Reasons why you should attend the North High Shoals Meeting this evening
I totally stole this my friend Steve's blog but the gist of the message is that anyone concerned with the future of small town Oconee County municipalities should attend this meeting if they can.
We will be having another public hearing about the new town charter on Monday March 9th at 6:00 pm at the High Shoals Elementary School on Hwy 186. This will be the last public hearing/meeting about the charter and I sincerely hope our representatives will take the charter to the Legislature for passage. Fred Johnson prepared this statement about the charter, and both Violet Dawe and myself support it. Please read, and come out on Monday to let your voice be heard. Thank you.
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Why Monday’s Meeting is Important
Someone on the Town Council has raised a new idea about the town charter which is now revealed to council members by the town attorney the Friday before this big Monday meeting. They have asked the town attorney to research language for a “strong mayor” form of town government. They believe the citizens of the town want a different type of government than is described in the new charter and a different type of government than the charter we currently have. They have decided that this is the moment to investigate a “strong mayor” charter with the town attorney. The new charter, like the old and most town charters in Georgia , places most of the power of the town in the hands of the Town Council of which the mayor is the leader. Now someone seems to be advocating changing the language of the charter to state that our town will have a “strong mayor” form of government. What this means is that the mayor would have the power to hire and fire all employees, veto or line-item veto any action by the council, or rewrite any action by the town council among other “strong mayor” powers. I do not know why this person waited until after we have had a dozen well attended meetings to research this topic. And to do this on the last business day before the 4th open hearing on the charter is not the best timing for the citizens of the town.
This person must believe that the people of North High Shoals will come out to the hearing on Monday and advocate for more power to be placed in the mayor’s hands. What do you want to happen Monday? Where do you want the power of making and enforcing laws to be placed in your town? We’ll be listening on Monday.
We want the power of the town government to be placed in a Town Council which includes a mayor as a leader. We trust a group of elected town residents to make and enforce the laws of our town rather than a mayor having veto and law writing power over every decision. And to have this proposal come at a time when our mayor cannot be bothered to pick up the town mail, respond to phone calls, fulfill open records requests, complete town audits, go to the bank, deposit checks, pay the bills on time, follow the advice of the town attorney….this is absurd. We deserve balanced leadership from a Town Council with a mayor as a member rather than a mayor with total control over the town. The later model has not worked well for us.
We deserve a town charter that spreads the power of our town in the hands of six individuals rather than concentrating it into the hands of one mayor. Come to the meeting on Monday and let the Representative Bob Smith and Senator Bill Cowsert hear your opinion. They will decide whether this new charter is introduced to the General Assembly.
Thanks for Your Support, and See You at the Public Hearing on Monday
Fred Johnson, Steve Holzman, and Violet Dawe
We will be having another public hearing about the new town charter on Monday March 9th at 6:00 pm at the High Shoals Elementary School on Hwy 186. This will be the last public hearing/meeting about the charter and I sincerely hope our representatives will take the charter to the Legislature for passage. Fred Johnson prepared this statement about the charter, and both Violet Dawe and myself support it. Please read, and come out on Monday to let your voice be heard. Thank you.
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Why Monday’s Meeting is Important
Someone on the Town Council has raised a new idea about the town charter which is now revealed to council members by the town attorney the Friday before this big Monday meeting. They have asked the town attorney to research language for a “strong mayor” form of town government. They believe the citizens of the town want a different type of government than is described in the new charter and a different type of government than the charter we currently have. They have decided that this is the moment to investigate a “strong mayor” charter with the town attorney. The new charter, like the old and most town charters in Georgia , places most of the power of the town in the hands of the Town Council of which the mayor is the leader. Now someone seems to be advocating changing the language of the charter to state that our town will have a “strong mayor” form of government. What this means is that the mayor would have the power to hire and fire all employees, veto or line-item veto any action by the council, or rewrite any action by the town council among other “strong mayor” powers. I do not know why this person waited until after we have had a dozen well attended meetings to research this topic. And to do this on the last business day before the 4th open hearing on the charter is not the best timing for the citizens of the town.
This person must believe that the people of North High Shoals will come out to the hearing on Monday and advocate for more power to be placed in the mayor’s hands. What do you want to happen Monday? Where do you want the power of making and enforcing laws to be placed in your town? We’ll be listening on Monday.
We want the power of the town government to be placed in a Town Council which includes a mayor as a leader. We trust a group of elected town residents to make and enforce the laws of our town rather than a mayor having veto and law writing power over every decision. And to have this proposal come at a time when our mayor cannot be bothered to pick up the town mail, respond to phone calls, fulfill open records requests, complete town audits, go to the bank, deposit checks, pay the bills on time, follow the advice of the town attorney….this is absurd. We deserve balanced leadership from a Town Council with a mayor as a member rather than a mayor with total control over the town. The later model has not worked well for us.
We deserve a town charter that spreads the power of our town in the hands of six individuals rather than concentrating it into the hands of one mayor. Come to the meeting on Monday and let the Representative Bob Smith and Senator Bill Cowsert hear your opinion. They will decide whether this new charter is introduced to the General Assembly.
Thanks for Your Support, and See You at the Public Hearing on Monday
Fred Johnson, Steve Holzman, and Violet Dawe
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