Lee County Commissioners concerned with possible leadership changes

Reporter: Claire Galt Writer: Matias Abril
Published: Updated:
Lee County Commissioners

The choice of who runs Lee County could soon be up to voters.

Currently, Lee County commissioners hire an outside manager to run the day-to-day. State lawmakers are considering the idea that they should be elected.

How do the commissioners feel about the possible changes?

Commissioner Cecil Pendergrass is determined to send a strong message to our state lawmakers: don’t change how Lee County’s government works.

“This is [the] last chance to preserve what we have here in Lee County,” Pendergrass said.

Pendergrass has called for a special meeting on Wednesday morning to discuss items the Lee County delegation plans to discuss on Thursday.

At the top of the list is whether to propose a bill to elect one person, either a mayor or county executive, to run Lee County instead of hiring someone to do the job.

“This is basically trying to create another position for somebody to run for office,” Pendergrass said. “It’s creating more elections, creating more jobs for elected people, and that’s just– we’re not trying to create more government here. We’re trying to reduce the government.”

But commissioner Brian Hamman said that electing someone to run Lee County could be a good thing.

“Right now, an appointed person never has to put his ideas out to the community. They just do them,” Hamman said.

State lawmakers who represent Lee County are just floating the idea right now, but if they decide a strong mayor or county executive is the way to go, they would have to get a bill passed in the legislature, convince the governor to sign it, then put the question on the ballot, so any change is ultimately up to Lee County voters.

“I don’t think it’s my place to tell the voters how they should or shouldn’t vote on something,” Hamman said.

Electing a single executive or mayor to run Lee County would not mean the commissioners go away, but the state lawmakers are considering changing how we elect commissioners, too.

Instead of all Lee County voters electing all five commissioners, state lawmakers are considering a measure to have people in five separate districts choose their commissioner.

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