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Incumbents fall
at Forsyth polls
Challengers topple sheriff, official
By Jennifer Sami
jsami@forsythnews.com
Forsyth voters settled three
Republican races for local office
Tuesday, electing a new sheriff, county
commissioner and coroner.
In the closest balloting of the runoff,
challenger Duane Piper toppled three
term incumbent Sheriff Ted Paxton by
341 votes.
Sheriff was among two countywide
contests on the ballot, with Mary Beth
Pais holding off Harold Bennett to
become the next coroner.
Also Tuesday, voters in District 4
elected Cindy Jones Mills their next
county commissioner. _
None of the winners face opposition in
the General Election on Nov. 6 and will
take office in January. .
“Turnout was great, 13.62 percent is
more than I thought,” said Barbara Luth,
the county’s elections supervisor. “It was
real smooth today. We didn’t have any
problems with the precincts. We only had
six provisional ballots.”
About 4,000 residents voted during
the early and advance voting periods for
the runoff, and another nearly 9,800 on
Tuesday.
“Every vote does count,” Luth said.
“I've seen it happen before that an
PUBLISHED SEPT. 9, 2012
Enrollment on rise
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Lambert High School students fill the hallways as they head to class.
Enroliment growth in the Forsyth County school system is among the fast
gst in the nation.
gain in student enroll
ment, behind two inde
pendent school districts in
Texas, |
According to the analy
sis, Forsyth has grown 45
percent between 2005 and
’lO. That’s a rate School
Superintendent Buster
Evans said matches the
local system’s numbers.
Since 2000, the system,
which currently has more
than 38,000 students, has
grown 118 percent, said
Evans, adding the
Govistics data “confirms
what we’ve seen on our
local growth.”
Govistics, a product of
School system
growth third
largest in U.S.
By Jenaifer Sami
|sami@forsythnews.come
The nation is discover
ing something the local
school system has long
known — Forsyth County
is growing fast.
Govistics recently
released analysis of U.S.
Census of Governments
data that lists Forsyth as
having the third largest
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incumbent loses a runoff because a lot
of people think, ‘Well, they'll get in it's
not a problem. The incumbent always
wins.’ But it’s not true.”
Runoff elections typically draw about
a 5 percent turnout, but Luth said
Forsyth constantly surprises her.
Many voters in the north end of the
county also had a congressional race on
their ballot, helping set the Nov. 6 field
for District 9 U.S. “House of
Representatives post.
Although she secured 55 percent of
the vote in Forsyth, Martha Zoller fell to
Doug Collins in balloting across a dis
trict of northeast Georgia that includes
all or parts of 20 counties. =~
Collins will face Jody Cooley, a
Democrat from Gainesville, this fall.
The congressional race saw a lot of
interest locally. About 20 percent, or
5,799 of the 28,651, of registered voters
in Forsyth’s portion of the district chose
to cast a ballot.
Nearly 21 percent, or 3,890, of 18,669
eligible voters participated in the
District 4 commission race.
“I'm glad it was a big turnout. I like
having people come out and vote,” Luth
said.
“Now we’ll get started with the
November election, in fact, we’ve
already started working on November.”
the Center for
Governmental Research,
also shows a list of the top
and lowest-spending
school districts.
While Forsyth missed
the top-10 lowest spend
ing list, it wasn’t by much,
said Dan Jones, system
finance director.
“We missed this nation
al top-10 list by approxi
mately SSO, which we
believe is an exceptional
feat,” he said. “We have
been able to keep our
costs low despite adding
more students and facili
ties by making reductions
each year.”
County settles
with former
planning chief
By Alyssa Laßenzie
alarenzie@forsythnews.com
Forsyth County commissioners have
approved a seftlement agreement with
former planning director Jeff Chance.
Chance was terminated from his
15-year employment with the tounty in
August 2010 after an investigation of his
management practices and computer use.
He filed two lawsuits against the coun
ty: one in 2010 that contended his rights
as a whistleblower had been violated and
another in 2011 appealing the civil service
board’s deciston to uphold hug:ge
The settlement states that will
drop both cases against the county and
cannot make future claims.
He would also receive $325,000 from
Forsyth, with $225,000 paid by the
county’s insurance and SIOO,OOO from
the general fund.
Commissioners voted 4-0 during their
meeting Thursday, with Brian Tam
absent, to approve the agreement, which
will become final once signed by both
parties.
Attorney Tim Buckley, hired by the
county to litigate the suits, said the mat
ter was mediated in May.
“The parties reached terms which
were recommended for resolution by
counsel and the insurer,” Buckley said.
Each side will be responsible for its
own attorney fees, he said.
Figures from Buckley’s office estimat
ed that about $150,000 had been charged
in fees on the Chance cases, with about
SIOO,OOO paid by the county’s insurance
and about $50,000 by the county.
Chance’s attorney, Eric Chofnas, did
not return calls Friday seeking comment.
Chairman Jim Boss said after the
meeting that the county felt comfortable
with the settlement in part because the
insurance company “was willing to foot
most of the bill.”
Also, he said “it closes out something
that’s been hanging around for a long
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In his appeal and law
suit, Chance contended
his dismissal was polifi
cally motivated, while
the county has argued it
was based on failure to
comply with and
The <county’s investi
gation was prompted-by
former planning board
member Brant Meadows' review of
Chance’s county e-mail.
That probe turned up messages of a
sexually and racially charged nature
between Chance, his girlfriend and other
county employees.
Chance, who was making about
$92,000 a year, used profanity at work
and permitted employees to waste coun
ty time, according to the investigation.
In its first review in December 2010,
the civil service board upheld three of
the 12 findings in the county’s probe and
partially supported three others. The
remaining six were not sustained.
Chance appealed to the Forsyth
County Superior Court, which remanded
the case back to the civil service board.
In November, the board once again
upheld his termination, stating in its
decision that Chance “met his burden of
proving that a discriminatory/retaliatory
motive was a factor in the decision to ter
minate his employment.”
However, it continues, “The civil ser
vice board finds that the county would
have made the same personnel decision
based on non-retaliatory/nondiscrimina-
Since Chance’s dismissal, former
assistant planning director Tom Brown
was named director of planning and
community development.
The commission also approved a
change in the job description. The posi
tion now reports to the county manager
instead of the commission and the direc
tor serves at will instead of falling under
civil service.
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