Board of Commissioners, Board of Education candidates meet in forum

Election 2018, News

[Feature Image: From left, Rick Farmer, Mike Boswell, Lyn Holcomb, John Solmon, Carly Adam, Charlie Bryson, and Linda Erbele. (Missing from photo Jeannette Gearring.)]

CLEVELAND, Ga. — White County candidates for school board and county commission set a high standard for political campaign behavior during the candidate forum in the Roy Ash Jr. Community Room Tuesday.

For one hour and twenty minutes, six challengers and two office holders responded respectfully to questions posed by moderator Wayne Hardy. There was not a hint of rancor. No personal attacks were leveled at opponents. Eight community-minded White County citizens stepped forward to present themselves to their fellow citizens.

Participants included incumbent County Commissioner Lyn Holcomb and his challengers Rick Farmer and Mike Boswell, incumbent District 2 school board member Charlie Bryson and his challengers John Solmon and Carly Adam and candidates Linda Erbele and Jeannette Gearring, who are campaigning for the open District 4 seat on the school board.

Even when it came to a usually divisive question about a potential tax increase, county commission candidates found little room for disagreement.

Holcomb said, “The growth we’re seeing and everything else that is going on in this county requires a lot of tax dollars. Our population has increased, our jobs have increased, new businesses have come in. We have a new bypass. This all requires that we look harder at the numbers and make sure our expenditures do not exceed our revenue. So far, we’ve been blessed to do that.”

Boswell said a tax increase may be inevitable “because the cost of living is going up. As far as being fiscally responsible, we do have to stretch the limit of every dollar we get in. As we get more people in the county, hopefully our taxes will pretty much remain the same.”

Farmer said, “We’ve got to have a fire department. We’ve got to have a sheriff’s office. I don’t want my taxes to go up any more than anybody else does, but it could be inevitable. I hope not. We just have to hunt every cut we can find and get the best bang for our buck.”

Asked if there were any decisions made by office holders they disagree with, Bryson was the only candidate who could cite an example.

He disagreed with a recent school board decision to not make meetings more accessible to the public by streaming them onto the internet.

“We had a discussion about that several times,” he said. “Some were for it. Some were against it. It was voted against. I completely believe in our democratic system. I voted for it.”

Adam said, “It’s real easy to stand up here and say you would change this or that when you’re not in the seat. I’m thankful for those who make the hard decisions. I feel like our board has made some great decisions with the facts and information they have at their disposal.”

Solmon said, “I’m not privy to the facts of what has happened in the school board meetings, so I would be disingenuous to disagree with anything they have done. Leaders should make decisions based on facts not emotion.”

Bryson, a full-time law enforcement officer and certified paramedic and firefighter, also gave some concrete examples of what should be done to increase safety in schools.

“The biggest step we can take is to educate our students and staff members about what to do in an emergency,” he said. He also called for more emphasis on “see something, say something” and increasing the number of cameras in schools.

“As a board, we need to think outside the box about things like ballistic shields for law enforcement to have access to in case of an emergency and gun safes for use by the sheriff’s office and police department to store supplies and equipment,” Bryson added.

Addressing the school safety issue, Gearring said, “I really don’t know what the answer is. As a parent and as a substitute teacher, I couldn’t be any more pleased. The lobbies are locked off. They have taken every possible precaution.”

Erbele said, “We already have cameras and we have limited access. It’s possible we could limit access more and add the shields we were talking about. Adding resource officers is one thing that could be done, but it has to be done at a cost and SPLOST (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) won’t pay for it.”

 

 

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