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November 15, 2007
County
Charter Changes being Discussed
During
the BOC meeting Monday, November 5, two items were added
to the agenda. This has become a monthly occurrence with
the County Manager adding an item or two or three to the
agenda at each meeting. Sometimes these are very important
agenda items that have not been posted and therefore the
public is not aware of them. TWG feels that discussion of
the County Charter is one of those items that the public
is indeed very concerned about and would like to be involved
in any and all discussions, but they have to be aware of
it first!
“Discussion
of the County Charter” was added under County Attorney items
on the agenda. When it came time, the County Attorney, Kevin
Brown, said that the Commissioners had directed
him to look into amending the County Charter. He
proceeded to tell them he would draft the legislation, but
he wanted to know just what they wanted changed.
When the Commissioners
were asked by Mary Patrick, TWG Chair, just when they directed
the County Attorney to look into the County Charter issue,
not one of them commented. Mrs. Patrick proceeded to ask
the Commissioners if this was discussed in Executive Session,
which is not one of the items according to Open Meetings
Law that can be discussed in closed session. Attorney Brown
then said, “Mary Patrick, you know we’ve discussed this
several times.” With the response by Mrs. Patrick, “Maybe
you have, but not in open meeting.”
After the meeting,
several citizens that regularly attend the BOC meetings
all agreed they could not recall any discussion of the County
Charter since Attorney John Nix brought it up and worked
on problem areas. As The Monticello News put it,
“Interestingly, although the previous county commission
and this one talked about changing the charter, there has
been no public discussion of such in months, possibly years.”
Our BOC goes
into closed (executive) session after almost every BOC meeting.
TWG can recall only two times that these commissioners have
decided upon something and voted on it after coming out
of executive session. It certainly makes us wonder just
what is discussed in Executive Session or through emails
and away from the public eye.
Read more here:
Commission to Discuss County Charter
Kathy Mudd 08.NOV.07 www.themonticellonews.com
Read more here:
THE JASPER COUNTY CHARTER—WHAT IS IT AND WHY
CHANGE IT?
http://www.taxdogs.com/jcharter.htm
(1/23/06)
The County Charter
is very important. The Jasper County Commissioners
have agreed to have a work session on Monday, Nov. 19, to
discuss the county charter. TWG encourages citizens
to attend. TWG feels there should also be at least 2 public
hearings so citizens can find out what changes are proposed
and voice their opinions as to what they agree with and
what they don’t. Two of the biggest items will be Commissioners
pay and mileage reimbursements.
TWG
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Mission
Statement:
** To keep the taxpayers of Jasper County, Georgia informed
as to where and how
their tax dollars are being spent.
** To keep the taxpayers abreast of local policies and
laws being
discussed and enacted.
** We advocate more open government, less government spending,
and lower property taxes.
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