UPDATE FROM FEB. 1 PRINT EDITIONAt a meeting 30 minutes before the planned meeting Monday night, the Cherokee County blue ribbon citizens’ committee on redistricting changed its mind on its recommendation as to how the county Board of Education should be structured.
Redistricting using U.S. Census results is required each decade; however, changing the structure of government is not.
There has been recent debate on both the structure and election of the county commission and the school board, and the Cherokee County Legislative Delegation has the final say. The delegation is expected to introduce legislation into the House of Representatives on the structure and election of the local boards as early as today.
The appointed citizens’ committee had decided on six posts for the school board, plus a chairman, with all members elected at-large. On Monday night, that option lost by one vote. The majority of votes went to a seven-member board, with the chairman being elected at-large and the rest of the members being elected only by their own posts. Other options also were considered and carried a few votes from the 13-member committee.
Currently, the school board is divided into seven equal posts, all elected at-large.
Several members of the committee protested loudly at the meeting, saying re-voting at the last minute wasn’t “right.”
“I’m not happy,” said committee member Gary Parkes. “It felt dirty. There were outside influences at work after what we thought was our decision last meeting, and everything changed at the last meeting.” Parkes said he felt at-large voting for all school board members would be best for the county’s children because it would keep educational services equal to all areas of the county.
The committee decided not to change its earlier recommendation for the county Board of Commissioners, which would retain its four-member, plus a chairman structure. However, the committee recommended each of the four commissioners would be elected by their own post, with the commissioner elected at-large. Currently, the “eastern district” of the county elects two commissioners (who must reside in their own posts), while the western district elects the other two.
Several members of the community have spoken out against this plan, including three of the commissioners: Post 1 Commissioner Harry Johnston, Post 2 Commissioner Jim Hubbard and Post 4 Commissioner Jason Nelms. Those who advocate the continuance of the current model note that with that system, a citizen always has the ability to vote on three members of the board, giving them power over a majority of the board at election time.
Johnston said he felt some of the rumbling about how commissioners were elected came from as far back as 2000, the first time he ran, when he won the eastern district, but lost his post by a narrow margin. However, he said now he feels like he will still win handily in just his own post.
Hubbard said he thought he would have no problems carrying just his own post either.
“I don’t like this decision, though,” he said. “I don’t think it represents what the people in the eastern half of the county want. It encourages commissioners’ ganging up on one post and citizens can’t outvote the majority of the board.”
Members of the Cherokee Delegation who attended to hear the committee’s recommendations were Sen. Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock, Rep. Mark Hamilton, R-Cumming, Rep. Charlice Byrd, R-Woodstock and Rep. Sean Jerguson, R-Holly Springs.
Hamilton spoke to the committee and to those attending what he said was a successful transition in Forsyth County to five-member county commissions and school boards that mirror each other in post configuration. He said while chairmen of both boards are elected at-large, each post member is elected only by their own post, a concept the delegation refers to as “one-man, one-vote.” Hamilton, chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee in the House, said counties with larger populations are moving toward post-only rather than countywide elected officials.
Jerguson said in whatever legislation is introduced, the one-man, one-vote concept will be the guiding factor.
Those who champion that concept say elected officials elected only by their posts are more responsive to their own districts and that it costs less to mount campaigns under the model.
The delegation has refused to give routine approval to suggested maps both the county commission and the school board have adopted. Both boards, in divided votes, have approved their current structures. Local legislation submitted by the delegation will move through both chambers to become law. A referendum is not necessary, Byrd said. The legislators’ final plan must receive U.S Department of Justice preclearance under the Voting Rights Act.
Local legislators assembled the 13-member committee to get a citizen recommendation on local county commission and school board redistricting, giving them two weeks to craft a proposal.
