Search the ArchivesNavigation Contact InformationThe Citizen Newspapers For Advertising Information Email us your news! For technical difficulties |
Some minor thoughts on some major local issues Having chicken pox revisit one a half century later — albeit under the innocuous name of shingles — provides one some involuntary leisure time. So, having taken a few days off from the daily fray, I offer some opinions about some local issues of more or less importance to everyday folks in Fayette, the ones who don’t attend every meeting of every governing body in the county. (Yes, other than reporters and a few who get paid to attend, there really are a few who warrant having their own personalized stacking chairs at local assemblies.) Requiem for an attorney: Let’s deal with the least important first — the sacking of long-time County Attorney Bill McNally. Adjacent to this column you’ll find a remarkable letter signed by a half-dozen former county commission chairmen — some from as far back as the mid-1980s — criticizing the current county commission for voting 4-1 to hire an in-house attorney to handle routine legal matters. I must tell you I think that is an amazing blast of hot air. I have been telling whichever county commission candidates who would give me a moment of their pre-election time that their first act should be to bid McNally and Co. a final farewell. Obviously, they all thought otherwise after election. He truly became the sixth — though unelected — commissioner. He has had the back-room ears of commissioners since the very early 1980s, from the first surge on Lake McIntosh (which fizzled) through the very latest county water department revenue bond issued. I point out the uncontested fact that every lake and dam project in Fayette County over the last quarter-century, just about every county public building project, every last inch of water line extensions, every single water bond issuance, has involved McNally’s law firm and — on construction projects — a single engineering firm. That’s Lake Kedron, Lake Horton and the reincarnated Lake McIntosh. And the new Taj Mahal Justice Center. No competing bids were ever taken for those legal services. Not one. Not ever. If there was ever an unelected official who needed term limits, it was he. I want to take pains to point out that I am neither implying nor insinuating that any hanky-panky ever took place. But that was a sweet ride on the taxpayers for a very long time. It is decades past time for a change to a more accountable system. Annexing times: Peachtree City takes a big gulp and a future tax deficit in West Village, while Fayetteville nibbles its way southwest toward PTC. Bad idea for PTC, I think, but it’s time to give that new village some Scottish-sounding moniker and then to begin to tabulate how much that economy version of the original West Village is going to cost us city taxpayers across future generations. Hint: Whatever the West Village is named, it will never pay its own way in tax revenue and will be a continuing drain on city services. That’s what all residential development — sans commercial and industrial — does all the time, but all in positions of power are shy about revealing that little detail. Fayetteville, on the other hand, has annexed so much territory in recent years that its most recent land grab makes some sense. Medical offices near the county’s major medical facility need sewer, and Fayetteville loves to say, “Come on in!” and hook up. TDK impasse, or is it? Do you get the feeling that the players are moving across the development stage to their preassigned places, reciting their predetermined speeches and trying not to wink at one another about the carefully considered conclusion that is unknown only to the audience — that is, the taxpayers of Peachtree City? Big PTC bond for big ballfields and big senior center: Good grief! When will the adults step in and patiently define the differences between luxuries and necessities? At least we get to vote on these ludicrous luxuries. The only question is how many adults actually vote in Peachtree City? PTC build-out is upon us? Don’t you believe it for a second! There’s more coming and you aren’t expecting from which direction. login to post comments | Cal Beverly's blog
|
Copyright 2010 - Fayette Publishing, Inc. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use Policy
Server 4
