Over Coffee

by Gay Wiley Shook gayshook@mindspring.com

July 22, 2004     Citizens of Gwinnett County, Georgia are doing some sharp quarterbacking after the Georgia Primary Election on July 20th. With three candidates in the race for chairman of the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners, a runoff was inevitable. Wayne Hill, who is asking the voters for an unprecedented fourth four-year term, was the top vote getter. His two challengers, Charles Bannister and Marcia Neaton ex-Griggs, were in a photo finish to join him in a runoff election that is scheduled for August 10, 2004. At this writing, it appears that Charles Bannister will be on the ballot.    What is absolutely astonishing is that inept Marcia managed to garner over 11,000 votes even though she has not served her constituents well as District 1 commissioner. Marcia has dropped the ball on some great ideas that would have been beneficial to that district. Chairman Wayne Hill has bailed a few of them out, no thanks to Marcia. It is well known that she does not get along with her staff. When asked how she was going to get along with 4200 county employees if she was elected chairman, her response was reported to be, "I'll fire them all."    Then, did you read the account of the altercation with the Gwinnett Daily Post photographer at Marcia's after-vote party last night in that newspaper on July 21st? The Post reported that Marcia offered to trade something in order to keep a photograph out of the newspaper. Good for the Post for reporting this! Some of us remember her ultra-tacky wedding to Bob Griggs of darkly checkered history at her swearing in for District 1 commissioner almost four years ago. The marriage went in the shredder after just two years. Marcia also had the embarrassing habit of showing up at county functions dressed in car wash clothes. I believe she just didn't know any better. We taxpayers are well rid of her just as we are well rid of District 3 Commissioner John Dunn. Those two were prime textbook examples of the ignorant abuse of power. Gwinnett County deserves so much better than what we got with that ill-advised pair, who were elected at the same time. Gwinnett County deserves county executives of the highest caliber, not hubris-loaded hot heads, who are unable to understand the economics of good government.    In my view, it is imperative that Wayne Hill is re-elected to another four-year term as the chief executive of Gwinnett County in this runoff. He and his wife, Carolyn, are a class act and I am proud of their representation. Gwinnett County has become a model for other counties in Georgia and our nation under Hill's administration. Not enough publicity has been given to the many awards and achievements he has earned for us over the nearly twelve years he has served us as chairman. Delegations from all over the world have visited our Wayne Hill Water Reclamation Plant to observe the cutting edge in water conservation and purification technology. Wayne Hill has just received the 2004 Caucus Courthouse award from the National Association of Counties and is slated to receive another statewide stupendous award in September. Hill has assembled a county staff that is second to none in this state, highly trained professional people who could get a job anywhere in industry. Wayne Hill runs Gwinnett County like the Fortune 500 Company that it is, with its $1.4 Billion annual budget.     I'm aware of the folks who think incumbents should be thrown out. In some cases, that is absolutely the best solution to inept governance. We've seen the voter disgust at the antics of Neaton and Dunn. Wayne Hill is an incumbent of quite another caliber, however. He has done things right. In case you want to argue with that, just look at the value of your house and then tell me you think Hill has not done a good job. He has done a fabulous job and everybody with some sense realizes it. Hill has steadily improved our fire and emergency services, bringing more and more coverage to citizens. He has doubled law enforcement coverage during his watch. I was told that the endorsement of Marcia Neaton by the policemen's union was decided by the twelve people who showed up at the meeting, and hardly half of them agreed on it. The endorsement was a giant joke if you consider the numbers. I certainly hope the leaders of this bunch look at the forest instead of two thin twigs in the future.    The cacophony of homeowner activist groups needs to be quiet for a few minutes and hear this message: The quality of life in this county is directly related to the sustained value of your homes. Both are dependent upon the ratio of residential to businesses. For every dollar of assessed homeowner value, it costs the county $1.25 to provide infrastructure and services. For every dollar of commercial assessed value, it costs the county less than one dollar to provide those same services and infrastructure. The perfect balance is 50-50. Gwinnett now has close to a perfect balance: 54% residential and 46% commercial. Homeowners need to understand that our property taxes are kept low because of this fairly balanced ratio. Homeowners draw on civic resources such as schools, hospitals, law enforcement, and fire and emergency services to a far greater degree than commercial businesses do. If we had a huge disproportionate ratio of homeowners in Gwinnett, our taxes would have to shoot up to cover the costs of the municipal services that would be needed because we would not have enough businesses to help cover our costs. Management of this detail is one of the chairman's most important duties.    If Charles Bannister is indeed the name on the runoff ballot as challenger to Wayne Hill, I will simply say one more time: Charles is a very nice man, but I do not believe he is the man for this job. Some of his "advisors" are decidedly not my cup of tea. "Ooky" is one of the words that come to mind and that is not a typo for "okay." It is what you could find on the bottom of your shoe if you are not careful.    My friends, please vote in the runoff election that is 20 days hence. There is much at stake to have only a few voters decide the result.    Thanks for reading. Hope all is well. 072204 Archives