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Wade Rhodes speaks during the Farm Bureau political forum.
Wade Rhodes has worn many hats in Habersham County over the last 40 years, and he is ready to take his community contributions to another level by challenging Bruce Harkness for his District 4 seat on the Habersham County Board of Commissioners.
Rhodes bought a farm in Habersham County in 1984 and has been in business here since 1990, moving from a chain of bakeries to commercial real estate development.
But beyond business concerns, Rhodes has immersed himself in working with the youth of the community.
He started North Georgia Soccer (now the Rapids) in 1994 and coached hundreds of children through that program over 23 years. He was instrumental in beginning the Raider Up employment program in Habersham Central High School, as well as teaching junior achievement at South Habersham Middle School for eight years. He has served on the HUB and Boys & Girls Club boards, helped found the Leader in Me program here and was a mentor for Teach 1 to Lead 1.
Rhodes has not held political office, but he got a taste of working with government as the first chairman of Partnership Habersham and a member of the Archway committee for Habersham County. He said communication among the governmental bodies was crucial to everyone’s success.
“The most successful thing that Archway did was to get all our mayors and our city officials to realize what is good for Clarkesville is good for Mt. Airy, and what’s good for Baldwin is good for Cornelia, and they finally realized that,” Rhodes said. “It has changed because a lot of those people have gone out of office now.”
Rhodes said workforce development is one of the most important things he works toward in all his organizations.
“Most everything I have done is about young people,” Rhodes said. “I think we have a moral obligation to make sure this community is protected and prepared for those young people to make a decision about staying here and raising their families. We have to make sure we have good jobs. We have to make sure our environment is clean. We have growth coming up 365 and the next five years are critical. You are not going to stop the growth, you have to manage the growth.”
Rhodes said the issues at the tax assessor’s office are crucial to getting the county on the right track.
“There are so many commercial properties that are undervalued,” Rhodes said. “There has been so much residential growth that the tax assessors have focused on that and ignored the commercial. Buildings at least need to be on the books for what they sell for. We are leaving money on the table and the homeowners are paying the bill.”
Rhodes added that conservation easements are important, but they are abused in Habersham County by some folks who do not really qualify.
Rhodes has resigned from the executive committee of Partnership Habersham because of his run for the commissioner, as well as no longer representing the county or the school system in real estate deals.
Acknowledging that the jail is an issue facing the county, Rhodes said thinking out of the box is important for long-term solutions.
“Why don’t we invest more money in our youth to keep them out of jail in the first place?” he said. “Our system is screwed up in my book. We are talking about making the jail bigger and getting more beds when we should be talking about fixing kids first.”