The candidates for chairman of the Franklin County Board of Commissioners recently provided written answers to questions submitted by the Franklin County Citizen Leader.
The questions were:
1. Please provide information about your background, education, past service in government or with community organizations, church and family.
2. What experience (professional, personal or service) do you feel best qualifies you and will serve you best as chairman of the Franklin County Board of Commissioners?
3. Do you support the county’s new Unified Development Code and are there any changes you would like to see made to it?
4. Growth has been a big topic in Franklin County of late. What criteria will you use in deciding requests for rezoning, conditional use permits and other applications from developers?
5. How should the county balance resources to address issues in one area – Gumlog, for example – while maintaining needed services in the rest of the county?
6. If you had a chance to speak one-on-one with each registered voter in Franklin County, what would you say to secure his or her vote?
Stories were then written from their answers.
Courtney Long
By Shane Scoggins
Publisher
CARNESVILLE – Courtney Long said change is coming to Franklin County, but she wants to make sure that what Franklin County was built on is not lost.
She is running for chairman of the Franklin County Board of Commissioners to make that happen.
“I grew up in Franklin County. I see the problems we are facing coming up the 85 corridor,” she said. “I see the issues we already have within the county. Those problems, my neighbor’s willingness to fight for their homes and the spiritual burden laid on my heart is what pushed me to start fighting for this county. I want to make sure that amid change that we do not lose what Franklin County was built on.”
Long grew up in the Plainview Community, the oldest daughter of Mark and Donna Ledford, and graduated Franklin County High School in 2005. She married her high school sweetheart, Jeremy Long.
She received an associate’s degree in applied science in agriculture, with a certification in animal science, from Athens Technical College.
Long manages the day-to-day operations of her cattle and poultry farm outside Carnesville.
She is a member of the Franklin County Schools parent board and she and her family are members of Middle River Baptist Church.
“I may be running for commission chair but I understand that we are there to be your advocates, your voices,” Long said. “I will always listen to what you have to say. I will make decisions with you as citizens in mind. We can prosper with lots of hard work, thoroughness in our planning and cooperation. We can preserve our past while building a future that we can be proud of.”
Long said her education and work to prepare will best serve her as chairman.
“I am a natural leader and I have excellent people skills,” she said. “I never make hasty decisions. I preplan and analyze every situation for potential outcomes, gather all resources and use all information to make the most informed decision possible.”
Long said her degree is partly a business degree and she has taken classes in business management, leadership and finance.
She has also been preparing for the seat she seeks.
“I have been reading the Georgia commissioners handbook as well as studying the SPLOST [special purpose local option sales tax] handbook,” Long said. “I plan on being certified through ACCG [Association County Commissioners of Georgia]. I am also going to be taking continuing education classes for county government officials through UGA such as county budget and capitalization improvement program courses. I have already been using contacts in other counties to research and prepare ideas that may help our county in the future. Something else I believe will help me, is my 16 years of experience in business management. I own and run my farm including operations, purchasing, budgets and employee management.”
Long said that more extensive zoning laws were needed, but the new Unified Development Code is “still not complete.”
“Our old zoning laws did not protect us from the decisions we as a county wanted to make for our future legally,” she said. “The UDC is still not complete when it comes to the vision for Franklin County’s future. I believe we still have a lot of work to do. Some areas are too strict and some maybe not enough. We need to make sure that we are legally covered in any and every area possible no matter what our decision is as a county. If there is something in the future, we don’t think would be a good fit for our county, then we need to prepare our zoning and ordinances in a way that no is an acceptable answer if possible.”
When deciding on zoning issues, Long said she would look at several things, such as:
“The long-term consequences of that business or development being here in our community.
“Things such as whether they will be a good neighbor to the community. What is their standing history as a company with other communities (lawsuits or violations)?
“Has the company done their homework as far as their studies and contacts are concerned?
“I will also look at the legalities of the situation. Do we have to say yes because they meet all our criteria according to our zoning laws?”
Cooperation is key when trying to balance resources between areas in need and maintaining services in other parts of the county, Long said.
“All entities within the county must work together and collaborate with one another,” she said. “If we all assist each other, there should be no reason any area of the county should suffer a lack of resources.”
In Gumlog, Long said the marshal’s office is willing to work with the sheriff’s office to patrol heavy drug and crime areas.
“I do know that an assistant for the marshal has been approved to aide in this,” she said. “I’m hoping the county can contribute more free dump days. Possibly assigning certain days for certain areas to allow more initial cleanup in certain areas of the county. This would be a great opportunity for groups such as Reclaim Gumlog. I think they have done a great job at coming together to improve their community. It is much easier to address area specific issues when you have people in that area willing and eager to help. It will take all of us here in the county, working together to achieve our goals for the future.”
Long said she hopes that voters will give her the opportunity to serve them on Nov. 8.
“I am ready to continue the fight and lead our board into a brighter future for Franklin County through honesty and perseverance,” she said. “I will never give up on this county.”