Wednesday, June 13, 2001
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Wednesday, June 13, 2001 |
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5 head into last days of county commission race By DAVE HAMRICK
Fayette County voters will choose from among five candidates for County Commission Post 3 in a special election to replace Commissioner Harold Bost Tuesday, June 19, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Results will be posted on The Citizen's Web site, www.thecitizennews.com, as they come in Tuesday night. Bost resigned recently, citing personal reasons. Running for the post are Brian Bischoff, Scott Gilbert, Charlie Mask, Stephen Ott and Peter Pfeifer. Interviews with the candidates are presented below in alphabetical order. Brian Bischoff Bischoff, 26, has lived in Fayette since he was 3 years old, and points to the fact that he moved back here after college to establish his family and law practice as proof of his commitment to the quality of life here. He is entering his first campaign for elected office. "The best way I can help make sure Fayette County maintains the lifestyle and quality of life I came back for is to get on the board and make sure our feelings are heard," he said. He pointed out that, even though he is the youngest of the candidates, he has lived in Fayette the longest, except for Charlie Mask. "I'm here for the long term. I know the county in and out, and I'm going to be here for a long time," he said, adding that with all four members of the commission currently over 50 years old, and three of them retired, "It will help to have a different voice on the board. I believe I can bring a new perspective." High on his list of concerns, said Bischoff, is the recent creation of two superagencies tied to state and federal governments but involving themselves with local concerns like water and transportation. "If elected, I will not allow them to bully us around and tell us how to run our county," he said, adding that he hopes active involvement in the new agencies will allow the county to "cooperate with them and we can be of help to each other." "Growth is always a big issue," he said. "We have to prepare for the growth that is inevitable. We have to make sure we have the land use plan we want and that we stick to it." As a lawyer, Bischoff said, he also would work hard to make sure Fayette gets its own judicial circuit rather than being tied to Spalding, Pike and Upson counties as it is now. "There will be some added costs up front," he said, "but ultimately ... it's going to streamline the process and save us money." Higher pay for law enforcement officers also is on his radar screen, said Bischoff. "We have the best law enforcement in the state, and we need to do everything we can to make sure they stay in Fayette County," he said. Scott Gilbert "I came here for quality of life and I want to maintain that as much as possible," says Scott Gilbert. Gilbert, 37, is vice president of Southside Wrecker Service and a newcomer to politics. Gilbert's family was in Henry County for eight generations, he said, but he brought his wife and two children to Fayette partly because Henry is growing too fast without what he considers proper controls. "Growth and development and how we manage it is the number one issue as far as I'm concerned," he said. In Henry County, he said, "I've seen what happens when people do not have a far-reaching plan." He called for "slow and managed growth," adding that although he agrees with much of what the County Commission has done in the past with regard to growth, "There's always room for improvement." And although commercial and industrial growth should also be slow and managed, Gilbert said, he favors some nonresidential growth to help keep taxes down. Tax issues are a concern, he said. A relative with a 440-acre farm in Florida paid less taxes last year than Gilbert did on his 1.1 acres and a house in Tyrone, he said. "It is a balancing act ... there is some room for business in the community," he said. "I definitely don't want to be overwhelmed with uncontrolled growth of business," he said, "but I think the homeowners would appreciate some tax relief." Governmental cooperation also is a concern, he said. The ongoing dispute between Fayette and its cities over tax equity can be solved, he said. "I have sat down with both sides of the issue, and I can't say as of today which side is right," he said. "If any taxpayer is being taxed for duplication of services, we ought to eliminate it," he added. "But I don't think we have any problems that can't be resolved," he said, adding he believes those involved should talk to each other rather than "fighting in the newspaper." The fact that he is a newcomer to politics and has no political alliances is "the number one thing I can offer to the voters of Fayette County," said Gilbert. "I'm an open slate. I can sit down and work with others without any baggage over my head," he said. Charlie Mask Mask, 70, is no newcomer to political life in Fayette. A native of the county, he served on the County Commission in the late '80s. "We started a lot of programs that I'd like to continue to work with," said Mask, adding a priority would be to get water service to more areas of the county. "I want to help the homeless and needy people and work with the animal shelter," he added. Mask points with pride to having lobbied former U.S. Rep. Newt Gingrich for federal money to help fund county programs, and said if elected he will again push for federal funding to provide a landfill for Fayette, though not necessarily inside the county. "We might go in with other counties ... there are plenty of places it could go," he said. Mask said during his campaign he has learned that residents are concerned about recreation, and he would work for more recreation facilities, "hopefully without a bond issue." But he would choose impact fees "only as a last resort," he said. The county Health Department should work harder to clean up local streams and prevent pollution of lakes Horton and Kedron, he said. Fayette should work against Hartsfield Airport's plans to extend its fifth runway, soon to be under construction, from 6,000 feet to 9,000 feet, Mask said. "It's kind of like cutting a dogs tail off a little at a time so it doesn't hurt so much," he said. "They get one thing and then they keep adding to it." Voters should choose him, Mask said, because he knows the county. "My people were founders of Fayette County, and I'd like to leave a little of it like we found it," he said. "I know the lay of the land and have more knowledge of Fayette County than anybody else," he said. Mask is a semiretired barber. Stephen Ott More than six years of experience in planning and zoning make him the best candidate for the open commission seat, says Stephen Ott. "We need to make sure we keep someone in this seat that can plan for and control development in the county," he said. "I felt like I had the experience to do it." Ott, 33, is a Fayetteville lawyer trying for political office for the first time. He decided to run for commission after supporting other candidates and realizing that, although he was pleased overall with their performance, he sometimes disagreed with their actions, he said. "I decided that I can control how I vote [on the commission]. I can control what I do," he said. Fayette County needs to invest more in recreation, Ott said. "I absolutely favor an investment of an impact fee for recreation," said Ott. "We need more recreation facilities." Fayette's quality of life is high in other areas, he said, but the county lags far behind surrounding counties in recreation, he added. "When they come here from other counties, people see how beautifully we've planned everything," he said. "Then they get to our soccer complex or our baseball complex and there's no facilities past a cinder block building. ..." Volunteer organizations do a lot, he said, "but they can't raise a million dollars." He said recreation constitutes 1.3 percent of the county budget, not counting libraries. "It is inadequate," he said. Ott also is targeting the county's relationship with local cities as a campaign issue. In talking to all involved, he said, "I am glad to find out that it's not in as bad a shape as I had thought. There are problems that need to be worked out, but I think that can be done," he said. Both sides should concentrate on where tax resources should go and how to divide them evenly, rather than treating tax equity issues as a territorial matter, he said. County and cities alike need to put their disputes aside when it comes to impact fees to help pay for the new county jail, Ott said. "We've lost a million [in uncollected impact fees] and in another year we'll lose a million more," he said. "I would like to see if we can reach a resolution." Peter Pfeifer "Proven leadership" is the theme of Pfeifer's campaign. "I've been involved in leadership in the community for a dozen years," he said. "I have a track record so you can see how I've handled myself." Pfeifer, 53, is manager of Contract Product Group in Peachtree City. He ran unsuccessfully for Peachtree City Council several years ago. He has lived in Fayette since 1987. He is a former chairman of the local as well as the 3rd congressional District Republican Party, and a former member of the county, district and state party executive committees. He also has worked in leadership positions in Fayette Adopt-A-Mile, Beautiful Fayette and the Peachtree City Optimist Club, and is a graduate of Leadership Fayette. Local control of land use planning, slow growth, better county/city relations, the need for traffic improvements and the need to study a freeze on property valuations for tax purposes are among the issues Pfeifer is pushing. "It seems to me there is some justification on the county side" of the tax equity dispute, he said, but added, "I think all sides would like to sit down and reexamine all of those issues. I see a lot of willingness to start over." The Atlanta Regional Commission, Georgia Regional Transportation Authority and the new water superagency pose a threat "to local control and our ability to determine what the county is going to look like," Pfeifer said, adding he believes Fayette's insistence on local control "may come to a showdown." The county should maintain local control but cooperate to be sure resources are managed wisely on a regional basis, he said. He called for a study of the decision of some counties to freeze property values at the original purchase price for tax purposes, changing them only when property changes hands. "I will investigate these programs and answer my question: does this make sense for Fayette County," he said. He would also work for a traffic plan to improve current conditions, he said.
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