 per hour to rent the theater in the Civic Center on Hog Mountain road. Now it costs $80 for those who happen to need a theater.

It will cost $175 to rent the Heritage Park Pavilion main arena for an event set-up. At present, those people determined to set up their event at the Heritage Park Pavilion can do so for free.

It will cost $20 per person for a county swimming meet held under the auspices of the county. At present, there is no fee paid the county to be a part of such a swimming event.

If, come July, you are careless and lose you membership card for the fitness program at Veterans Park, you’ll have to pay $5 for a replacement. You get a replacement free now.

And if, starting on July 1, you want to purchase 2,000 gallons of water from the county because during the next 30 days you think you might want a drink, because you feel you’ll almost certainly need a shower, because you think your clothes are likely to need washing, or because your toilet already is calling out for a flush, you’ll pay $20.75.

At present, you pay $16.50.

None of these changes raised an eyebrow tonight at the Board of Commissioners meeting, which passed the proposed departmental fees–including the 25.8 percent increase in water rates--unanimously as part of the Fiscal Year 2011 budget. (Commissioner John Daniell--on vacation--was absent.)

County Finance Director Jeff Benko made no mention of the water fee increase when he discussed the Enterprise Fund budget, which is the budget for the Utility Department and which is in balance only because of the water rate increase and a parallel hefty increase in sewage fees.

He also didn’t mention the $5 charge for the membership card replacement. That money will end up in the general fund budget.

None of the commissioners mentioned the increase in water and sewer rates, which will affect the county’s 8,700 water customers and 1,200 sewage customers, when the matter came up for discussion.

No citizen spoke about plumbing, park set-up fees, lost membership cards–or water and sewer fees--when given a chance as part of the public hearing.

Because everyone was so quiet, the whole discussion and vote took only 4 minutes and 23 seconds.

As Benko said, he was glad the budget process had come to an end.

With hardly a whimper.

Oconee County Proposed Departmental Fees Include Big Increases in Water and Sewer Rates

On Page 8 of 10

The Oconee County Board of Commissioners is set to approve a residential water rate increase of at least 25 percent for all but the most frugal of county water customers and a sewer rate increase of at least 16 percent when it gives final approval to the Fiscal Year 2011 budget on Tuesday night.

County Finance Director Jeff Benko made no mention of the water and sewer rate increases when he presented the proposed budget at the public hearing on May 25, and none of the five commissioners referenced it.

The rate increase was shown on page eight of a 10-page list of fees for county services that was put on the county web site on May 26.

While the base water rate will stay the same at $16.50, the amount of water that a customer gets for that amount will go down from 2,000 gallons per month to 1,000.

To get the extra 1,000 now included in the base rate, users will have to pay an additional $4.25, or 25.8 percent more than the amount paid this year for the same amount of water.

Utility Director Chris Thomas was on vacation last week, but representatives of his office told me that only about 500 of the roughly 7,500 residential customers in the system use 1,000 gallons of water or less each month.

Using 2,000 gallons per month or less is difficult. In my two-person home, we have used that little water only twice in the last seven pay periods. We take short showers, catch water that is warming from the bathroom faucets and shower to use to flush the toilet and limit flushing. And we watered outside only one of those pay periods.

Sewage rates also will increase, from $15.48 to $18.00 per month for 2,000 gallons of treatment for most residential customers, and from $12.48 to $18.00 for others. Those are increases of 16.3 percent and 44.2 percent respectively.

Finance Director Benko made only a brief reference to the Utility Department budget in his prepared comments and PowerPoint presentation on May 25. He said that the change in the Utility Department budget was “pretty negligible.” The spending will increase by $87,000, he said.



Neither the Athens Banner-Herald nor The Oconee Enterprise mentioned the rate increases in stories on the May 25 meeting. The Oconee Leader has not run a story on the meeting.

Oconee County Utility Department Director Chris Thomas proposed water and sewer rate increases to the Board of Commissioners when he met with it on April 14.

At that time, Thomas asked for a increase in the base water rate–for people using 2,000 gallons of water per month or less–of 15.2 percent. The rate would have gone from $16.50 to $19.00.

Residential water rates after the minimum also would have increased, with those using from 2,001 to 5,000 gallons per month paying $4.10 per 1,000 gallons, or an increase of 5.1 percent over the current rate of $3.90.

The highest rate would have been for those using 20,001 or more paying $7.16 per 1,000 gallon, or 5.0 percent more than the $6.82 per 1,000 gallon rate at present.

Thomas said at the time that the rate increases were needed in part because of the increased indebtedness associated with the county’s decision to join Walton County on the Hard Labor Creek Reservoir project.

Commissioners Jim Luke and Chuck Horton asked Thomas to come back with a new proposal that would hold the line on the base rate, with Luke suggesting that the base might be reduced to 1,000 gallons per month.



The Banner-Herald did not have a reporter at the April 14 presentation by Thomas. The Enterprise did, but the story that appeared in the paper about the hearing on April 22 did not mention water and sewer rate increases.

In none of the subsequent public discussions of the Fiscal Year 2011 budget has there been any mention of the rates that were placed on the web site on May 26.

The water and sewer rates also will increase for commercial users, and the amount of water covered by the base water rate also will decrease from 2,000 gallons to 1,000.

For residential customers, the sliding scale for increases in water rates will be changed as part of the new rate structure.

In the past, rates went up after 5,000 gallons, 8,000 gallons, 12,000 gallons and 20,000 gallons.

In the future, rates will go up at 4,000, 8,000, 12,000 and 20,000.

Customers will pay the $4.25 per 1,000 gallons for from 1,000 gallons to 4,000 gallons. Water users will pay $5.05 per 1,000 gallons after 4,000 gallons, $5.75 after 8,000 gallons, $6.67 after 12,000 gallons, and $7.16 after 20,000 gallons.

Commercial rates increase at 2,000 gallons per month now and do not change after that point. With the new rates, they increase to $5.15 per 1,000 gallons at 1,000 gallons and do not increase after that level. The current commercial rate is $4.90 per 1,000 gallons after 2,000 gallons.

The county has about 1,200 commercial water customers in addition to the 7,500 residential customers.

Most of the county’s 1,200 sewer customers are commercial.

On July 1, 2009, the base water rate increased from $14.04 per month for 2,000 gallons of water to the current $16.50 per month, or an increase of 17.5 percent.

On April 1, 2008, the county also increased water rates, but then only for customers using more than the base water rate of 2,000 gallons per month.
The county sent a mailing to all water customers following that 2008 rate increase, saying the rate change was being made as a conservation measure.

The county did not notify customers directly about the rate increase last year.

Utility Director Thomas told me in an e-mail message on Aug. 26, 2009, that he had received “very few complaints/comments about the increased rates.”

“There were several articles in the local papers discussing the rate increases,” Thomas said. “Also, your blog and numerous public hearings. The average homeowner only saw a $2-$3 increase in their monthly bill.”

The $6.3 million figure Finance Director Benko used on May 25 for the Utility Department budget in the current fiscal year differs from the figure used by Thomas in his presentation to the commissioners in April.

Documents released to me following that hearing in response to an open records request show that Thomas was reporting an amended budget of $5.6 million for Fiscal Year 2010.

Thomas only had data on revenue from water and sewage fees through the end of January of this year, however, and Thomas told the Board at the April meeting that water sales were increasing. Budgets are amended as revenue and expense figures change.

In addition to the water and sewage rate changes, the 2011 budget the Board is scheduled to vote on Tuesday night includes increases in building inspection fees, rental fees for park facilities and fees for park programs.

As with the water and sewer rate increases, these will become effective with the new budget on July 1.

Benko’s PowerPoint presentation is available on the county web site, and the video of the meeting is available on the county’s Vimeo site.

Two Candidate Forums Scheduled for Early June in Oconee County

Parties Have Events Too

Two forums for Democratic and Republican candidates in the July 20 party primaries are scheduled to be held early next month. Both are open to the public.

The Oconee County Chamber of Commerce will hold its Political Forum from 6 to 9:30 p.m. on June 3 at the North Oconee High School Auditorium on Rocky Branch road near Hog Mountain road.

Russ Page and I, on behalf of local citizen groups, have organized a Candidate Forum starting at 8 p.m. on June 9 at the community center in Veterans Park on Hog Mountain road.

In addition, the executive committee of the Oconee County Republican Party, in cooperation with the board of the Oconee Regional Republican Women, will hold a candidate forum for Republican candidates in the contested races in the county from 7-9 p.m. on June 17 at the Watkinsville Community Center, 191 VFW drive.

Early voting actually starts on June 7 at the Board of Elections and Registration office next to the courthouse in Watkinsville. Voter registration runs through June 21, also at the office in Watkinsville.

The Chamber of Commerce Political Forum on June 3 will be moderated by Tim Bryant from 1340WGAU radio and will begin with an hour during which the candidates will have a chance to meet informally with the citizens.

Board of Commissioners candidates and Board of Education candidates will be on the stage from 7 to 8:10 p.m. and will be followed by candidates for the state House of Representatives and Senate.

Page and I will recognize citizens, who then will ask their questions of the candidates directly at the Candidate Forum on June 9. We will make sure that candidates have an equal amount of time to reply.

Our plan is to start with the BOC candidates, move next to the BOE candidates, and end with the candidates for the 113th House district, in which Oconee County lies.

We have commitments to attend from Tammy Gilland and Margaret Hale, candidates for the Post 3 BOC position in the July 20 Republican primary, as well as from John Daniell, running unopposed in the July 20 primary for Post 2 on the BOC.

Independent candidates have until July 2 to file their paperwork for the elections.

Mark Thomas, seeking Post 2 on the Board of Education, also has committed to attend. Mack Guest told me tonight he has to be out of town on business that night but that he will send a representative. Both Thomas and Guest will be competing in the Republican primary.

Carter Srickland, running unopposed in the Democratic primary for the Post 2 BOE position, also has committed to attend, as has Kim Argo, running unopposed in the Post 3 BOE Republican primary.

Daniell, Hale, Guest and Argo are incumbents.

Four candidates have filed for the 113th District post being vacated by Bob Smith’s retirement, and all have committed to attend the June 9 Candidate Forum.

The four are Suzy Compere, running unopposed in the Democrat primary, and Hank Huckaby, Tommy Malcom and Kirk Shook, running in the Republican primary.

Page and I also invited incumbent Sen. Bill Cowsert, running unopposed in the Republican primary, but Cowsert told me he will not be able to attend because he will be on vacation. No Democrat has filed to run against him.

While the Oconee County Republic Party event on June 17 only will involve questioning of the Republican candidates for the contested seats, all Republican candidates will be invited and have a chance to meet informally with citizens, Jay Hanley, chairman of the executive committee, told me tonight.

Hanley said he will release details on the format and commitments from the candidates soon.

The Oconee County Democratic Committee hosted 113th House district candidate Compere at its meeting on May 20.

The 113th House District includes all of Oconee County and parts of Morgan, Clarke and Olgethorpe counties.