Three County Commissioners Attempting to Cover Their Incompetence

Commission Sends Bail-Out Resolution Request to City

Bringing You Up To Speed

In July, I published an article entitled, “How Three County Commissioners Screwed Over the City of Cumming-Vote NO on SPLOST.” That article was the fifth of a series entitled, "War Under the Waves-The Struggle for Political Control of Forsyth County." In it I described the events leading up to the moment when three Forsyth County Commissioners, Laura Semanson, Kerry Hill and Chairman Alfred John, turned their backs on a SPLOST revenue sharing proposal they themselves proposed to the City of Cumming, in essence double-crossing the city after the city had approved the county’s proposal. The double-cross occurred with hardly enough ticks on the clock for the city to reconsider, and certainly not enough time to renegotiate. That last minute change by the county commission forced the Cumming City Council to meet in emergency session the night before the deadline to get the SPLOST referendum placed on the November ballot.

Three Incompetent Commissioners

Next, in August I published another article, one entitled, “Forsyth "Club Member" Commissioners Double Size of Local Government, Do Nothing for the People.” In that article I wrote about the decision made by commissioners Semanson, Hill and John, acting as the majority of the board, to build an extravagant county administration complex on Freedom Parkway, complete with rooftop observation decks for the commissioners and a $22 million exercise (wellness) facility for county employees. According to the county manager, this admin building is designed to double the size of local government. The three commissioners made the decision to build the Freedom Parkway facility without consulting the people, breaking with precedent established almost 30 years ago, at which time that county commission placed building the present admin building on a ballot referendum for the county taxpayers, not the commissioners, to decide.

Finally, last month I published an article entitled, “Forsyth County Commission's Irresponsible Taxing and Spending Cannot Continue.” Citing a “long black train” of poor decisions by those same commissioners, irresponsibly raising hundreds of millions in excess tax revenues and frittering those tax dollars away on extravagant pet projects such as the Forsyth County new “Taj Mahal” admin complex, I urged voters to teach the commissioners a lesson by voting “no” on the new SPLOST (Special Local Option Sales Tax) referendum presently being decided on the November ballot. With such a track record of incompetence and wasteful spending by their commissioners, Forsyth County taxpayers would be wise to turn off the money spigots.

Now that you are up to speed, I would like to share with you the latest major incompetence of Forsyth County Commissioners Semanson, Hill, along with Chairman Alfred John. You see, the part of the decision to build the new county admin complex which I did not touch on above, is the part in which the three commissioners above approved hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars over the life of the project, knowing that, apparently, Georgia law and the state constitution prevent the county commission from meeting to enact official county business at the new location because it is situated OUTSIDE of the county seat of Cumming. Yes, those three commissioners, acting in the majority, decided to build the facility knowing that without an act of God they would not be able to meet there lawfully, essentially proving any allegation of their incompetence.

In addition to Georgia Law and the state constitution apparently standing in their way, a local ordinance requires the county commission to meet at the present administrative building on East Main Street in downtown Cumming. To change that local ordinance, which is apparently just the first step toward rectifying the even bigger statewide problem, a new ordinance would have to be presented to the Georgia legislature, sponsored by a UNANIMOUS county delegation. That means that every state legislator, representing any and all areas of Forsyth County, must act to co-sponsor that local legislation during the 2025 General Assembly. I can tell you, that is not likely to happen.

I can reveal to you at this time, as reported to me from several independent sources, that the Forsyth County Commission has recently contacted the City of Cumming asking a favor, or perhaps presenting a deal. Apparently, the Forsyth County Commission has sent over a proposed resolution, asking the mayor and city council to sign. It is a resolution expressing the sentiment that the City of Cumming would be agreeable for all applicable laws to change in order for the county commission to enact business outside of the county seat of Cumming. I have no knowledge regarding what the commissioners would be willing to trade the city for such a resolution. But because this is the same Forsyth County Commission who just screwed the City of Cumming out of a calculated six million dollars should the SPLOST referendum on November’s ballot pass, I would expect that the commissioners deal must be substantial if they believe it has a chance to gain the city’s favor after the way the city has been treated. It is too bad the commission, and by that I mean Semanson, Hill and John, did not consider these circumstances before pulling the rug on the SPLOST agreement with the city. But, that is what incompetent elected officials do. I suppose we should expect it.