We recently opined on the subject of public comment at Habersham County Commission meetings, stressing the need for both government and citizens to respect one another’s rights and privileges. We asked for cooperation to guarantee that the people’s right to speak was not infringed upon, and to ensure that doing so does not obfuscate the commission’s ability to accomplish county business.
In the first meeting since that opinion was rendered, we are 0-for-1.
Monday night’s special-called county commission meeting had a single agenda item – approval from the commissioners to post a job for an airport manager, a position that technically did not exist.
The need to create this job arose from the departure of former Senior Public Works Director Derick Canupp and last week’s sudden resignation of the airport’s only fixed base operator, Blue Sky Aviation.
Blue Sky’s sudden notice put the county in position to quickly decide the direction of its airport leadership. In order to post the job and have a chance to find someone before the FBO ceases operation at the end of February, the commission needed to authorize County Manager Alicia Vaughn to create the new job position, because doing so requires a change to the budget.
Doug McDonald, a frequent commenter at public meetings who has clashed with the commission on multiple occasions, also has strong interests at the airport. He asked to be heard at the special meeting, but there was no public comment session on the agenda.
Commissioners Jimmy Tench and Bruce Harkness decided they wanted McDonald to be heard, and with Commissioner Dustin Mealor absent, the motion to do so died in a 2-2 stalemate.
Worse, so did the approval of the agenda – meaning the meeting could not legally proceed without some compromise.
Chairman Bruce Palmer agreed to allow McDonald to speak, and McDonald opened his remarks by trying to invalidate the meeting, saying notice was not given in The Northeast Georgian.
The county provided notice of the meeting on Friday, by phone and email, and more than one media outlet was present. The meeting was recorded on the county’s website for all to see.
McDonald continued, saying that the airport has had no manager for 60 years and questioned why it needed one now, before ceding the floor after Palmer asked him to. McDonald went on, though, to call out from the audience during the actual business of the meeting, including launching into unprovoked criticism of Vaughn’s salary – a topic which was not being covered at the meeting.
Palmer warned three people in all for being out of order with random comments from the audience, but the meeting felt like it had gone completely off the rails.
A single item was on the agenda, yet it took almost an hour to resolve.
We have not achieved balance or mutual respect in this public transaction.
Citizens need to be heard, but county business needs to be conducted. It is not in the county taxpayers’ interest for one to be able to bring the other to a complete grinding halt.