Joan Bell—I
never thought I’d agree with Cathy Benson [who had spoken
previously during comments about the BOA], but we do need a
legally qualified board. Being certified has to do with State
codes. There are plenty of people that can be certified.
[During her
comments she implied that Mrs. Benson was not on the BOA legally,
even though Mrs. Benson has met all the requirements, including
being sworn in, attending the 40 hour class, passing the test, and
serving for almost an entire year. Mrs. Bell gave no FACTS,
no evidence, just innuendo.] Mrs. Bell proceeded stating
she wasn’t campaigning for the job, but that Mary Patrick is
campaigning because she sees emails all over the place. [This
will be discussed later in this email, including a copy of the
letter Mary Patrick sent to the BOC.] Mrs. Bell continued asking
that the BOC take some time to consider who they appoint. She
then went on to criticize Brac Bohanon and said, “We’ve never had
a digest on time since Brac Bohanon had been Chief—either the
first time or this time.” [Mrs. Bell failed to bring up the
fact that while she was on the BOA, the digest were in the low
30’s and even as low as 29 while the State requires 38-42.
She also failed to mention all the fines and penalties the county
paid while she served on the BOA.] Then Mrs. Bell made the
revelation that, “The courts never removed me. The BOC
removed me.” [We guess that day spent in court a couple of years
ago with Mrs. Bell and her TWO lawyers was just a bad dream—one
that cost the taxpayers over $20,000.]
Next in this
orchestrated show, came Comm. Hill during the Agenda Item -Board
of Assessors—reduce to 3 members—
Attorney John
Nix had presented a resolution to reduce the number of members on
the BOA. He said the County was in this position because 4 of 5
members have submitted their resignations. Then he said the
issue has been raised if the one left has legal standing.
He suggested that the BOC not change anything until he could
research this and revisit the issue in January. Nix says wait one
meeting. We will review and see if Mrs. Benson is valid/legal.
He didn’t want the BOC to formally accept any resignations. Then
Comm. Hill spoke up. He bragged that he had brought this
issue up. [He didn’t present any reasons, any facts, or any
evidence. Again, just more hype.] Mr. Nix said we will
have a legal opinion before Jan. The BOC then voted to defer the
issue until 1st meeting in Jan. 4-0.
During General
Comments, both Mary Patrick and Cathy Benson got to have “their
say” about Comm. Hill and Joan Bell’s attempts to make an
issue of something no one else seemed to know about.
First, Mary Patrick got up and said she thought that if you were
interested in serving on a Board you were supposed to submit a
letter to the BOC. [A copy of her letter follows at the end of
this email.] She said, “If you call that campaigning, I guess
that is what I have done.” [Mrs. Bell interjected from her seat,
“That’s right.”] Mrs. Patrick went on to say she had faxed the
letter to the BOC and also emailed it to each Commissioner. She
asked Comm. Hill how was it that he decided it was his duty to
spread it “all over the county”? Comm. Hill replied that she had
only sent it to 3 commissioners. Mrs. Patrick replied she had
sent it to all the commissioners, and how would he know who she
emailed it to? She also said it was open record to anyone that
was interested in reading it, so why did he try to make a big deal
of it? She then questioned his timing in questioning the
legality of Mrs. Benson's standing when he never questions
others--especially those he appoints that don't attend classes,
can't pass tests, and don't become certified? He didn’t
answer this, but again said he thought she should have sent her
email to all the BOC, which she again said she had. [At this time
Comm. Bernard said he had gotten a hard copy of the letter and
told everyone that he wished more people would request to be put
on boards. If people don’t let us know we don’t know they want to
serve. He said he appreciated it.] Mrs. Patrick proceeded in
stating she also felt Brac Bohanon was severely overpaid for the
job that was being done in the BOA office.
[TWG Comment:
These shenanigans of Comm. Hill have happened for years.
He has delayed appointments to the BOA in several instances.
He has also appointed several people that have never become
certified but have cost the taxpayers plenty at their attempts to
do so. Let us give you and example--in 1998, Mr. Hill
recommended and had Brenda Aiken appointed. She took the tests,
never passed, but sat on the board for over a year and served as a
LEGAL assessor by voting and otherwise participating on the Board.
Doesn’t it
seems strange Comm. Hill has waited until Mrs. Benson found
problems in the office (very few boats on the digest) and then all
of a sudden questions her “legal standing?”
Who is Comm. Hill attempting to
protect with his “new revelations?” Comm. Hill has long been an
antagonist in trying to correct the problems with the BOA. Comm.
Hill antagonized Mr. Harrell continually and implied all sorts of
things. He never wanted to approve anything brought before the
board by Mr. Harrell. Mr. Harrell asked Comm. Hill at one meeting
just what his problem was.]
At the end of
the General Comments, Mrs. Benson spoke (after several requests
for budget increases).
Cathy
Benson-–Everyone is talking about money. Since 12/8/05 I have had
several telephone calls back and forth with John Nix, Brac, and
myself about being able to sign the Utilities Digest. Since
Comm. Hill and Joan Bell have brought up my legality, I will not
sign the utilities digest. I’ve been told that tomorrow
is last day. I don’t know how much money you’ll lose, but I will
not sign it. [The public utilities include AT&T, Georgia Power,
the Railroads, etc. They pay taxes through the Utilities Digest
assessments. Since there is no board, the board can’t meet to
approve this digest or to sign it and submit it to the State,
which means that the county will not only lose money on the delay
in collections, but it is our understanding, there are other
problems the county can have because of it, including the amount
that the utilities have to pay.] Mrs. Benson continued, “I am my
own person. No one sways me or my vote. I vote according to what
I think and according to what the law says.”
[TWG Comment:
Comm. Hill’s politics and personal agenda continue to cost
the taxpayers money. He has been instrumental in keeping the
Assessors office as the mediocre office it is and has been for
years. He would rather question the legal standing
of an assessor than to do something about the real problems in the
assessors’ office. By using his usual delay tactics, the
County might not be able to collect the taxes from the public
utilities until a later than expected date. Of course, money
problems don’t seem to affect Comm. Hill. He was part of the
board that overspent almost $900,000 in 2004 and still doesn’t
believe it happened.
There is also
the problem of getting people certified. The BOC should always
send people to school to be certified BEFORE they are appointed to
the board. This prevents problems that have happened in the
past—such as Ms. Tinsley and Mr. Kelly who were appointed last
January but never became certified and couldn’t serve. By them
being appointed, the BOC could not put anyone else in their place
until they resigned. By having people attend classes first and
pass the test, the BOC would always have someone certified they
could appoint. They’ve all been told this several times by the
TWG members, but maybe someday soon it will sink in.
As it stands
now, the next available class for BOA certification will be
in June 2006. There won’t be a sitting board until
sometime after that—if people are eligible. It could be as late
as August before a BOA can sit and do what they are supposed to
do—go over the digest, review appeals and Homestead Exemptions,
and approve the digest so tax bills can be generated. Without a
board until August, it could be as late as the Summer of 2007
before 2006 taxes can be collected. How much will this cost the
county? The county will probably have to borrow money because of
this “new problem” that Comm. Hill has admitted to “bringing up”.
This type of interference is the exact reason people don’t want
to serve on boards and the county has the same people serving on
everything.
After talking
with one commissioner, we have found that 2 people have asked to
be considered for the board. Yet, there are commissioners busy
playing politics and trying to find people to go along with “their
agenda”. Guess what? There is no agenda for the BOA. They
must follow the law—in assessments, conservation, homestead
exemptions, etc. As the clock ticks, the delay costs each
taxpayer more money—fines, penalties, late collection of taxes,
etc.
(We encourage
Comm. Hill and all of you to forward this to everyone on your
email list.)
TWG
