Our opinion
It’s been a long, strange journey over the last two years for the District 5 seat on the Habersham County Board of Commissioners.
First, Ed Nichols resigned, leaving a hole that had to be filled at the end of 2019. Tim Stamey emerged from a field of five and defeated Darrin Johnston in a runoff election that had 8-percent participation.
That’s 8 percent, to be clear.
Then Stamey got reelected for a four-year term after showing that he was a no-nonsense guy with the guts to ask tough questions. But he took the job so seriously that it jeopardized his health. He lay awake at night wondering how to solve the county’s problems, and it caused more strain on his heart and put him in the hospital.
And so he resigned, leaving almost all of his term on the table for the four vying for his seat in the election Tuesday.
The lack of consistency and experience on the county commission is a concern for Habersham citizens going forward. Once a District 5 commissioner is seated, all members will be operating somewhere within their first term on the board.
We can only hope that, once whole again, the board can work cohesively and further the interests of all the taxpayers of this county. There has been tension on the board over the last couple of years, a good deal of which was caused by Commissioner Jimmy Tench.
Tench has clashed with fellow commissioners past and current, and he has been accused of harassing county employees, including former clerk Lindsay Underwood.
District 5 candidate Ty Akins fired a shot across the bow in the candidate forum sponsored by The Northeast Georgian, saying that the county was fortunate she did not file a lawsuit.
“That was absolutely unacceptable,” Akins said. “If that was my daughter or my wife, that situation would have ended a whole lot differently.”
Fellow candidates Locke Arnold, Mike Adams and Jason E. Hogan agreed that county government culture needs to change in the wake of several leaders leaving this year, including Underwood, former County Manager Phil Sutton, Finance Director Heidi Hook, and Senior Public Works Director Derick Canupp. There also is a retention problem in general among rank-and-file employees.
If rumors are true that some of these valuable county leaders have been “run off,” then it’s past time to put a stop to that trend.
We need a District 5 commissioner who, when added to the mix with the four we have, can help create a force greater than the sum of its parts.
We also need more than 8 percent of our voting electorate to make that choice. If you have not voted early – and from the looks of it, most of you have not – get out Tuesday and make your voice heard.
YOU get to choose who you believe will help make Habersham County a place where people want to stay.