Politics & Government

Commissioners Don't Like Redistricting Plan

A town hall meeting was held at the Oconee Civic Center Tuesday.

At a town hall meeting at the Tuesday, Oconee County Commissioners shared similar opinions about new that would divide the county into separate House voting districts.

, most of Oconee and the southern section of Clarke county would become the new 119th House District. A northeastern section of Oconee would fall under the new 117th.

“I’d like to see the county stay whole, but I don’t think there is a chance of that,” said Commissioner John Daniell. “When the people in Atlanta see our district, they want to break it up to establish control."

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Commissioner Jim Luke said the redistricting doesn’t do any good.

“It does give us two voices, but quite often the guy who represents the minority piece of a county has a majority piece in another county,” Luke said. "If counties have differing needs, the guy with the smaller representation is likely to vote with the higher population. I don’t know that it will work out best for us.”

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Commissioner Margaret Hale agreed, saying that splitting Oconee County will lead to a situation where “we need something and we will get left in the dirt.”

She said citizens and commissioners will have to work harder to reinforce their needs with representatives.

Chairman Melvin Davis said, “Our only option is to have a good strong relationship with our representatives to make sure they vote in the right way.”

Rep. Chuck Williams (R-Watkinsville), who currently represents all of Oconee County and portions of Clarke, Morgan and Oglethorpe counties in the 113th district, said he, too, wanted to keep Oconee whole.

For more on the conversation about redistricting, see

"Pressuring" issues for the Board

Commissioners took time at the town hall meeting to discuss some of the more “pressuring” issues they face as a board, with each one stating budget balance as the first and foremost priority.

“We just went through a pretty grueling budget for FY 2012, and next year is not going to be any easier or better,” Daniell said. “We’ve got to start talking about our plan and how we will operate.”

“The biggest issue is the budget,” Hale said. “It is going to require the board to start earlier and take a more in depth look at what we really don’t need, what we could live without.”

Luke said more fire stations are needed, and that the county must find funds to upgrade some of the existing stations, particularly at the Farmington Volunteer Fire Department.

“We’ve got the best volunteer fire department in the state, but the facilities are not in good condition and some won’t hold modern trucks,” he said. “We’ve got to pull the dollars together to get an upgrade in Farmington.”

Other top issues discussed were the need for more space for county offices, a lack of funding for water and sewer projects and a needed upgrade to the Sheriff' s Office and Fire Department radio systems.

Update on Hard Labor Creek Reservoir project

Commissioner Luke said that despite being behind schedule, the is still operating under its budget.

A drop in the demand for water due to a bad economy has slowed the progress of the dam building, but land is still being acquired for it, Luke said.

“All state and federal permits are in hand, we are just waiting on the economy to show some life, or if the state is willing to give us a grant,” he added. “We are in a good place right now to continue to acquire land. We are going easy and doing the best we can economically.”

After the dam is constructed, it would take an additional two years to fill the lake, he said.

Correction: One of Oconee's new proposed House voting districts was misidentified in the original version of this article.  It has been changed.


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