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Column
By Bill
Shipp
The Madison County Journal
September 29, 1999
Highways and power
plays
Gov. Roy Barnes has decided to "put
politics back into the highway department." That means the
governor intends to choose personally the state's new Transportation
commissioner, 11 months before the present commissioner officially
retires.
Some members of the state Board of Transportation are less than
thrilled at what they see as Barnes' latest act of audacity -
an attempt to extend the direct powers of his office to a semi-autonomous
branch of government. So, outside the realm of state Capitol
insiders, why is this important and who cares?
First, the state Transportation commissioner (his title ought
to be czar) is one of the most influential and independent agency
chiefs in state government.
He administers billions in state and federal funds, some of which
are dedicated revenues from motor-fuel taxes that no other government
entity can touch. His actions determine the future of transportation
and economic development throughout the state.
On paper, the commissioner is hired by the Georgia Board of Transportation,
which, in turn, is appointed by the Legislature, not the governor.
(In 1962, Gov. Carl Sanders ran on a platform of "taking
politics out of the highway department," which meant letting
the Legislature appoint the transportation board. Sanders turned
out to be a fine governor. But a recitation of his pledge to
remove politics from road-building still draws incredulous chuckles
from the old guard in the Gold Dome.)
Gov. Barnes came forward last week with his No. 1 nominee for
road czar, DOT Deputy Commissioner Steve Parks, to succeed retiring
Commissioner Wayne Shackelford. (Shackelford, by the way, was
handpicked by Gov. Zell Miller in 1991, at the insistence of
key Gwinnett County supporters Wayne Mason and Virgil Williams.)
Parks seemed proud as he could be to have Barnes' blessing. The
DOT Board generally liked the idea too. After all, Parks had
been a good road warrior, did what he was told, laid asphalt
where he was directed, and poured concrete where he was ordered.
He deserved a reward.
Ah, but that old bugaboo of "personal considerations"
(see Newt Gingrich, Mike Bowers, Bill Clinton for clarification)
cropped up, and Parks felt compelled to say no, thanks. At age
49, he'll get a $125,000 annual pension as a consolation prize.
Then Gov. Barnes appeared with No. 2 choice, 71-year-old former
state Sen. Tom Coleman of Savannah.
Barnes wants the DOT Board to elect Coleman Tuesday, though Shackelford
doesn't expect to clean out his desk until September 2000.
The DOT Board is not happy. Acting Chairman Tom Triplett says
diplomatically: "We're trying to work with the governor.
But some folks I've talked to think we ought to be kept up a
little bit better on what's going on."
Translation: This ain't going to be as easy as you think, Roy.
The last time a governor tried unsuccessfully to select a Transportation
commissioner occurred in 1982 when Gov.-elect Joe Frank Harris
tried to install his chief of staff, Joel Cowan, as DOT boss
and oust the incumbent Tom Moreland. The DOT board told Harris/Cowan
to take a hike, and Moreland stayed put until his retirement
in the late '80s.
Now Cowan is back at center stage, selected by Barnes to chair
the Barnes-created Georgia Regional Transportation Authority.
GRTA gives Barnes virtual veto power over transportation projects
in the state's urban areas. It also provides him considerable
indirect power over land-use planning.
Some believe Barnes' attempt to install his own man at DOT is
another move toward consolidating the governor's power over transportation,
which might not be a bad idea.
Barnes has already taken on unprecedented authority as governor
in other areas. He is nearly singlehandedly driving a massive
reform of education, while the elected state school superintendent
looks on mostly from the sidelines.
He has chosen an inspector general to look over the shoulder
of the elected Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine. When Oxendine
raises insurance rates, the governor's IG, Cathey Steinberg,
blows the whistle.
When time came last spring for Barnes to veto line items in the
state budget, the governor made a little history. He didn't just
veto parts of the budget act passed by the Legislature; he changed
the numbers. "I have that power," he reportedly said.
"It's implicit in the Constitution."
In view of Gov. Barnes' other power moves, why should anyone
be shocked that he intends to take full charge of DOT? Watch
what happens next. The brouhaha over the Transportation commissioner
may mark the first time that the Barnes administration encounters
stiff opposition to extending its spheres of influence.
Bill Shipp is editor of Bill Shipp's Georgia, a weekly newsletter
on government and business.
Letter
The Madison County Journal
September 29, 1999
Cheerleaders
should be allowed to wear uniforms
Dear editor:
This letter is in response to Miss Lara Sanders' concern about
the Madison County High School cheerleaders no longer being able
to wear their uniforms to school due to a "violation of
the dress code." As a former three-year letterman of the
varsity cheerleading squad at MCHS, I think that this is an issue
that needs to be reconsidered.
During my days on the squad we practiced non-stop throughout
summer camps, pep rallies, weekend football and basketball games,
and for extremely competitive region and state cheerleading competitions.
When we were not cheering for athletic teams, the school depended
on us as a squad to be tour guides for new students and to pass
out class schedules to students at the beginning of each school
year. We wore uniforms for every event in which we were expected
to participate. These cheerleading uniforms are worn with pride
by each member of the squad. They function as a "trademark"
of school spirit and help to fire up the students and athletes
on Red Raider game days.
The cheerleading squad at MCHS is in itself a county tradition.
These girls work hard and they deserve to be recognized for the
squad that they represent. I realize that a dress code is necessary
due to all of the recent trendy fashions that young people like
to wear, but I do not understand why a school function uniform
is applicable. I do not see why a cheerleader can wear a uniform
to cheer in a ball game in front of hundreds of parents, grandparents,
the student body and visiting teams, yet she cannot wear this
same uniform to her classes on game day in order to do her job
and promote school spirit. To all MCHS cheerleaders, coaches
and sports teams, I support you and wish you luck this season.
Go Red Raiders!
Sincerely,
Mandy D. Perry
MCHS class of 1996
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Column
Frank
Gillespie
The Madison County Journal
September 29, 1999
 Frankly Speaking
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- Commercial growth
needed in county
Those of us who make frequent trips from Madison County into
Athens along Hwy. 29 have noticed a flurry of construction in
recent weeks. Most of the new business along this corridor is
new mobile home lots. (Excuse me, I should have said "manufactured
housing.") These new sales lots are joining a number of
existing facilities to offer manufactured housing to eager buyers.
So why are there so many of them just outside the Madison County
line? We are their best customers. For at least the past 10 years,
and probably longer, more people in Madison County have purchased
manufactured housing than stick-built homes. The figure runs
around 60 percent manufactured homes each year.
I have visited some of these new homes. In general, they are
well built, comfortable, spacious and filled with great features.
They provide clean, safe and affordable housing for many of our
citizens who do not have the money for more expensive site-built
homes. The availability of these homes, and plenty of land on
which to set them, are factors causing Madison County's rapid
population growth.
And that is the problem. Madison County is growing rapidly. All
of these new residents require county services such as police
protection, ambulance services, recreation, schools and good
roads. These services cost a great deal of money, far more than
the property taxes generated by manufactured homes. Madison County
must look elsewhere for the revenues needed to provide adequate
services, build roads, construct and pay for new schools and
a new jail.
The best source of new tax revenue is the sales tax. Madison
County currently collects three cents on the dollar in local
sales taxes. They include a general purpose tax to support the
county and city budgets, a special purpose sales tax to finance
county projects, and a special purpose sales tax to finance new
school construction. If we had strong retail businesses in the
county, these taxes would go a long way toward meeting the county's
obligations to its citizens.
But we do not have a strong retail base. Most of us have to go
out of the county to make most purchases, especially major purchases
like refrigerators, furniture and most electronics. We are sending
our sales tax money to Clarke, Jackson, Franklin and Elbert counties.
Our neighbors are benefiting from our taxes while we struggle
to get by.
That is why it is so important that we establish a thriving retail
community in the Dogsboro area. That is why the entire county
is investing in a water system, and potentially a sewage system,
to serve the small area around Hull and Dogsboro. A strong retail
complex in that area will not only capture much of the sales
taxes we currently lose to Clarke county, it will draw shoppers
from Clarke, Oglethorpe and Jackson counties to Madison County.
That will mean a larger payoff from the sales taxes, which, in
turn, means less pressure on property taxes.
A successful retail complex in the Hull/Dogsboro area, made possible
by investing in a water and sewage system for that area, will
benefit the entire county. Money spent on
infrastructure in this area is a wise investment.
Frank Gillispie is founder of The Madison County Journal.
Letter
The Madison County Journal
September 29, 1999
Superintendent's suit against
county is unnecessary
Dear editor:
I am a private home inspector, a professional member of the Southern
Building Code Congress International, who is certified as an
inspector of one and two family dwellings. I consider myself
a student of and a booster for the building codes in general.
As a parent of two Madison County school children, I took interest
in your paper's story about the Madison County Board of Education
in its fight with the local code authority.
The BOE has mistakenly taken a negative finding during a routine
inspection of an electric service as a blatant attempt at the
usurpation of its lofty authority.
According to your story, the electric utility, on hearing the
negative report from the inspector, refused to turn on the power
to mobile classroom units. This is again a routine matter. A
mobile unit needs a meter because it is its own little building,
needing its own little service. To the utility it's just another
mobile home.
The utility is required by law to provide power to its customers.
Yet the utility has no inspection authority or personnel. The
utility relies on the local code authority to inspect and certify
as safe every new or altered electric service. It wisely will
not energize an electric system that the building inspector does
not certify as safe. The utility does not check with the state
fire marshal's office every time it plants a meter in a socket.
I am grateful that the state fire marshal looks after the design
and construction of public buildings. I am also grateful that
the local county government has adopted and enforces several
building codes. All of the building codes serve to ensure that
our buildings are safe. Another inspector told me that the codes
are "memorial texts," in that almost every item in
every code was written to prevent the reoccurrence of an accidental
death.
If a school building was deemed unsafe for electric service by
the building inspector and the problem corrected prior to occupancy,
then the school board should be sending a letter of thanks to
the building inspector instead of a lawsuit. All I can guess
is that the BOE thinks it is the victim of redundant oversight.
Safe buildings, safe school houses and safe school facilities
are in everyone's interest. I am disappointed that the BOE and
its lawyers can't understand that. It is a waste of public money
and a waste of time for everyone involved to have to go to court
to settle this ludicrous dispute.
Sincerely,
Jim Baird
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