The following is a response to the “Clarke County Supervisor Candidate Profile” article in the October 8th issue of the Osceola Sentinal-Tribune. Because I take my job as Supervisor seriously, and I do work hard to fulfill those duties, I felt it necessary to address comments made by my opponent, Austin Taylor, who, interestingly enough, has never attended a complete Board meeting nor talked to any Supervisors or Departments about his concerns.
My opponent stated that “someone has to do this job and not just for self satisfaction.” None of the decisions that we make as Supervisors are for self-satisfaction, but as Supervisors, we are proud of all the accomplishments made on behalf of and for the benefit of the residents of Clarke County.
My challenger also asserted his many goals if elected. He said “plans to look at the county tax rate.” FACT: The current Supervisors have worked with all departments and have been able to lower the County property tax levy for the LAST SEVEN YEARS. If one is not a property owner and does not pay property taxes, that person might be unaware.
This contender goes on to say that he plans “to bring in more federal assistance.” Apparently, unbeknownst to him, we, as a County, are utilizing opportunities for grants and aid from both public and private sources to help with department budgets.
All opponents have utilized in their campaigns the continual discussion of secondary roads. Basically, my opponent wants to improve road maintenance and implement more training for our roadcrew. Unaware to so many is that the Supervisors’ task, by law, is to hire a County Engineer who is in charge of running the Secondary Road Department. We have an excellent County Engineer who utilizes all funding to make his department run as efficiently and effectively as humanly possible. While we do have continued discussions with our Engineer, we do not micromanage the department.
My opposition, Austin, admits that he is not “completely qualified.” I believe it is completely unfair to Clarke County residents and to every County-affiliated Board of which I am a part, to even think it’s appropriate to be able to come in without bringing any real substantially-related life or job experiences or relative knowledge to the table for this position.