Letter to Editor

Is it business as usual in Gilmer? I hear a lot of talk from the new county
BOC however, what I see happening looks like the same old stuff. The BOC
talks about saving money then in the same sentence say there is no “fat” in
Gilmer Government. So does this mean that all the ineptitude and very poor
management has been corrected in a mere month???? I must disagree, I still
see discussions of spending money on luxury projects i.e. Ball Fields ,
like there is not a gazillion in the county already, and raising taxes ,
like cell phone tax, trash disposal tax, etc. etc. The tipping fee at Gilmer landfill is now 300% the amount most surrounding communities charge,
I have avoided buying gasoline in Gilmer , when possible, for the last three
years, because the local tax is higher, thus making gasoline more expensive
than most surrounding communities. I was told by a BOC member that the
county had to furnish an AIRPORT in order to get one food store chain to
open a store in East Ellijay. Seems funny that particular food chain has
stores all over Georgia and I never heard of them demanding an Airport
before to build a store in a community. I don’t shop there much anyway, it
is too expensive. As far as trying to attract new business to Ellijay /
Gilmer: Have you seen what the little railroad has done for Blue Ridge and
McCaysville??? Wow their economies are booming compared to Ellijay , mostly
thanks to the Scenic Railroad.

The Railroad service was offered to Ellijay but one of the BOC members said
in a meeting that he had spent a lot of time studying that possibility but
the Railroad is private enterprise and demanded too many concessions making
it too expensive for Gilmer.. Seems strange… does the Railroad demand a great
deal more from Ellijay than from Blue Ridge or McCaysville???? I rather
doubt it.

Hey, I hear Gilmer County has a nice golf course. Wow, I am way too poor
to play golf and am busy looking for a new place to haul my trash… Yup
sounds like business as usual in Gilmer to me. The county is drowning in
red ink and we the taxpayers will pick up the tab.

Ok so my solution is the WHOLE BOC has to be replaced next election and again and again until we get
it right. I believe this county needs a “strong professional county
manager” overseen by a citizen panel.

George Shaffer
Ellijay