On Thursday, sources inside Walker County government reported certain county employees had been advised to get their paychecks to the bank ASAP on Friday, because of fears the county’s account might not have enough cash on hand to make payroll.

Employees reported on Friday having no issues with their checks, so the county did have enough funds on hand to cover payroll – this time anyway. But Walker County’s financial situation is precarious, teetering on the edge.

LU HAS confirmed heads of various county departments were asked to submit payroll early this week and warned that no invoices will be paid from the county’s accounts until mid-October unless approved by the CPA. So money is tight, even in the best scenario.

Bebe’s run us right out of money again – just as she’s announcing plans to cut taxes hoping to extend her political career.

From the same braintrust that brought us Hutcheson a year ago…   

How often do we see political candidates hammering stakes and putting up their own campaign signs?

In addition to his door-to-door visits with voters, Perry Lamb has been out delivering and putting up his own yard signs in recent weeks, usually followed closely by someone working for his opponents looking to erect one of theirs.

We can’t fully judge a candidate on their campaign, but the way Lamb, Whitfield, and Heiskell are campaigning and putting up signs shows some clear differences in their styles.

Bebe’s signs go up in the middle of the night, erected by county employees and people loyal to her because she spends county money with them or their businesses. She treats the county as an extension of herself and her campaign and invests little into it personally, yet reaps the benefits of political office.

Shannon Whitfield’s signs are put up by his “advisor” friends, the same people who paid for the signs, who likely decided on the design of those signs and picked where they’d go. They’re out doing the work while he sits back and waits on someone to tell him he’s won the election, after which he’ll let those same people decide what he’ll do in office and have voters talk to those “advisors” when they need something. He’s invested almost no time and absolutely no money into the campaign to get him elected.

Perry Lamb is out hammering up his own damn signs, which he paid for out of pocket, and talking to the voters directly about their wants and needs. He works a full time job in a hospital bringing babies into the world then goes out after work to campaign. And hopefully when elected he’ll take the same approach to working and listening that he’s taking now.   

After ten months, LaFayette has finally found its new recreation director.

Jason Shattuck, a LaFayette native who’s worked in recent years at the Dalton Recreation Department, started with the city last Monday.

WQCH Radio, 09/07/16: “JASON SHATTUCK HAS BEEN HIRED AS THE CITY OF LAFAYETTE’S NEW RECREATION DIRECTOR, STARTING MONDAY.

“HE IS A NATIVE OF LAFAYETTE AND A 1996 GRADUATE OF LAFAYETTE HIGH. JASON ATTENDED GEORGIA SOUTHERN AND GRADUATED WITH A BS IN COMMERCIAL RECREATION AND TOURISM. HE HAS WORKED AS A YOUTH SPORTS COORDINATOR AT CHEROKEE GEORGIA AND IN SEVERAL SUPERVISORY POSITIONS IN THE DALTON REC DEPARTMENT.

“HE IS MARRIED TO JENNIFER COLE SHATTACK AND THEY HAVE AN 11 YEAR OLD SON.

“CITY MANAGER DAVID HAMILTON SAID ‘WE ARE EXCITED TO BRING JASON’S PASSION AND VISION FOR GROWING THE RECREATION DEPARTMENT AND ELEVATING THE QUALIFY OF LIFE IN OUR COMMUNITY’.”

He sounds like a great fit; someone with the experience/background we need to have a top-notch rec department that meets the needs of every resident.

(Shattuck was the Dalton Rec Department’s facilities guy, overseeing maintenance and construction of buildings and amenities for that community. One of his most recent projects was the expansion of a public skate park – something badly needed in LaFayette.)

Shattuck replaces long-time recreation director Patti Scott who was abruptly fired by the city last November. Her job has been held temporarily since then by the city’s information technology guy, Scott Underwood.   

Commissioner Heiskell has clarified, in another press release, how much she actually intends to cut taxes. Her “almost a mil” cut is actually 3/4 of a mil – .754 mil less than last year’s tax millage rate of 11.845 for people living inside cities.

(The county tax rate outside cities was 8.592 last year and will drop by the same amount. One mil is a dollar on every thousand in value for property appraisal.)

Last year she raised taxes by 1 mil to pay back a 30-year loan issued on her behalf by the Development Authority; this cut doesn’t make up for that, or the huge increase she handed down the year before – and many people will be paying higher taxes this year than last because their property values have been marked higher.

Future tax increases will also be hard to avoid after Heiskell leaves office, since she’s left the county in such a state of financial ruin.

Bottom line, your taxes have gone up, and up, and up, and won’t be any better this year for most living inside Walker County despite this election year trick.   

Heiskell’s two election opponents have responded to the news of her tiny tax cut.

Perry Lamb says it’s a reactive response to the pending vote that doesn’t go far enough to fix past tax increases and waste.

Shannon Whitfield told the Times Free Press that Heiskell should cut her budget before cutting taxes since she can’t manage to go an entire year without taking out a loan to pay expenses not covered by taxes.

Whitfield additionally called out Bebe on Facebook for not promptly responding to questions from reporters – somewhat ironic considering he’s ignored multiple e-mails from LU and questions from Walker County citizens for more than six months now.   

Monday night a tragic accident on Halls Valley Drive claimed the life of a young father from Trion.

Details of the accident haven’t been made available, but we know the victim is 30-year-old Joshua Yarbrough, who grew up in LaFayette and has family here.

His services will be today and Wednesday.   

Commissioner Bebe says she vaguely intends to cut the county’s tax rate by “almost a mil,” in light of recent tax reappraisals that increased the county’s property values (on paper) by $57 million.

State law says if the county’s tax digest – the value of all assessed properties – goes up, the county (or city or whatever else) has to either lower its tax milage rate (the “mil”) so it doesn’t make more money than the year before, or have the required tax increase meetings – even if the tax rate stays the same.

Heiskell hasn’t said exactly what the new tax rate will be, but it’s likely that she’s just following the law here. Her assessors went out, said your house is worth more, then she lowers the multiplier that says how much of that value you have to pay.

The tax rate will be no lower than last year, and last year was higher than the previous year, and that year higher than the year before – and some people whose properties were assessed much higher will still pay more taxes.

Heiskell raised taxes the last two years more than she’s cutting them this year, and the county remains tens of millions in debt. She did the same thing right before the vote in 2012: raised taxes one year, then cut them a small amount the next year so she could brag about being fiscally responsible.

Bebe lowering taxes a small fraction this year after raising them a significant amount the last two in a row is like somebody stealing your car and being nice enough to bring the hubcaps back.

Don’t be fooled by this old election year trick.   

Erlanger Hospital has so far paid $4.1 million in lawyer’s fees as part of the overlapping lawsuits with Hutcheson and Walker County.

Walker County’s lawyer still insists he’s only billed us $65,000 during the same time – but there’s a big difference between “billed” and “will bill later.”

Lawyer Stuart James, who’s being paid with county tax dollars, has also begun taking shots at Commissioner Heiskell’s election opponents, Whitfield and Lamb, for saying what he’s being paid is a waste.

Give the man credit for one thing, he knows who’s buttering his bread.   

Another date promise for cleanup of the old Barwick mill that burned ten months ago.

The mess has been set for cleanup next month for the last eight months.

WQCH Radio, 08/29/16: “THE OWNER OF THE FORMER BARWICK MILLS PLANT HAS SIGNED THE EPA CONSENT ORDER FOR CLEANUP, FOLLOWING LAST YEAR’S BIG FIRE.

“DRENNON CRUTCHFIELD SIGNED THE ORDER THIS WEEK, ACCORDING TO PROJECT MANAGER DAVID ANDREWS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY. ANDREWS SAID THERE IS NOW AN APPROXIMATE 3-WEEK PERIOD FOR REVIEW OF THE PLAN, TO BE FOLLOWED BY AN ACTUAL START OF ACTIVITY ON THE SITE IN SEPTEMBER.

“WATER RUNOFF FROM THE FIRE FIGHTING EFFORTS WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE SITE IN LAFAYETTE, AND ALSO FROM STORAGE AT THE FORMER ARCHER PLANT IN KENSINGTON, AND TRANSPORTED FOR TREATMENT IN THE ATLANTA AREA. THAT WILL BE FOLLOWED BY ASBESTOS ABATEMENT AND FINAL DEMOLITION OF THE BURNED PORTION OF THE MILL.

“THE OWNER WILL PAY FOR THE CLEANUP, SO IT WILL NOT BE AT ‘TAXPAYER EXPENSE’. ANDREWS ALSO NOTED THAT IF THERE HAD BEEN AN IMMINENT THREAT TO THE PUBLIC, THE CLEANUP PROCESS WOULD HAVE BEEN EXPEDITED. THE FIRE DESTROYED ABOUT A QUARTER OF THE MILL COMPLEX IN NOVEMBER OF 2015.”

It needs to be gone, even if nothing is done with the property. However, the part of the mill that didn’t burn down will remain, so don’t expect a park or something to go in.   

Some things really are too good to be true.

What sounds like a dream job for many turned into a nightmare for a local girl in May, when her hopes of becoming a marijuana tester at Walmart turned into getting raped behind Food Lion.

According to police reports, a young woman showed up at the LaFayette Walmart around midnight on May 31st, expecting to be paid for smoking pot.

She was lured to the store after hours by 22-year-old Steven Skinner, who offered her a job on Facebook. When she called him, he claimed to be a “huge” Atlanta marijuana dealer who didn’t use drugs but needed someone to quality check weed for him.

The girl involved, also 22 at the time, told LU he claimed to have gone to high school with her but has no recollection of ever meeting him in person before May. He knew quite a bit about her friends and relatives, but apparently gleaned all of that information from social media before their appointment.

Sitting in the closed Walmart parking lot, Skinner used a story of “black thug” drug dealers hiding in a car to convince the woman to ride with him to Highlands Shopping Center, the old Food Lion location, where they would have more privacy.

After arriving at the North Main Street shopping center, Skinner told the young lady he had a gun, gave her $700 (but no marijuana), and persuaded her to pose for nude photos.

They sat behind the Farmer’s Furniture and former Food Lion building for some time as Steven Skinner used threats of the “black thugs” harming the girl’s family and friends to pressure her into sex.

Saturday night Shannon Whitfield’s campaign used the Civic Center for his “Beans n Jeans” Farts n Charts fundraiser.

Based on the crowd photo, he’s rounded up the Chickamauga retiree support Bebe’s always depended on – but younger people and folks with jobs/kids seem to be scarce at these events.

Did you go to Whitfield’s $50/head fundraiser?

  

Whitfield won’t release his slideshows for the public or visit you at home, you have to go where he is and see his presentation. Here’s some of it, what we’ve managed to glean from his supporter’s posts.

Looks like he’s going to spend the first year of his administration setting up advisory boards full of his campaign supporters before they begin to make decisions about anything. (Why do they have to be retired?)

Funny Whitfield and leaders of the Walker Republican Party insist we wait until 2021 to get a commission, but the candidate’s main “plan” to turn the county around is handing decision-making over to people who aren’t elected at all.

Whitfield admitted on UCTV last week that his advisors will meet behind closed doors. Do we want a bunch of unelected people, chosen for their roles based on loyalty to the commissioner, making decisions for the county in meetings the community cannot attend?

That makes Bebe’s forum of government look almost democratic in comparison.

There’s been some criticism of Whitfield’s numbers here, they’re a bit too generalized and broad. LU takes no issue with that, generalized numbers have been used before here too – and these issues are hard to explain in a quick presentation.

The Underground complaint is he’s got more lists of problems than he has actual answers for how he’ll fix anything, even as his supporters promise that he’s got a secret list of cures for everything wrong he’ll be sharing as soon as he’s elected.   

Jeff Mullis wants a raise – nearly 20 thousand a year more from each of four counties that fund the Northwest Georgia Joint Development Authority.

Half of Catoosa County’s commissioners are resisting his demands, saying they don’t feel their citizens have gotten anything out of the $100k a year Mullis and NWGAJDA get from them now. They will decide in a future meeting if funding should be upped, cut, or left alone.

In Walker, the current commissioner has no problem with the redundant, purposeless entity and her chunky ally Senator, but its future funding might be slashed by either of the candidates hoping to replace her next year. (Catoosa Commissioner Jeff Long, one of two insisting NWGAJDA is a good thing, is on Bebe’s payroll as Walker County’s pothole manager.)

“In Walker County, candidates Perry Lamb and Shannon Whitfield also say Mullis would need to convince them that the county’s investment is worthwhile. Whitfield’s campaign manager, Bobby Teems, is a JDA board member. But he said Whitfield will take a hard look at the organization.”

Whitfield will do whatever Bobby Teems tells him to do, which is all he’s done since he announced his plans to run. Teems is the one who pushed him to run in the first place.

Meanwhile Lamb tells LU he will take $103,000 currently budgeted for the Mullis Development Authority and invest it back into the county’s libraries, which are currently running with about $90,000 less than they need.

Mullis should at least be made to explain how getting an extra $20,000 a year from Walker and about the same more from Dade, Catoosa, and Chattooga will help him do any better than he’s been doing, since they don’t seem to be doing anything other than running a real estate listing Web site.