Walker County voters are just a couple of short steps away from getting to vote on their form of government.
Right now, the county is one of only eight in Georgia governed by a sole commissioner. In a non-binding referendum on the state’s primary ballot last May, 75 percent of voters said they preferred a board of commissioners to a sole commissioner.
If the state Senate, as expected, approves the bill, it will go to Gov. Nathan Deal’s desk. If he signs it, residents would vote on the issue in 2018. If they vote for a board of commissioners, that board would, in turn, be elected in 2020. The bill already has been approved once in the Senate, 52-1, and 150-0 in the House.
For all concerned, we believe a board of commissioners is more representative than a single commissioner. A sole commissioner winds up with too much responsibility and too much blame and no one to play devil’s advocate.
Feisty Bebe Heiskell was Walker County’s sole commissioner for 16 years until being unseated by Shannon Whitfield in November. As the sole decider on county business, she took on too much debt, many voters believed, and left Walker in precarious financial shape.
Its debt, in the last financial audit before the election, was tagged at $53.2 million. Whitfield claimed it was even higher, and Heiskell vowed it was much lower.
Whitfield, meanwhile, campaigned to put himself out of business (at least solely), suggesting the county move away from the sole commissioner form of government. In the end, he won with more than 70 percent of the vote. Heiskell was third, running behind a second challenger, Perry Lamb Jr.
A potential new board would have five members, four elected from their home districts and a chairperson elected countywide.
Of course boards can wind up being as tone-deaf as a sole commissioner can become, but we believe the larger number of people involved lessens that possibility. So does a provision that the chairperson would have to submit a budget that is approved by a majority of the board and a provision that suggested spending amounts by the chairperson of more than $25,000 would have to be approved by at least two other commissioners.
Six of the eight Georgia counties with a sole commissioner are in North Georgia. Walker, though, is larger geographically (447 square miles) and in population (68,756) than four of the other five, so a potential switch for it makes more sense than for most of them.
We’ll be curious to see if the potential switch in Walker – following Dade County’s change about 25 years ago – toward more representative government starts a trend.