Coweta’s four County Commission candidates gathered at the Central Education Center in Newnan Wednesday night to introduce themselves to the voters.

Democrat Jett Smith is facing off against Republican Tim Lasseter in the race for Commission District 2. Smith is a life-long resident of the county and worked for Bonnell as a hourly employee and supervisor.

“I’m not much of a speaker; I’m more of a can-do person,” Smith explained.

During the question and answer session, Smith said he favored a one-cent sales tax to help pay for county personnel and said the county’s top priorities for the current Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax should be public safety. He also favored completing the bypass around Newnan.

“We need to fix our roads. There’s not a road in the county that doesn’t have a pothole,” he added.

Smith’s opponent, Tim Lasseter, is an operations manager at the Eckerd Drugs facility in the county’s Creekside Industrial Park. He favors continued favoring of the Development Authority to bring mores businesses in the county, to help increase the county’s tax base. Lasseter acknowledged the explosive growth of the county, but wished the planning for it had started earlier.

“I wish we had started this process earlier. I still want to maintain the rural character of the county,” he added.

In the District 3 race, Democrat Willie Boyd is facing Republican Randolph Collins. Boyd stressed his military background and said he would not vote to raise resident’s taxes. However, if an urgent need came up, Boyd said he would poll his constituents and get residents opinions on how funding could be provided for necessary items. He also stressed his financial experience and said he would look closely at the county’s operating budget to make sure that everything was necessary.

Collins said the key to controlling the growth in the county is economic development and said new industry could help offset some of the costs associated with growth. He also advocated creating shopping centers outside of Newnan, because the city’s congestion is causing people to head to other counties and spend their money.

The election is November 7.

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