A Few Thoughts On Local Government Structure In Walker County
Walker County Republicans will be asked a question: “Should the form of county government in Walker County be changed from a sole commissioner to a board of commissioners?” It’s been an 800 pound gorilla since my stent as Walker County Republican Party chairman four years ago.
I’m still undecided, but I’m leaning towards no because 1.) either form of government won’t prevent poor government (if you elect crappy officials, you get crappy government) and 2.) the issue has become more about who occupies the office (and that’s what primaries are for) rather than debating the merits of both structures.
I say that seeing Murray County reverting back to a sole commission and Bartow County with a large population, and they’re actually doing pretty well from what I see. Murray landed an inland port a few months ago, and Bartow seems to be doing pretty well. I see the benefits of a sole commission. A single negotiator and not having to deal with multiple agendas from multiple commissioners.
I also see the merits of multiple commissioners. Different ideas from different areas of the county, and hopefully keeps a balance of power between the elected county officials….and then you see what’s going on in DeKalb County.
I see the sole vs. multi-member commission in a similar vein to term limits of congressmen: an instant cure-all for the ills of our government. I’m sure that advocates say that they understand it’s not a silver bullet, at least, I hope so. I have until the 24th to make up my mind, and I’m open to hearing pros and cons to both beyond “we don’t like the current officeholder.”
Walker County has major financial issues that will probably get worse before they get any better. For instance, the ruling last week that said Hutcheson Medical Center owes Chattanooga-based Erlanger over $36 million. Walker County taxpayers will be owing a portion of that, so I’m bracing for an increase in my property taxes.
We have two fresh faces on the Republican ballot for commissioner this year. Personally, I believe one candidate has a pretty good understanding of our county’s problems and the other wants to blame our county’s Republican Party for his lackluster, single-issue (sole vs. multi-member commission) campaign. The victor from that race will face our incumbent Republican-turned-Independent commissioner for the General Election.
I intend to vote Republican this fall.
About Author
nsmith
Father. IT Geek. Former 14th District GOP Chairman (2015-2017). Former Walker GOP Chairman (2009-2013). Resident of Chamblee. American. Georgian. Conservative.
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Excellent analysis. The sole commissioner has a staff and department heads. Elect the right commissioner and the staff and dept heads become better. Better to have expectations on the departments, good ones will rise to the responsibility and serve the people.
I am very suspicious of bureaucracy but we have to serve the community efficiently and it has to be managed.
Elect the wrong commissioner, one, it comes apparent very fast, or five allows obfuscation for the commissioner and the dept heads. I’d suggest hiring a professional county manager at some population level with a sole commissioner before adding part time politicians, that usually never learn the business.
The argument is that multi-person commission prevents abuse of power. In my experience having lived in Gwinnett, where commissioners in the past have gone into federal confinement, been indicted and/or resigned to avoid indictment, that reasoning holds little credibility. Now living in Union County governed by a sole commissioner, I believe delivers more efficiencies and effectiveness with one big caveat. You had better select the right sole commissioner and that puts pressure on the voters to do their due diligence during an election.
I think Sole Commissioners can be effective in counties up to 75K in population. Beyond that point the workload requires multiple inputs.
I find it surprising that some Republicans who espouse smaller, limited governments are the very same people urging multi-person commissions. So apparently in some cases power trumps principle.
I wonder if you’d get better results, particularly for a sole commissioner, if it was a non-partisan election.
There are very good reasons why only eight counties in the country still use the sole commissioner form of government.
Separating the legislative and executive functions from each other provides a forum for deliberation that prevents bad ideas from being implemented quickly. It is the model we have favored for our national, state and local governments with the exception of the sole commissioner form of government.
One election, one bad sole commissioner, can create problems that last a very long time. It is also a highly specialized office that is not conducive to easy transitions between administrations. Having a board is a type of bet hedging because having more than one person at the helm decreases the odds that one bad apple could bring down the house. It also provides institutional continuity because you can stagger the terms of the commissioners. When a decade-plus incumbent sole commissioner leaves office, so does the institutional knowledge.
There is no connection between the principle of having smaller, limited government and adopting or retaining the sole commissioner form of government. If that were the case, Republicans in the 151 counties in this state with boards would advocate for a sole commissioner form of government. A sole commissioner’s decisions can increase the role of government in people’s lives just like a board’s decisions can.
Well said and worth reading twice. That said, I have rarely seen a committee run an efficient operation. Good department heads are the continuity. The BOC herds the cats and keeps them in the right direction. It gets back to electing the right folks while the odds of efficient small government wane with layers or multiples of authority.
Bartow County didn’t “revert” back to a sole commissioner method of government. It has been that way for almost 100 years. Also, the population of Bartow County is over 103,000… much too large to have a sole commissioner. I would love to see the legislature change state law so that once a county reaches 100k in population, it must change from a sole commissioner to a board of commissioners form of government.
Here in Bartow there are no public work sessions where citizens can get a sense of upcoming issues to be voted on. We don’t even get a heads up on what the sole commissioner will even be deciding at the next monthly meeting. He just shows up and makes a bunch of decisions. Case closed. The only exception would be if the state requires a public hearing such as a property tax increase.
The key to avoid the problems we see in DeKalb County and some others with a board of commissioners, is to structure the government so that there is no “chairman” elected by the people… too much power entrusted to one person and it sets up conflict with the remaining commissioners.
(1) There should be a board of 5 or 7 members, each elected by the voters solely within the district they each represent.
(2) The board members should all be part-time.
(3) The chairman should be elected from among the 5 (or 7) by the sitting board members each January or every other January if you want a 2 year term. The chairman remains a part-time public servant.
(4) The day to day operations of the county should be handled by a fulltime county manager, much like the way school systems are structured with the hired school superintendent handling the operation of the system.
Comparisons are difficult given the variance between the counties of the many degrees of control between full-time elected officials, part-timers, and non-elected bureaucrats. Contrary to popular sentiment I will take a well-trained bureaucrat over an elected know nothing, or one appointed by same almost every time. Unfortunately due to the spoils system an expert bureaucrat is an oxymoron to most of us. As for the elected officials I’m not sure you want to boil it off to a single point of failure. Gwinnett’s failure in the past was the understanding that each commissioner stayed out of the other one’s patch. This just became individual fiefdoms within the whole or a valid comparison to the single commissioner model in a smaller county.
“A single negotiator and not having to deal with multiple agendas from multiple commissioners.”
That’s not what happened with the Braves in multi-Commissioner Cobb County.