As per request, structure subcommittee members were presented with a mass of Georgia county statistical data compiled by the research subcommittee.
“First, we would like to thank Jon Aldridge and the research subcommittee for all their hard work,” structure subcommittee chair John Foust said, opening the Tuesday meeting.
At their previous gathering, structure subcommittee members requested information regarding variations on five-member commissions in Georgia counties with a population five percent larger or smaller than Pickens.
However, the research subcommittee found that only four counties fell within that range.
“If you just look at five percent, it won’t do much,” Aldridge said. Aldridge and other research subcommittee members instead compiled information from 40 Georgia counties, including Pickens, with populations ranging from 20,000 to 63,500.
Pickens County has a 2008 population of 31,176, according to an estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau.
“We are looking for counties with structure close to our size,” Foust said.
Aldridge and the research subcommittee singled out the five-commissioner format for much of their research, following a straw poll conducted at the previous structure meeting. The poll showed a strong leaning towards the five-person format among members of the structure subcommittee.
Aldridge compiled information regarding commission structure, percentage of urban areas, population density and median family income in the 40 counties, and the structure subcommittee will use this information in fulfilling its ongoing charge of determining the best-suited multi-person government for Pickens.
It was also made clear, however, that a five-person board has in no way been decided upon. At this point in the process all commission structures are a possibility.
The additional cost of moving to a multi-person commission is a topic that has come up frequently in subcommittee discussions over the past few weeks and was again discussed in this latest structure subcommittee meeting.
CAC Chairman Phil Anderson, present at the meeting, said the research subcommittee should consider looking at the structure that gives Pickens County residents the most benefits for the least cost.
Structure subcommittee members also agreed to using the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia as a resource for determining “going rates” for county administrators, managers and part-time commissioners.
Anderson, previous county manager for Dawson County, estimated moving to a five-person board with a full-time chair would increase the county budget by approximately $100,000.
“But we need to clearly identify all that non-quantifiable stuff we think the voters are looking for in a multi-person commission such as transparency and diversity of thought,” he said.
Anderson also advised structure subcommittee members to nail down three “feasible” options for a multi-person commission based on information gathered from the research subcommittee, public hearings and input from other CAC subcommittees.
These three options will be presented at a full CAC meeting following the first round of public hearings in July.
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