Jeff Sexton Archive

By Jeff Sexton

This past week at the Lee County Board of Commissioners meeting, a policy was implemented without it being on the Agenda – at least the online version of it, as it exists at the moment I type this, nearly a week later.

I’m working on getting the video right now – like I did with the Tifton Forum, my plan is to put the SWGAPolitics.com logo in the bottom corner, then cut it for upload to our youtube account – but one of the last items discussed at the meeting was use of the Opal Cannon Auditorium for candidates running for public office. Basically, the policy says (apparently, I haven’t seen a copy of it yet) that candidates running for public office can’t use the building – yet Nathan Deal did back in August! Per County Administrator Alan Ours’ comments during the meeting, the proposed (at the time) policy is “consistent with County policy for other buildings”.

As soon as Mr. Ours finished describing the policy, Commissioner Rick Muggridge tried to discuss it, but Chairman Ed Duffy noted that a motion and second was needed before discussion could be opened. Commissioner Dennis Roland made the motion to approve, with Commissioner Betty Johnson seconding it. Next, Commissioner Muggridge began discussing his concerns, saying that “If the Republican Party of Lee County or the Democratic Party of Lee County wanted to sponsor a debate, I think that would be a great venue for that.” Commissioner Muggridge noted that Deal had already used the facility before noting that even if a candidate came in that the Commissioners absolutely did not agree with, as long as they follow the rules, it should be allowed.

Commissioner Muggridge also noted “If I had a wish, I’d wish that more people would be involved in politics and understand what is going on. I think that by opening this venue up to politicians, which I don’t think is automatically a dirty word, that the public could have more access to those folks.”

After a bit more discussion about the end time of events, Commissioner Muggridge made a motion to strike the policy item in question that died for lack of a second. When the policy – with the item in question still in place – was then voted on moments later, all four voting commissioners voted to approve it, including Muggridge.

According to comments made to Carlton Fletcher Thursday, both Commissioner Muggridge and Chairman Duffy plan to bring this issue back to the Commission at their Jan 12 meeting, with Muggridge quoted as saying, “It’s important enough to the citizens of Lee County to bring up again not just because I support it, but because it opens up a lot of possibilities for the county.” and Duffy saying “I intend to suggest that we make county facilities available to political candidates of all parties, so long as they meet all other requirements. We just have to do it across-the-board.”

As many of you know, I am the chairman of the Libertarian Party of Southwest Georgia. I am also the South Georgia representative on the Libertarian Party of Georgia Executive Committee. Obviously, I have a vested interest in this issue – but my beliefs here are NOT partisan, as I genuinely believe ALL parties should have equal access to the public. Indeed, I started a Facebook group over the summer regarding ballot access where I put in the description “working to allow a level playing field for ALL political parties in Georgia.” Furthermore, my record running this site is proof of my claim, as the only comments we censor here are personal attacks and gratuitous profanity. As long as it remains political and decently clean, I honestly don’t remember Tom or I ever deleting a single comment.

I truly, genuinely believe in the “Top of My Lungs Principle” in regards to free speech. It states that, “You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours.” (Yes, it is a line from The American President.)

Apparently, the Lee County Board of Commissioners – outside of Chairman Duffy and Commissioner Muggridge – does not

Jeff Sexton.

Written by Jeff Sexton. Jeff Sexton co-owns the political blog SWGAPolitics.com and is a candidate for the Leesburg City Council.

Last week’s Lee County Commission meeting was dominated by the proposed boat ramp and discussion of four bids for heavy equipment purchases by the Public Works Department.

Don Windham, a resident of the Canuga subdivision just across the road from the proposed boat ramp, spoke against building it, citing traffic, trash, safety, gangs, and teenagers, among other things. He left before I could speak with him but I asked another person who will be speaking with him to contact me about possibly putting his thoughts on SWGAPolitics.com.

Leesburg Councilman Betty Johnson also spoke against the ramp, citing traffic concerns and maintenance costs. She had spoken with Chief Harris of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office and apparently there have been almost double the number of wrecks in that area this year as compared to the prior two years. Chairman Ed Duffy also spoke against the ramp, again citing traffic and safety concerns. Ultimately, Commissioners Muggridge, Williams, and Roland voted for the ramp while Commissioner Johnson did not. Chairman Duffy asked that it be put on the record that although he did not have the opportunity to vote on the measure (as the Chairman only votes to break ties), he also opposed it.

Ultimately, I also oppose it, and while traffic is certainly a concern – that could be alleviated by putting the ramp on Highway 32 just outside the Leesburg city limits – my objection is the amount of money involved and who is paying for it. County Manager Alan Ours told the board that because the state planned to pay for it using boat motor fuel taxes, it had to have motorized boat capability or the State could not pay for it. I still say Lee County could pay for a canoe ramp if that is what we really wanted, and volunteer effort could be used to build out the rest of the park, not counting the ramp itself and parking areas. This would both save quite a bit of money and instill a sense of civic pride, meaning it is a “win-win” scenario here. This is NOT a park with a truly state or federal purpose, and the state and federal governments should not be asked to pay for it.

The other item that caused much discussion was the heavy equipment bids for Public Works. Commissioner Roland questioned the need for both a track excavator and a wheeled excavator as well as the need for three motorgraders – all after being told that Public Works Director William Clark was unavailable due to his wife having a surgery earlier this week. (Our thoughts and prayers go to the Clark family for a speedy recovery for Mrs. Clark, btw.) Chairman Duffy said that he had complete faith in Mr. Clark, and that if Mr. Clark said he needed this equipment then he needed this equipment.

There happened to be a Caterpillar representative in the audience, and he asked if it was in order if he answer some of Commissioner Roland’s questions. Chairman Duffy invited him to proceed, and he noted that basically a track excavator can get work in muddy, non-paved areas that a wheeled excavator would get stuck in. Meaning that while the wheeled excavator can be driven anywhere in the County, it cannot work in areas where there has recently been heavy rainfall or burst pipes. Without the track excavator, this could cause delays in needed repairs. This sounded reasonable to me, and ultimately three of the four bids were approved unanimously, with Commissioner Roland being the only dissenting vote on the track excavator.

The Commissioners also approved a bid for repairs on New York Rd unanimously, and Commissioner Muggridge updated the Commission on the progress of the Complete Count Committee.

Finally, in the public forum, I spoke about my plans to organize a MLK Day of Service to clean and repair the park at Academy Avenue and 4th Street in Leesburg. I also told the Commission that it needed a name, and was informed by Commissioner Muggridge that it did, in fact, have a name – Leesburg Central Park. That was actually my fault for having bad information, though the information I had came from one usually highly reliable source in particular – who shall remain nameless at this point.

As I walk around Leesburg talking to people, I keep hearing about recreation and the need for more safe recreation opportunities in town. Not just organized sports, such as baseball, softball, and soccer, but solo exercise such as a walking loop or a safe place for kids to play on a playground without fear of a baseball flying over a nearby fence.

The problem for these people is two-fold: 1) The City of Leesburg doesn’t have a Parks and Recreation Department, it is entirely run by the County. 2) Their City Commissioners don’t always show up for their own meetings, much less the County Commission meetings where recreation opportunities could be discussed.

Because the City of Leesburg doesn’t have a Parks and Recreation Department, one might think that City Councilpersons might take an interest in showing up to Lee County Board of Commissioners meetings, where they could at least keep track of what the county was doing in regards to such a major issue with their constituents. I’ve been doing that for two months, long before I decided to run for City Council myself. The problem is, I haven’t seen any city councilperson there with the exception of Mayor Jim Quinn. Furthermore, of the two City Council meetings I’ve gone to, only three councilpersons have been at both of them – Sydney Johnson, Bob Wilson, and Mayor Quinn.

The citizens of Leesburg deserve a councilman dedicated enough to seek out news and developments on the topics that concern them, as well as the topics that are boring to them but are equally important. They deserve a councilman professional enough to actually show up at the meetings where these issues are discussed. They deserve a councilman open enough to share his own analysis of the topic and the information he based his analysis on.

I created SWGAPolitics.com with those exact ideals nine months ago, and I will continue to uphold those ideals as the newest Leesburg city councilman.

Jeff Sexton.

Written by Jeff Sexton. Jeff Sexton co-owns the political blog SWGAPolitics.com and is a candidate for the Leesburg City Council.