Fannin County Board of Commissioners make decision on Financial Director

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The Fannin County Board of Commissioners held a special called meeting on February 7th 2017.

Personnel was part of the agenda and the Board of Commissioners emerged from executive session to announce a decision in hiring the newly vacant position of Financial Director for Fannin County.

Fannin County Commission Chair Stan Helton began, “There’s an old saying it’s not what you know its who you know and sadly that’s been a process when you hire people that’s been done too many times.  But I’m glad I serve on a board with two men who don’t believe that, they believe it’s what you know that really counts, what your qualifications are.”   ” There was one candidate who stood out among all the others.”  “A little background on the candidate, She has a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from the University of Louisville, she has a Masters of Business Administration in Taxation, she is a Certified Public Accountant in good standing with the State of Georgia, she is a former auditor and has actually even audited Fannin County’s financials in the past.  She has been the Chief Financial Officer for Union County, our sister county to the East for the past 12 years.

Commissioner Helton went on to do a comparison on the past audits of Fannin and Union for December of 2015, stating Fannin was found to have 13 significant or material deficiencies in the way the taxpayer funds were handled through the courthouse while Union County with the same auditing company and time frame only had one.

Helton explained during the search for the last 30 days there were several resumes from all over the state and several highly qualified people.   Following the description of the candidate and the search,  Chairman Helton made a motion to appoint Robin Gazaway as Fannin County’s new Financial Director and the motion carried.

FYN spoke with Ms. Gazaway following the meeting.  Gazaway is a graduate of Fannin County High School who attended Louisville University for her Bachelor degree and received her Masters from Kennesaw State University.  She is currently a resident of Fannin County and married to Rick Gazaway who works with the Fannin County Fire Department.  She will continue working at Union County until March and is currently handling audits at both places.

Newly elected Commission Chair Stan Helton made a decision in January to dismiss Chief Financial Director Rita Kirby which left the position vacant until now.  Concerns were voiced previously about more than one in the family holding a County position however Helton appeared to put significant emphasis on Robin Gazaway’s credentials, education, and experience.  See full meeting video below:

Fannin County BOC Special Called Meeting

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