Charlie Paris Formally Announces Candidacy for Gilmer County Commission Chairman

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Today I am formally announcing my candidacy for Gilmer County Commission Chairman. I have made the decision to run because I firmly believe that we can no longer continue on the path that we have taken for the past few years. My focus will be on economic recovery, fiscal responsibility, and accountability.I am a Conservative Republican and lifetime resident of North Georgia. I was born and raised in a rural area of Paulding County, about 65 miles Southwest of Gilmer County. It wasn’t a farm, but we did raise chickens, pigs, fruits and vegetables for our own use. This gave me an appreciation of quiet country living that is one of the things I value most about Gilmer County today.

I have an AS degree with honors from Kennesaw College (now KSU), with additional studies in computer programming, operating systems, data structure, and business management from Kennesaw College, AT&T Education Center and Hewlett Packard Education Center.

I currently serve as Secretary of the Gilmer County Republican Party, a Board Member of the Tea Party of Gilmer County, and I am in my ninth year as President of The River’s Edge Estates Homeowner’s Association.

I have over 35 years’ experience as a successful manager and leader – first at AT&T, then as a Consultant. During my career, I held managerial assignments in the Commercial, Marketing, Accounting, Engineering, and IT departments. In successfully completing these assignments I supervised and motivated people, created and administered short and long term plans, set and achieved goals, and managed contracts.

I am experienced in all aspects of creating and maintaining budgets – a process that will be critical to our future success. I also have experience creating and responding to RFPs, which is a skill that is sorely needed in seeking and evaluating respondents for the airport, ball fields, golf course, security systems and the upgrade to the county’s entire Information Management System.

I have regularly attended all BOC work sessions and all regular and special called meetings. I’m familiar with the issues facing our county and can address these issues effectively from the start, so that we can turn our complete attention to the issue that we should be addressing – our economic recovery. I find it disturbing that the issues we face today are the same issues we faced 6 months ago – or in some cases even a year ago, or more. We cannot continue to “kick the can down the road” and as Chairman I will not allow that to continue.

We need good jobs in Gilmer County, but we need more than that. We have to be able to manage our debt better, and after 7 years without a raise, we have to provide additional compensation to our county employees – and these are just a couple of the many things that we have to do better.

The economy statewide has suffered, and we have suffered with it; but instead of simply waiting for things to improve, we have to build an economy that thrives in the current environment while maintaining the flexibility to adapt quickly to changes within that environment. This can and must be done. We can no longer just sit and hope for things to get better.

I am retired and do not own a business in Gilmer County; therefore I do not stand to benefit from any financial decisions that will be made. Further, I owe no obligation to anyone in Gilmer County for any reason. I will be my own man.

I will try to meet as many of you personally as I possibly can over the next few weeks. I hope that you will consider my qualifications and closely examine the ideas that I will be putting forth during the campaign. Your vote and recommendation to friends and family will be greatly appreciated.

Please visit my website at www.charlieparis.com, email me at [email protected], or call me at 706-636-2966 for more information.

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