Last month, Post One Commissioner Garnett Webb announced his candidacy for Commissioner Chairman, an office currently held by Bill SimondsOver the past few months, the commissioner has been the voice of opposition to some of the chairman’s more controversial decisions. Recently, FYN had the opportunity to sit down with Webb and discuss his candidacy for chairman and his vision of the county for the future.

“I’m going to be low on taxes and big on jobs,”

Webb says. Job creation, he says, will be one of his main focuses if elected chairman. Like most counties in North Georgia, Fannin’s unemployment rate has lingered above the national average for over a year now. So, Webb’s concentration will be recovering the economy from recessionary levels and prevent it from sinking further.

“After I get elected,” he says, “ (I’ll) get a group or a committee of local business leaders to form a group that will not take the place of the Development Authority, but work in conjunction with the Development Authority.”

For Webb, the idea, here, is to court businesses to come to Fannin County, boosting the economy and bringing jobs to the area. “

We will go out and talk to prospective businesses about locating in Fannin County,”

he explains. The county, though, already has a chamber of commerce and economic development authority, both of which serve a similar function to Webb’s band of business leaders. But, Webb clarifies that this new committee will be

“more hands, arms and legs to promote the county,” making “presentations to businesses and buyers and try to get more jobs into the county.”

The plan seems an extension of what Webb considers one of his more notable accomplishments as Post One Commissioner. He said he supported and helped pass a

“resolution help supporting local businesses.”

As Webb explains it, the resolution offers local businesses the opportunity to receive work from the county before the county seeks companies outside the county. For Webb, his other significant accomplishment as Post One Commissioner is the adopt-a-highway program, which he said, he started and supported. The program cleans non-state roads of litter in the unincorporated areas of Fannin County.

“We have adopted 60 miles of roads,”

he says,

“and we have almost 100 volunteers.”

Started in 2010, the program has saved road department man hours

“and also taxpayer money,”

Webb says.

So, why is Webb running against a commission chair whose record seems unblemished by tax hikes or a bloated budget? Current Chairman Bill Simonds has delivered a balanced budget and, with his refinancing of the Courthouse has returned over a half a million dollars to the county’s coffers.

“I feel I can do a better job than what’s being done,”

Webb says. Over the past year, Webb has been an opposing voice to Simonds. During a late October commissioners’ meeting, Webb opposed Simonds’ decision to lay-off 18 Road Department employees. Webb argues, although he may have released some of the employees if he were in Simonds’ shoes, he would not have let them all go at once. One of the other points of contention between Webb and Simonds is the paving of Squirrel Hunting Road, which took place under Simonds’ watch.

“Even though Squirrel Hunting Road was (only) a six mile road, it took about two years to pave it,”

Webb explains. In addition to the duration, Webb notes the project cost over a million dollars and cost the county a twenty-five thousand dollar fine from the Environmental Protection Department (EPD). Webb also cites that the county used trucks outside the road department.

“We spent so much time on that (project), that we didn’t have a chance to pave a whole lot of other roads,”

he explains, adding as a caveat that

“the Road Department has done a fantastic job.”

Webb further criticizes Simonds for his leadership style, saying he feels he’s left out of much of the decision making process, including discussions regarding many of the agenda items.

“He’s done some good things,”

he concedes,

“but needless to say the reason I’m running is I feel like I can do a better job.”

Webb must resign his post before qualification in May, leaving post one open for a new commissioner to be voted in his place during the July primaries. The new post one commissioner will hold the office until November when the post will again be open.

Mr. Webb is a resident of Macaysville and has been married to his wife Eugenia for 25 years. They have four children and 13 grandchildren. Mr. Webb and his wife are members of the McCaysville-Copperhill First Baptist Church, where Garnet is currently Baptist Men Leader and an ordained deacon since 1964.