Two men are in the race for Covington County Commission chairman.

The election is set for Tues., March 1.

Incumbent Bill Godwin and Greg White, a former chairman, are seeking the office.

The Star-News asked both candidates a series of questions related to issues in the county.

 

• What if any administrative changes do you plan to make if elected?

GODWIN: I would hope that we can revamp our pay plan and our safety office.

WHITE: I wouldn’t anticipate any changes.

 

• Should the county remain on the unit system or return to the district system?

GODWIN: It would take legislative action to return to the district system. I feel like the unit system serves the citizens better financially. The district system is cost prohibitive. I will say that I think the district commissioners should be elected by their voters in the district only. I think the county engineer would be more responsive.

WHITE: I had the privilege of working 13-and-a-half years in the district system. By the end of that, I was pushing hard for the unit system. It’s better financially. Our gas tax has been flat for the past 20 years. Therefore you’re operating your bridge and road crews on the same dollar amount as 20 years ago. It’s a way to allow the county to operate more efficiently. The negative of the unit system from a citizen’s perspective is they feel they aren’t getting equal responsiveness from county officials. I will give exactly the same response I did on the district system.

 

• One of the major tasks of the commission is to manage the county’s finances. What experience do you have in financial management?

GODWIN: I have been commission chairman for three years now. I also have experience in finance in the cotton gin and peanut gin. I have been in the farming business for 40+ years.

WHITE: I’m a CPA. I have been in private practice for 30 years. That’s a big part of my professional training. I managed the county finances, along with staff and various administrators, for 13.5 years.

 

• What’s the biggest issue facing the county in the next four years?

GODWIN: Maintenance of roads – our improved and unimproved roads. Due to the limitations of our gas tax revenue we have not been able to resurface our roads unless we have had special funds from the state. The cost to do this is up. In the future, we are going to have to look for some alternate source of revenue.

WHITE: Jobs – the need for jobs. That is not a direct responsibility of the county commission, but I think it should be a high priority of the county commission to support job creation.

 

• What are your views on the county’s current level of public debt?

GODWIN: I feel like it is higher than is warranted in its totality. We have so much money going to the bond payments and not any going to road paving. We are paying about $50,000 a month toward that debt. If we had that, we could do a lot. We can’t expand services or improve infrastructure until we get done with this payment. We are also very limited in what we can do with sales tax or any other taxes.

WHITE: It’s fairly high, but to put it in perspective, it’s less than $400 per person, and the interest expense is less than $20 per person. One other point, there is a constitutional debt limit. I think we are about $2 million under that. I don’t anticipate a need for increasing the debt, and all the debt that has been taken on was related to asset acquisition and never for operational debt.

• What are your views on open data and transparency of information?

GODWIN: I feel like any information we hold in the government should be available to the public, if it does not include private information of the people. The budget should be updated monthly so citizens can see where money is spent. The only time I am not in favor is when we might be in negotiations with a company, who has asked for confidentiality until the deal is closed.

WHITE: I want the county to follow state law closely. That means that all meetings are open to the public. That means the county books are open to the public or the media. I always feel that we should protect personnel information.

 

• Describe the roles of the county commission chairman and the county administrator. What is the ideal relationship between these two offices?

GODWIN: The county chair and administrator work side by side. The administrator is key to providing information and documentation the commission needs. The administrator implements policies set forth by the commission, and the county administrator is the person who supervises day-to-day operations. The department heads answer to the commissioners. Ideally, we would have a full-time chairman that all departments report to.

WHITE: County commissioners are part-time positions. The authority of the county commission is strictly a body. The chairman chairs the meeting and provides administrative direction, while the administrator is charged with day-to-day operations. They work closely on all matters. The administrator provides full complete information to help the body make their decisions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two men are in the race for Covington County Commission chairman.

The election is set for Tues., March 1.

Incumbent Bill Godwin and Greg White, a former chairman, are seeking the office.

The Star-News asked both candidates a series of questions related to issues in the county.

 

• What if any administrative changes do you plan to make if elected?

GODWIN: I would hope that we can revamp our pay plan and our safety office.

WHITE: I wouldn’t anticipate any changes.

 

• Should the county remain on the unit system or return to the district system?

GODWIN: It would take legislative action to return to the district system. I feel like the unit system serves the citizens better financially. The district system is cost prohibitive. I will say that I think the district commissioners should be elected by their voters in the district only. I think the county engineer would be more responsive.

WHITE: I had the privilege of working 13-and-a-half years in the district system. By the end of that, I was pushing hard for the unit system. It’s better financially. Our gas tax has been flat for the past 20 years. Therefore you’re operating your bridge and road crews on the same dollar amount as 20 years ago. It’s a way to allow the county to operate more efficiently. The negative of the unit system from a citizen’s perspective is they feel they aren’t getting equal responsiveness from county officials. I will give exactly the same response I did on the district system.

 

• One of the major tasks of the commission is to manage the county’s finances. What experience do you have in financial management?

GODWIN: I have been commission chairman for three years now. I also have experience in finance in the cotton gin and peanut gin. I have been in the farming business for 40+ years.

WHITE: I’m a CPA. I have been in private practice for 30 years. That’s a big part of my professional training. I managed the county finances, along with staff and various administrators, for 13.5 years.

 

• What’s the biggest issue facing the county in the next four years?

GODWIN: Maintenance of roads – our improved and unimproved roads. Due to the limitations of our gas tax revenue we have not been able to resurface our roads unless we have had special funds from the state. The cost to do this is up. In the future, we are going to have to look for some alternate source of revenue.

WHITE: Jobs – the need for jobs. That is not a direct responsibility of the county commission, but I think it should be a high priority of the county commission to support job creation.

 

• What are your views on the county’s current level of public debt?

GODWIN: I feel like it is higher than is warranted in its totality. We have so much money going to the bond payments and not any going to road paving. We are paying about $50,000 a month toward that debt. If we had that, we could do a lot. We can’t expand services or improve infrastructure until we get done with this payment. We are also very limited in what we can do with sales tax or any other taxes.

WHITE: It’s fairly high, but to put it in perspective, it’s less than $400 per person, and the interest expense is less than $20 per person. One other point, there is a constitutional debt limit. I think we are about $2 million under that. I don’t anticipate a need for increasing the debt, and all the debt that has been taken on was related to asset acquisition and never for operational debt.

• What are your views on open data and transparency of information?

GODWIN: I feel like any information we hold in the government should be available to the public, if it does not include private information of the people. The budget should be updated monthly so citizens can see where money is spent. The only time I am not in favor is when we might be in negotiations with a company, who has asked for confidentiality until the deal is closed.

WHITE: I want the county to follow state law closely. That means that all meetings are open to the public. That means the county books are open to the public or the media. I always feel that we should protect personnel information.

 

• Describe the roles of the county commission chairman and the county administrator. What is the ideal relationship between these two offices?

GODWIN: The county chair and administrator work side by side. The administrator is key to providing information and documentation the commission needs. The administrator implements policies set forth by the commission, and the county administrator is the person who supervises day-to-day operations. The department heads answer to the commissioners. Ideally, we would have a full-time chairman that all departments report to.

WHITE: County commissioners are part-time positions. The authority of the county commission is strictly a body. The chairman chairs the meeting and provides administrative direction, while the administrator is charged with day-to-day operations. They work closely on all matters. The administrator provides full complete information to help the body make their decisions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two men are in the race for Covington County Commission chairman.

The election is set for Tues., March 1.

Incumbent Bill Godwin and Greg White, a former chairman, are seeking the office.

The Star-News asked both candidates a series of questions related to issues in the county.

 

• What if any administrative changes do you plan to make if elected?

GODWIN: I would hope that we can revamp our pay plan and our safety office.

WHITE: I wouldn’t anticipate any changes.

 

• Should the county remain on the unit system or return to the district system?

GODWIN: It would take legislative action to return to the district system. I feel like the unit system serves the citizens better financially. The district system is cost prohibitive. I will say that I think the district commissioners should be elected by their voters in the district only. I think the county engineer would be more responsive.

WHITE: I had the privilege of working 13-and-a-half years in the district system. By the end of that, I was pushing hard for the unit system. It’s better financially. Our gas tax has been flat for the past 20 years. Therefore you’re operating your bridge and road crews on the same dollar amount as 20 years ago. It’s a way to allow the county to operate more efficiently. The negative of the unit system from a citizen’s perspective is they feel they aren’t getting equal responsiveness from county officials. I will give exactly the same response I did on the district system.

 

• One of the major tasks of the commission is to manage the county’s finances. What experience do you have in financial management?

GODWIN: I have been commission chairman for three years now. I also have experience in finance in the cotton gin and peanut gin. I have been in the farming business for 40+ years.

WHITE: I’m a CPA. I have been in private practice for 30 years. That’s a big part of my professional training. I managed the county finances, along with staff and various administrators, for 13.5 years.

 

• What’s the biggest issue facing the county in the next four years?

GODWIN: Maintenance of roads – our improved and unimproved roads. Due to the limitations of our gas tax revenue we have not been able to resurface our roads unless we have had special funds from the state. The cost to do this is up. In the future, we are going to have to look for some alternate source of revenue.

WHITE: Jobs – the need for jobs. That is not a direct responsibility of the county commission, but I think it should be a high priority of the county commission to support job creation.

 

• What are your views on the county’s current level of public debt?

GODWIN: I feel like it is higher than is warranted in its totality. We have so much money going to the bond payments and not any going to road paving. We are paying about $50,000 a month toward that debt. If we had that, we could do a lot. We can’t expand services or improve infrastructure until we get done with this payment. We are also very limited in what we can do with sales tax or any other taxes.

WHITE: It’s fairly high, but to put it in perspective, it’s less than $400 per person, and the interest expense is less than $20 per person. One other point, there is a constitutional debt limit. I think we are about $2 million under that. I don’t anticipate a need for increasing the debt, and all the debt that has been taken on was related to asset acquisition and never for operational debt.

• What are your views on open data and transparency of information?

GODWIN: I feel like any information we hold in the government should be available to the public, if it does not include private information of the people. The budget should be updated monthly so citizens can see where money is spent. The only time I am not in favor is when we might be in negotiations with a company, who has asked for confidentiality until the deal is closed.

WHITE: I want the county to follow state law closely. That means that all meetings are open to the public. That means the county books are open to the public or the media. I always feel that we should protect personnel information.

 

• Describe the roles of the county commission chairman and the county administrator. What is the ideal relationship between these two offices?

GODWIN: The county chair and administrator work side by side. The administrator is key to providing information and documentation the commission needs. The administrator implements policies set forth by the commission, and the county administrator is the person who supervises day-to-day operations. The department heads answer to the commissioners. Ideally, we would have a full-time chairman that all departments report to.

WHITE: County commissioners are part-time positions. The authority of the county commission is strictly a body. The chairman chairs the meeting and provides administrative direction, while the administrator is charged with day-to-day operations. They work closely on all matters. The administrator provides full complete information to help the body make their decisions.