Jay Paul has a to-do list for the upcoming year, but his top priority is something bigger.
“My goal is to protect and to preserve our quality of life,” said Paul, chair of the Oglethorpe County Board of Commissioners.
Paul, who is in his second term, has lived in Oglethorpe County all his life, just like many residents. As growth continues to reach many of Georgia’s counties, he made it clear that he wants to maintain the character and history of the place Paul calls home.
“I see Oglethorpe as a gem,” he said. “I love it, I don’t mind saying it. But what we don’t want to do is change it into the very thing that people are running from.”
Paul and the Board of Commissioners believe many people are trying to escape the rapid redevelopment seen in counties such as Gwinnett, Fulton, Forsyth, DeKalb, and even Oconee.
They want to avoid the overdevelopment that can alter a community’s identity.
“One of the things we’re in the process of doing is a future land use map, part of the (comprehensive) plan that we have to do every five years,” said Jeff Sharp, the county’s director of planning, zoning and compliance. “What that will do, and currently does, is try to force any major developments into the corridor around Crawford in Lexington and try to protect as much as we can our rural beings outside of those areas.”
Shopping locally is another way Paul encourages residents to support the county.
One of the latest efforts to support that is Patriot Bucks, cards that can be used like cash at participating businesses across the county to incentivize local spending.
“Residential development does not pay for itself,” Paul said. “But businesses won’t come until there’s people to support the business. So with all that said, I encourage everybody to shop in Oglethorpe as much as they can.”
Beyond preserving Oglethorpe County’s small-town roots, Paul outlined several more tangible goals for 2026.
In 2025, the BOC lowered the millage rate for the fourth consecutive year. Paul hopes to continue that trend in 2026, even as inflation poses ongoing challenges.
Infrastructure and improvements are another top priority.
Paul wants to focus on resurfacing existing roads, such as Wolfskin Road, rather than paving dirt/gravel ones.
“I have no interest in originally surfacing any dirt roads in the county and turning them to pavement because that’s on average about $600,000 a mile,” Paul said.
Resurfacing paved roads costs roughly $200,000 per mile, and Paul noted that many roads paved 30-40 years ago are falling apart and need attention.
“We’re fortunate we get some money from the state and LMIG (Local Maintenance and Improvement Grants) money that helps pay for it,” Paul said. “But, you’ll never get caught up, ever.”
Other projects include expanding the parking lot at the senior center and securing a landfill expansion permit, something the county has been working on for several years.
If approved, the expansion would extend the landfill’s lifespan from two years to 30 years.
“A well-run landfill can generate some money for us,” Paul said. “Our landfill that we host in Oglethorpe County is a C&D landfill and it helps the local people to legally and properly dispose of their waste rather than end up on a dirt road somewhere.”