Newspaper Page Text
8-A
.. The Summerville News, Thursday, October 16, 1986
State’s Counties Move
Toward Board, Manager
from front page
Cloudland-Teloga-Lookout Mountain
districts would serve for two years,
beginning Jan. 1, 1989. Commissioners
elected in November, 1990 from those
two districts would then serve four
{W terms. The legislation provides
or staggered terms so that there
would be a continuity of service on the
board after each election.
Residents would still vote in their
own respective polling places and new
polling places would not have to be set
up as a result of the elections for coun
ty commissioners.
Chattooga County had a five
member board of commissioners until
1956 when it set up the current sole
commissioner form of government.
Since that time, as pointed out last
week by Floyd County Manager
Richard” McCullough, a number of
state and federal laws has been
enacted providing for tighter auditing
procedures for cities and counties, in
cludmg state oversight of annual coun
ty audits.
In addition, a county manager
would administer the daily financial af
fairs of the county, subject to the con
trol of the entire board.
- * *
ALL THE counties using the sole
commissioner form of government in
Georgia all have populations under
60,000 and most are around 10,000 to
12,000 population. The largest county
retainini: sole commissioner format
is neighboring Walker, which had a
ropulation of 56,470 in 1980. Other
arge counties which use that form of
Eovemment are Carroll and Cherokee
ounties. The smallest sole commis
sioner county in Georgia is Webster
County, which had a 1980 population
of 2,341. Dade, Bartow and Catoosa
Counties in Northwest Georgia also
have sole commissioners.
Nationwide, 2,500 out of 3,000
counties have opted for the commis
sion form of government. The
commission-manager form of govern
ment is used in counties from the size
of Petroleum County, Mont., which
has fewer than 1,000 residents, to
Dade County, Fla., which has
1.2-million people.
Within a few years, an article in
““Georgia County Government’
sgeculated. it may be the rule rather
than the excef)tion for counties to have
professional managers or ad
ministrators. It is rare for a county
that has hired a manager to return to
a sole commissioner form of govern
ment or even to a board where the
chairman handles administrative
tasks, the argicle added.
* *
LIBBI STOKES, former ad
ministrative assistant to the
Thomaston city manager, pointed out
in “Georgia County Government '’ that
a professional administrator helps
remove politics from decisions on
where to place benefits in a county
when commissioners are elected by
districts. She said:
“Without a separation of policy
making and administration, it 1s easy
for one commissioner, for instance, to
tend to favor his district constituents.
It is more difficult to take action for
the benefit of the county as a whole
when only Part of the county is respon
sible for electing a board member.
“On the other hand, the hired ad
ministrator can afford to keep the
welfare of all the people in mind and
to distribute services equally to all.
“Another advantage to Kaving a
professional public of%icial in an ad
ministrative role is that he is more like
ly to be knowledgeable about invokin
help from federal irants or state aifi
programs. If he has extensive ex
perience in local government, or has
ASKS ROTARY SPEAKER
Has Man Omitted God From Life?
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FAY HURLEY (L) WELCOMES SPEAKER
Former Rep. E. B. Toles Addresses Club
taken courses of study that cover local
government operations, he will know
something of personnel munnfiement
and fair employment laws, public debt
administration, budsetin and invest
ment, purchasing an legs procedures
for local government, all areas that
newly elected officials must study if
they are to a‘void ‘costlz mistakes.
“TO STATE the calse fgr an acli
ministrator more simply, the e
may elect public offic?afs to im?fy
general community goals and focus
their resources on reaching those
fioals. Elected officials may want to
ire administrators to help them at
tain those Foals in the most
economical, efficient ways."”
“Georgia County (E'ovemment"
also said, ‘*Manager-administrators
can provide continuity of smooth
operations when elected administra
tions change. They can afford elected
public officials a measure of profes
sionalism they, themselves, rarely
have in government administration.
... (T)he manager will make up
an annual work program expressed in
dollars of expense and give an offset
ting summar[\;eof sources and amounts
of income to be used. This constitutes
the annual (;?erations budget which
the elected officials will adjust to their
likin% and adopt.
“The manager plans short-term
and long-term projects with which to
implement p(:licy set b¥ the board.
“HE WILL ALSO orfanize the ad
ministrative structure of the commis
sion office, hire people to perform dai
ly work, direct their efforts, ¥rovide
proier discipline to secure effective
work performance, delegate duties to
other workers and coordinate their
activities.
“The manager-administrator will
report on work ir;frocess to the board,
keep it informed on the status of
finances and perform other items of
public business for the board and the
public.”
Another article in *'Georgia Coun
ty Government said the %oa.rd of
commissioners-manager form of
government'' is the most recent trend
in local government and one that is
§aining popularity rapidly. It provides
ulltime professional management for
a county government that may have
only parttime elected officials . ..
“The hired administrator form
began to gain momentum in the early
1960 s and by 1980, it was estimated
that 25 percent of all counties above
20,000 population use it ...
“Professional administrators often
have extensive training and education
in finance, public administration and
office management skills . . .
* * *
“MOST PROFESSIONAL ad
ministrators prefer to work in counties
where their post has been created
through local legislation spelling out
the full aspects of their job and its
authority.
“One of the most obvious advan
tages of having an administrator ap
pointed by the board is that policy
making is separated from administra
tion, thus administration is separated
from political influence or hints of
favoritism . . .
“With an administrator to handle
details of running the government, the
board is free to ’iipencf its energies on
policy-making. Too, fiscal control is
concentrated in one individual so that
cash flow and expenditures are more
easily managed.
“Progressive as it is, the ad
ministrator form of government is also
subject to problems. For one thing,
when the board is split politically, the
The United States has
made all sorts of technological
advances and even gone to the
moon but ‘“have we really and
truly learned to live on God's
green earth?”’
That was a main question
asked at Monday’'s weekly
meeting of the Summerville-
Trion Rotary Club by former
Chattooga Countian E. B.
Toles. The speaker, who serv
ed as a Floyd County state
representative for 10 years and
is a Baptist lay speaker, was in
troduced by Rotarian Fay
Hurley.
Statisticians 100 years ago
determined that man had 72
“‘wants’’ and 16 ‘‘necessities,”’
Toles said. Today, that list has
been increased to 484 ‘‘wants”’
and 94 ‘‘necessities,’”’ he
continued.
““Have we really and truly
gotten to the place where we
realize what this life is all
about?’ Toles asked.
Moral commitment in
business or any other endeavor
is the result of};eh' ious convic
tions, he xalssert,ed!i;l
Our forefathers came to a
new land with few possessions
but “they had something to
live for,”” rather &an
something to live with in the
w%y of material things, he
indicated. :
“Is it possible that the
spiritual light and the moral
light of this nation is growing
dimmer and dimmer and dim
mer because you and I as a na
tion are too busy doing our own
thing?’ he asked the
Rotarians.
administrator can become a
scapegoat . . .
. %
“IT IS IMPORTANT to note that
with the administrator form of govern
ment, the elected board of commis
sioners still retains its full powers. In
deed, its members cannot lawfully
delegate their constitutionally ap
pointed authority ... "
The article goes on to outline the
advantages ang disadvantages of the
sole commissioner form of
government:
“This highly efficient form of
Fovernment concentrates local
egislative and executive power in a
single individual. Some so?e commis
sioners have appointed administrative
assistants who carry out their policies
and manage county business, but who
serve entirely at the pleasure of the
elected commissioner . . .
‘“‘People don't have to wait usuall
to learn whether the county will or wnfl
not handle some problem for them;
there can be no ‘guck-passin "to a
board of elected officials who wfi share
credit or blame for its actions.
‘*Having almost absolute authori
ty concentrated in one individual
means that county matters can be
tended to without delay. Employees
see a clear line of authority, and in
many cases take their work
assignments directly from the
commissioner.
* * *
“DISADVANTAGES are obvious,
too. The volume of work for a modern
county of any size is clearly a challenge
to one person who has so much respon
sibility placed on him or her. Too, the
one individual may not have — at least
at the beginning of his term — suffi
cient experience in financial manage
ment, le§al aspects of government,
personne! manafement. indeed, all the
managerial skills which are called in
to play with county government's
many g'acets of service.
" “Itis also unlikely that a sole com
missioner could operate county
government on a parttime basis.
Whoever takes the post is usually call
ed on to drop all other business in
terests or to give them low priority
while tending to county government
needs. This means the availability of
candidates for sole commissioner will
be limited to retired persons, those
whose business or professional lives
can be set aside indefinitely, or those
who are wealthy enough to leave their
private affairs in the hands of other
managers.
* * *
“ANOTHER disadvantage is that
the system lacks checks and %alances.
No mechanism exists for reviewing
decisions of the sole commissioner
prior to their implementation. Errors
in judgment, financial commitments to
unpopular spending categories and
other decisions which may not reflect
the public weal cannot be corrected or
stayed until the next election. Short of
blatant malfeisance or slow-moving
recall, voters have little actual control
over a sole commissioner after they
put him in office.
“To the credit of sole commis
sioners in Georgia, however, most of
them enjoy more repeat terms than do
members of boards of commissioners.
Where sole commissioner forms of
government still exist, county opera
tions have generally been paragons of
stability. 'l‘%\ey are, by design, free of
divergent leadership decisions which
tend to slow down a board-governed
county's progress*towai"d its goals."
(Next: Questions and answers
about the five-member board-county
manager proposal and the sole com
missioner form of government).
The nation has a drug pro
blem but ‘“‘are we really and
truly concerned about it,”
Toles asked. “We live in a very
permissive world and a very
dangerous world, a very
dangerous world."”
The former legislator said
he was concerned that God is
bein% left out of man’s every
day life in many respects, ad
ding, ‘““no man can t,efi)how rich
he is by thumbing through his
ledgers. A man is rich accor
ding to what he is and not what
he fias."
USin,fi a plumb line and
ruler to illustrate his talk, Toles
?uoted the Bible, including
saiah and the minor prophet,
Amos, as well as former l?resi
dent Woodrow Wilson and
former British Prime Minister
Winston Churchill.
“Do you think that a
sovereign God is about to deal
with a nation called America?"’
Toles asked his audience.
*...1s God calling the shots
in your life?"
Pointing out that the song,
“God Bless America,” was
written in 1917 by Irvin
Berlin but lay dormant untfi
World War II when it was
resurrected into a national hit
by Kate Smith, Toles said,
“May God bless America
again."”
SHOP CHATTOCCA
COUNTY MERCHANTS
.
We're Doing It Again! [/ BIG DAYS!
/[| Thursday
Many, Many |/} unorv
ltems [/] o
To Sell! % TENE
come (i =
See Em! QUL G
Several Trailer Loads Of All Kinds Of
POTTERY, TOYS,
GLASSWARE AND
GIFT ITEMS
At Prices You Won't Believe
o Wexford Decanters, Footed Vases and
Stemmed Cordials
e Anchor Hocking Vases and Candy Dishes
o Bibles e Baskets
e Cake Stand & Dome e« oil Lamps
e Cookie Jars e Mixing Bowls
All Kinds - Owls, Pigs, Dogs 10” - 12” - 14” - Pink and Blue
and Others
e Owl Lamps e Over 1,000 Salt &
CPR ...y DI
13 Colors to Choose From
e Pi110w5......%51.99
20% LOWER
~ THANOUR |
SALVAGE SALES PRICE
PLUS — Everyone Making a Purchase
Will Receive a Coupon Good for 10% Dis
count On Their First Purchase in November
At Salvage Sales! ‘
SALE WILL BE HELD AT OLD SUMMERVILLE COTTON MILL
WAREHOUSE — ACROSS FROM JEANNIE’S CRAFT SHOP