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PTC Mayor: ‘Go to district vote’

By J. FRANK LYNCH
jflynch@thecitizennews.com

Weary after a months-long battle with the Fayette County Commission over road-building priorities, Peachtree City Mayor Steve Brown said Saturday that “the time has come” for Fayette County to abandon at-large voting in favor of district representation.

Brown made his argument during the monthly meeting of the Fayette County NAACP chapter, when he shared details of his feud with Commission Chairman Greg Dunn over distribution of road funds should voters approve November’s SPLOST initiative.

In a prepared statement read to members of the NAACP and made available to The Citizen, Brown declared, “The time has come for Fayette County to catch up with the rest of the Metro Atlanta counties and have each county commissioner elected in their own district and the commission chairman elected countywide.”

The NAACP has expressed concern that African-American candidates for local office don’t stand a chance at getting elected as long as at-large voting remains in place.

Electing commissioners by district would presumably increase the chances for a black candidate to win local office, since many affluent black families have settled in north Fayette County in recent years.

Fayette County is currently served by five commissioners. Three of them — Peter Pfeiffer, A.G. VanLandingham and Herb Frady — reside in specific districts, but they are elected to their posts by a countywide vote. The seats held by Dunn and Commissioner Linda Wells have no district residency requirement and are considered at-large.

Commissioners choose a chairman at the first of each year. Dunn, in his third term, has held the chairman’s seat for 10 years.

Brown and Dunn have been embroiled in a seeming battle of the wills for much of the year, as the commission finalized details of the November SPLOST vote.

If voters approve the measure to add a penny sales tax locally, Dunn has estimated it will raise $131 million for road improvements. As part of that plan, Peachtree City would get more than $16 million to spend on its own needs.

But Brown has argued the city deserves much more than that, based on population alone. Peachtree City’s estimated 35,000 citizens make up about 35 percent of the county total.

According to Brown, commissioners elected by district will be more loyal to the needs and wishes of those constituents.

“Certain areas of the county are being ignored in terms of taxes paid and services received and those areas need to elect one of their own that will fight for them at county commission meetings,” read Brown’s statement.

Commissioners Frady and Pfeiffer already live in districts that include Peachtree City, but have shown little support for Brown’s argument that the city should get a bigger slice of the SPLOST pie.

But in July’s primary election, incumbent Post 2 Commissioner Frady found a formidable foe in political newcomer Dave Simmons, a black resident of Whitewater Creek in south Fayette.

Frady garnered 8,707 votes or 56 percent to Simmons’ 6,727 or 44 percent.

Lane Watts, chairman of the Fayette County Republican Party, said skin color was never a factor in that race.

“I do not believe the fact that Dave Simmons is black cost him that election,” Watts said. “He was going up against Herb Frady who has been around for many years. A lot of people voted for Herb because he was the person they knew.”

The solid showing of Dylan Glenn in the 8th Congressional District race also “puts to lie” the theory that whites won’t vote for blacks, Watts said, as did the election of Jamie Inagawa as solicitor-general for Fayette State Court.

“It showed that Fayette Countians vote for the most qualified person and it’s not about the color of your skin,” said Watts.

State Rep. Virgil Fludd dismissed both race and party affiliation as reasons to abandon at-large voting.

“It’s not a Democrat issue or a minority issue, it’s about fair representation,” said Fludd, who is African-American and lives in Fayette. “All five of the current commissioners live south of Ga. Highway 54. If you live anywhere in the northern half of Fayette County, you don’t have representation.”

Brown, who is a member of the local NAACP, encouraged Saturday’s gathering to get a “grassroots campaign together” and start a petition drive to press the issue.

“If you want somebody to represent your interests, you’ve got to have adequate representation and the only way to do that is to elect somebody from your district,” Brown said.

“We’ve got to do this,” Brown emphasized.