The Islander. (St. Simons Island, Ga.) 1972-current, May 20, 2019, Image 16
Page 16, May 20, 2019, The Islander Injustice I’ve got couple things to write about this week, but I’m going to start with this one about the Joint Water and Sewer Commission (JWSC). Please note the following is spec ulation, perhaps educated or in formed speculation, but speculation nevertheless. Up until the JWSC began hold ing their meetings on Thursday mid afternoons making it difficult for me to also cover the Glynn County Com mission meetings Thursday evenings, I had covered the utility since the very first meeting when the city and county commissions got together to discuss the idea. I was there for it all from Tony Sammons being the first non-elected, citizen appointee, right up through all three Executive Directors. I think the first two, Keith Morgan and Steve Swan, had their strengths and weaknesses, but did what they felt necessary to move the utility forward. I think Morgan bore the worst of it being the first director of a brand new utility that nobody really had any idea how to create or organize. It was unique in the state of Georgia in that it consisted of two city and two county commissioners, who then appointed the citizen member. Morgan was truly a man serving two masters, who had a long history of not getting along with each other - the city and the county commissions. Swan had his own issues and paid the price. When they hired Alabaman Jimmy Junkin I was immediately impressed. He had both technical / scientific and business degrees and was no doubt well suited to run the organization. Recently it was announced that he was resigning and ever since everyone has been very tight lipped about it. Let the speculation begin -1 for one don’t believe that Junkin resigned of his own free will and accord, for one stinking second. I got fairly well acquainted with Junkin and for him to “resign” right out of the clear blue sky, after relocat ing his family here from Alabama, I just don’t buy it. I believe it was, once again, Glynn County politics as usual. I believe that there were at least four JWSC members who had indi vidual personal grudges against him and in their small minded pettiness simply wanted him gone, so they gave him the option to “resign,” in lieu of being fired. It happens all the time. During last week’s City Commis sion meeting, Commissioner Johnny Cason, who represented the city com mission on the JWSC while Junkin was there, questioned the city’s cur rent representative, Mayor Cornell Harvey about the “resignation.” The Mayor cited personnel con fidentiality laws allowed under the “SE” The Islander editorial Georgia Open Records and Meetings Act. There’s been a fleeting mention of Junkin’s letter of resignation, but so far no one has produced a copy of it. This is a sad and bad situation. An extremely qualified, hard working, honest man facing the monumental task of trying to deal with over $100 million in projects to rehab a water and sewer system that was allowed to rot in the ground for decades, was forced out for political and personal reasons. As if the injustice wasn’t bad enough, I’m afraid it’s going to be diffi cult to replace him with someone with his dual qualifications. For example, at one time Glynn County’s Community Development Department was down to one Plan ner. That was it, they had no director, no planning manager nor other plan ners. I know at least one of them left because they were disillusioned by the job here. It took a very long time for the County to find replacements. Could it be, again this is more spec ulation, that Glynn has a less than stellar reputation as a place to work? I’m guessing the water and sewer business is, well, not huge, and if word gets out that Junkin “resigned” with out warning and no real appreciable reason, it could limit the applicant pool. We’ll miss you Jimmy, Roll Tide. The other thing I wanted to men tion is a prediction on an entirely dif ferent subject - American Idol®. I predict Alejandro Aranda will win it all tonight (May 19). I didn’t start watching Idol® until a couple years ago - it didn’t seem like the kind of music I’d listen to and for the most part it isn’t. But they have had some very talented people on like Haley Reinhart and Joshua Ledet who did a blistering version of Bruno Mars’s “Runaway Baby” and had the potential to be the next Otis Redding. This season has been fairly excep tional with a great top six. But Aranda is unlike anyone who has ever been on the show, at least since I’ve been watching. He’s an accomplished songwriter and regularly plays originals, some thing the producers and judges urge contestants to avoid like the plague, but not this guy. He finger-picked his way brilliant ly through his first audition with an original, and once on the show per formed another of his own songs on the piano combining classical and jazz at times calling up images of Dave Brubeck’s version of Paul Desmond’s “Take Five.” It was stunning. The thing about this show is, the winners don’t always succeed, and the also-rans don’t always fail. Whatever the outcome tonight, I think Alejandro Aranda has a future so bright, he gon’ need some shades. We Know YOU’RE READY. but it’s never too early to start planning. Independent Living • Assisted Living • Memory Care • Skilled Nursing • Rehab MARSH’S EDGE ON ST. SIMONS ISLAND 136 Marsh’s Edge Lane • St. Simons Island, GA 31522 (912) 324-3028 • Marshs-Edge.com til i.