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Caldwell hoping to get elected in Tyrone and get something done

By MICHAEL BOYLAN
mboylan@TheCitizenNews.com

Tyrone resident Grace Caldwell has always been interested and involved in politics. Usually, one of her passions is working on the campaigns of those she would like to see elected. This fall, she will be working on another one of those campaigns, her own.

Caldwell, a former Fayette County commissioner, is running to unseat long-time Tyrone Mayor Sheryl Lee.

After living in Florida for a few years, Caldwell moved back to Tyrone. And she saw some problems.

After moving into her subdivision, she saw that as construction continued on a house next to hers, there were no erosion control measures being taken. She reported it and a stop-work order was issued by the town, but work did not stop.

After that incident was one where a neighbor tore down their berm. Caldwell said she reported it and that Town Manager Barry Amos recommended suing the homeowner.

The biggest incident for Caldwell was one which involved a neighbor installing a pool but never building a fence. Now, three years later, the pool is still not finished and a fence is still not up.

The town did cite the homeowner, nearly two and a half years later, but due to financial difficulties, the problem has yet to be rectified.

The town has been without a code enforcement officer for the last eight months and, though one is expected to be in place later this month, Caldwell feels that the lack of enforcement has been a problem.

She also believes that the problems the residents in the Pendleton subdivision are having with silt in their lake could have been prevented had the town’s erosion control ordinances been enforced more vigorously as well.

In addition to enforcing town ordinances quickly and more consistently, Caldwell would also look to rolling back the millage rate, a measure she proposed at the last meeting of the Tyrone Town Council. The rollback was rejected by all council members except Councilman Lyn Redwood.

The main principle that has guided Caldwell in her political career thus far is that the citizens must stay involved if they want their government to work for them.

“The people before me have made a nice life for me,” said Caldwell. “I have to look at the generation behind me and take care of that next generation. There is nothing free in this world and you have to stand up and fight for it.”

Caldwell grew up in Fitzgerald, Ga., the youngest girl among eight kids. Her father had 190 acres of land and raised chickens. The children all had to pitch in to help run the farm and Caldwell feels that this instilled a strong work ethic in her. After graduating from high school, she went on to business school, got into accounting and then earned her real estate appraisal license and real estate license.

It was in high school that she started to get interested in politics. After working on John F. Kennedy’s campaign, Caldwell got interested in Republicans and worked on the campaigns of Nixon, Goldwater, Reagan, and both George H.W. and George W. Bush. Of this switch in political affiliations, Caldwell stated that her thinking changed and that she became more of a conservative person. She stated that the less government we have, the better.

“Every time you vote for a tax increase, you let the government have that much more control of your life,” said Caldwell.

Caldwell has been married to her husband, Mike, for 42 years. They have lived in Fayette County for 27 years, though they lived in Florida for a few years before moving back to Fayette County and residing in Tyrone over four years ago.

She and her husband have raised three children, two of which graduated from Fayette County High School and one which graduated from Woodward Academy.

Caldwell has always been involved in the community, driving a route for Meals on Wheels, participating in the Alzheimer’s Memory Walk and doing work through her church, St. Matthew’s Catholic Church in Tyrone.

In addition to working in the community, she has also represented it before. From 1986-1990, Caldwell served as a Fayette County County commissioner.

The big issue that came before her and her fellow commissioners during that time was the de-annnexation of the Signa property on Lester Road. The developers were hoping to annex the property, which contained over 800 acres, into Fayetteville.

This would have had a huge impact on the city and the taxpayers and Caldwell was on the group that, with the help of state Senator Bev Engram and Representative Paul Heard, passed the first ever de-annexation in the state.

“I made some friends and some enemies on that one,” said Caldwell, as she recalled the story. Caldwell is also currently serving on the Tax Equalization Board, which just finished residential reassessments.

Since moving back to Fayette County and into Tyrone, Caldwell has gotten involved in her new neighborhood. She has attended town council meetings and has tried to see to it that ordinances are followed. It is because of some inaction that she has seen on several issues that she is running for mayor this year.