The research subcommittee of the Citizens Advisory Committee on Commission Structure discussed plans to seek financial data from the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia as well as more data on counties similar to Pickens.
The subcommittee has been researching population growth and density in eight other Georgia counties with a sole commissioner. Tim Jordan says Pickens County has the highest population growth rate of the nine counties.
Jordan also reported few similarities in population growth and numbers between the nine counties except that all are similar in population density.
Chairman of the research subcommittee, Jon Aldridge investigated the three-person commission form of government proposed in 1992. Those who opposed that plan seemed to zero in on the cost, he said. The benefits didn’t seem to be a pressing issue then for voters.
CAC Chair Phil Anderson said a multi-man commission is necessary for transparent government decisions, but he also says the cost has to be warranted.
“You will have a qualitative analysis of the benefits, but a quantitative analysis of the cost,” he says.
Kirk Kondos says he has been talking to Pickens County residents about what they want. He estimates over 90 percent of the people he has spoken to want a five-person commission with a county manager. According to Aldridge, there was little input from residents in the 1992 proposal and virtually no media coverage, which he says could be the reason voters here turned it down.
The research subcommittee has tasked itself with studying the costs of structure options being looked at. They plan to contact the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia to inquire about the cost to counties similar in size, population density, overall population, and growth rates. The committee is researching a five-person commission with and without a chairperson or administrator.
Aldridge acknowledges an expanded commission may not solve all of the county’s problems. “At the very least we will have divergent opinions, which we don’t have now,” he says.
Aldridge believes one way to minimize problems with a multi-person commission is to have commissioners elected on staggered terms, so each election cycle won’t bring on a completely new staff of commissioners. The idea is that there will be experienced commissioners already in office when new ones are elected.
Pickens Democratic Party Chairman and research subcommittee member David Robinson says he has concerns the growing county will place high demands on a sole commissioner.
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