The Oglethorpe County Republican Party hosted a Board of Commissioners forum on March 31 at the Oglethorpe County Library. The event allowed the public to hear from candidates who will participate in the primary on May 24.
Participating candidates included: Lewis “Phil” Sanders, Darrius Tompkins and Howard Sanders from District 1, and candidates David Clark and Debbie Furbish from District 3.
Rosemary Vogel, an Oglethorpe County GOP member, served as the moderator, asking questions that were submitted by the public through Facebook and phone calls from constituents. The candidates answered the same set of questions.
Tracy Norman, running unopposed in District 5, was in attendance, but didn’t participate to give people running opposed more time to answer questions.
Comments are edited for length and clarity.
Q: Why are you running for the Board of Commissioners?
H. Sanders: I was coroner when my phone started to ring; I started getting Facebook messages and people actually showing up to the house asking me if I would consider running for the District 1 commissioner seat. It took a long time for me to make up my mind. And then I felt good about the decision, so I decided to give up my position as elected coroner and run for District 1 commissioner.
Tompkins: Time for a change. Simple as that. I said it to some people earlier that it doesn’t matter if you’re the greatest individual in the job. I think in politics, there’s a reason there’s term limits. I think there should be term limits in this position, whether it's by natural attrition or voting him out or whatever, but it's time for a change. I think there's been too much complacency in some of the seated positions.
L. Sanders: I’ve been on the Board of Commissioners for a long time. When I started, people wanted somebody who has lived in the county all their life. I’ve lived here 63 years and never lived anywhere else. You can never keep anything exactly how it used to be, but I'm concerned with controlling the growth. I want to keep it the way the people of this county voted.
Clark: Quite honestly, the biggest reason that I’m running is because I received so many calls from people in my district that heard that I was not going to run for reelection and my telephone was flooded. I really appreciated that, so I decided right then that I would. And I feel that I have represented the third district quite well. I don’t know of anybody that would say that I did not listen to anything that they requested of me.
Furbish: I believe that we have a lot in front of us over the next 10 years, over the next five years. And I believe that we need someone new, somebody with experience to help lead our county and our district forward. One of those things I feel very strongly about is keeping District 3 ag(ricultural). I feel very strongly about that. I’m also strongly running on the fact of broadband and internet.
Q: How do you feel about stackhouses (litter storage units) and sludge dumping (chicken byproducts and other substances dumped on farmland as soil amendment)?
H. Sanders: I have a stackhouse. When we put litter in it, rain doesn’t touch it. It's as dry as can be. Stackhouses are a good thing, because in the past, we’ve stacked it outside. Sludge dumping — you don’t want to go there with me. We don’t want that in our county. I don’t care what it pays. There’s no benefit for any land in Oglethorpe County for sludge dumping. If you want it, don’t vote for me.
Tompkins: I’m in favor 100% of stackhouses. They do what they’re designed to do. Sludge dumping — I don’t want it on my property. I don’t really want it on my neighbors’ property, because then I have to smell it. It’s more about what the voters of the county want. If they don’t want it in here, then we’re not putting it in here. I’m opposed to it, but I don’t know enough about it.
L. Sanders: Stackhouses are just a place to stack your litter and keep it out of the weather to keep from runoff. But sludge dumping, we went through a long battle with that. So where they put it now, I guess we just have to wait if we want to go back and fight that battle again. But as far as dumping it around somebody’s house, up in real populated areas, I’m not for it.
Clark: I think the record shows that I voted against the sludge dumping and the stackhouse that was requested that wanted to come into Oglethorpe County. The purpose was for them to put sludge on the properties that they had. We didn’t turn down the fact that this person wanted a stackhouse for a stackhouse; he wanted it for another purpose.
Furbish: I have sat in the Board of Commissioners meetings and listened about the sludge situation, and it bothered me greatly from the homeowners that are surrounded by the sludge dumping. It bothered me to hear that these constituents, their property values were no longer valued because no one was going to buy their homes that were situated next to something that smelled so terribly. As a nurse and the chair of the Board of Health, I believe that some of this has to be getting into our well system.
Q: Are you for or against the expansion of broadband in our county by a company with a proven record of reliability?
H. Sanders: Everybody sitting up here is going to be for reliable broadband for our citizens. In today’s world, we have to have it to operate.
Tompkins: Yes I am. I was hoping when that was discussed years ago that it would happen sooner rather than later, because the only time you can only use the internet where we live is 2 in the morning. Yes, we need it.
L. Sanders: For it. I have a daughter that has been through college and graduated with big honors because she could do it online. At some of our meetings, I’ve had another lady that talked about her kids going to school during the pandemic online and being able to get it all over the county. I’m thankful for the kids that can go to school online, and I definitely think it would be a big plus for our county.
Clark: I’m absolutely for it.
Furbish: I think we need broadband, but we also can do that much easier and marry the two of satellite and broadband. In Districts 1 and 2, a satellite is going to be your best option. We need to learn a lesson from the pandemic we were just in, when we were requiring our kids to go home and go to school and use the internet, but they didn’t have the internet.
Q: Should the county be encouraging more residential building and development? What are some of the things that should be considered in the approval process?
H. Sanders: I like the idea of more residential buildings in certain areas. But we are a farming county; we are a farming community. And people want to move to Oglethorpe County because it's quiet, rural. I’m for growth in certain areas of the county.
Tompkins: Yes, I think we should. We have to look at growth in a manner that is going to help the county. But there are things that we need that we just don't have without a tax base. And the only way you're going to increase taxes is to increase value for some of the properties. And also increase the tax base from a sales tax standpoint. It's difficult for retail shops to plant here, because there's just not enough community support to support a retail shop. That's why everybody drives to Athens or other places. But I would love to see those dollars spent in Athens spent here, and the only way to make that happen is to improve or increase the number of residents in this county that will spend money in this county.
L. Sanders: I would recommend more residential buildings. I think that residential buildings should not outpace our schools and fire departments and our sheriff’s department. I think we should manage it in such a way that we don’t outgrow our schools and the other things I mentioned.
Clark: I think it's important to have residential buildings. I’m encouraged for us to bring in senior citizen living areas and residential areas which would be important for the county to bring in people. Not to flood our school system now, that would be difficult, but I would certainly be in favor of that.
Furbish: I believe we need to stay with the comprehensive plan in District 3. It's very much one of the main reasons I’m sitting at this table today. I want to manage residential growth. I believe that the commissioners need to be very involved with the planning and zoning and development authority. We should be having meetings together, sometimes public ones, that the constituents have input in, so we can manage that growth.
Go to mvp.sos.ga.gov to check your voter registration status and visit oglethorpecountyga.gov/boc to check your district.