Last July, Pickens County voters passed a nonbinding referendum to transition from a sole commissioner to a multi-person board of commissioners form of government. As an outcome of that nonbinding referendum, a citizens advisory committee has been created to prepare a binding referendum that will appear on the November 2010 ballot.
The Citizens Advisory Committee for Commission Structure (CAC) held its first meeting Monday, April 20.
Pickens County Democratic Committee Chair David Robinson and Pickens County Republican Party Chair Larry Toney spent the last several months working with Representative Tom Graves and Senator Chip Pearson to complete the groundwork necessary to establish the CAC. Sole Commissioner Robert Jones has chosen not to participate in the process.
“The CAC is not an advocacy group for people who feel strongly one way or the other,” said Larry Toney at Monday’s meeting. “The purpose of the CAC is to design a system of governance that if voted on favorably, would become the governance structure of the county.”
At Monday’s meeting a timeline of the referendum preparation process was reviewed. CAC members, working in subcommittees, will research and develop a draft of the referendum by the end of the year. In early January, a bill will be drafted in accordance with the structure recommended by the CAC and introduced in the General Assembly by Representative Graves and Senator Pearson.
Once the General Assembly approves the bill and the Governor has signed it, Justice
Department pre-clearance will be required.
All of these steps should be completed in the April 2010 time frame. The referendum will be on the November 2010 ballot and, if passed, the election of the multi-person board of commissioners would take place in November 2012; they would take office in January 2013.
Also at Monday’s meeting, the committee adopted rules of procedure and elected its officers, Phil Anderson, Chair; Larry Toney, 1st Vice-Chair; and Melanie Whitt, 2nd Vice-Chair.
All Pickens County registered voters were invited to join the committee through public notices. There are forty CAC members. Every attempt was made to ensure that each voting precinct is represented on CAC by at least one citizen.
While CAC is not open to additional members at this point, the public will be notified of meetings and are welcome to attend, though not to participate. Special meetings to solicit opinions and views of the public will be held this summer. Public hearings on the draft of the referendum will be held in the fall.
“The committee has no legal authority,” said Larry Toney at Monday’s meeting. “The legislators add legitimacy to what we submit, but the voters will make the decision.”
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