It is getting tougher and tougher to find folks who want to serve on governmental boards.
No one even filed to run against three Board of Education members and District 2 County Commissioner Dustin Mealor, which on the one hand might indicate that residents think they are doing a good job as it is.
Fortunately for Habersham County, those four public servants are doing a fine job by all accounts. But one has to wonder what would have happened if one of them decided they had done their duty and stepped aside. Would anyone have taken up the mantle in their stead?
No Republicans ran against any of our state legislators, which, again, can be interpreted as an endorsement of their service in Atlanta. But to see no one even try after a frenzy in 2020 makes one wonder if the landscape has shifted significantly.
Clarkesville had to go into overtime to get someone to file for its open city council seat, and just when that got filled, another council member resigned. The city will have to have another filing period in August to fill that spot now, so hopefully they will have better luck getting interested candidates.
Alto is losing longtime Mayor Audrey Turner and Councilman Turner Griffith as well, and Griffith was just elected in November. If Councilman James Turner joins his wife in hanging up his political gloves, the town will barely be able to form a quorum.
Baldwin City Council has a husband-wife council team in Alice and Maarten Venter, which creates the uncomfortable dynamic of accidentally being one phone call away from a quorum at all times. But no one else in Baldwin was willing to step up and run, so the city is left in that uncomfortable position.
Special elections can be a hassle and an expense, and they almost always lend themselves to poor voter turnout. Sometimes, the wagon can be hitched to other primary or general elections going on, if you are lucky enough to be in an even-numbered year where we have county, state and federal races going on that cover all of Habersham.
But interest in participating in government is trending down, and it’s not just with elected officials. County authorities and boards are getting harder to fill with interested and qualified applicants, and that hurts all of us behind the scenes without those willing to serve the county in smaller roles.
The reason for this trend is unclear, whether it is general mistrust of government or frustration with the direction the country has gone politically, financial concerns or something completely different. In any case, we will continue to struggle to move the county forward if we cannot put quality people in offices and on boards and keep them there for their entire term. It takes time to learn how to perform these services, and without experienced and consistent leadership, the whole county’s future becomes murky.