Candidates running for the Gilmer County Post 2 Commissioner participated in a public forum debate last Tuesday night, April 22nd. The event was hosted by the Gilmer Chamber of Commerce. All four candidates were in attendance: Joe Waldrop, Travis Crouch, Mitchell Morgan, and Leon Watkins.

Candidates outlined their core principles and laid out plans for economic development while answering question prepared by the Chamber of Commerce. The discussion centered around candidates ideas for the county SPLOST and the catalyst group.

Travis Crouch set the tone when he started his opening statement with

“my focus will be encouraging more governmental and inter agency cooperation as we shift the focus to promoting our community to the world.”

“I’m a little different in that I like economic development authority being in charge versus the Chamber operating under an MOU,”

Morgan said.

“We need to get something to bring people in here,”

Waldrop proposed.

“We don’t have a good motel/hotel situations.”

Watkins added

“I’d like to see a real good group of people that serve on this and I’d really like to see a farmer, because a lot of times farmers get left out of things like this.”

Below is the full video: