What Would You Ask the Gwinnett County District 3 Candidates?

Chester Hale June 6, 2012 at 10:51 pm

Are you in favor of having the garbage fee on the tax bill and if not would you return the power to negotitate contracts with trash haulers back to the citizens?

Kristi Reed (Editor) June 6, 2012 at 10:58 pm

Great question Chester.

Ed Varn June 6, 2012 at 11:19 pm

Great question, indeed. And the candidate who says "No, I'm not in favor and yes, I'll return the right back to you, the citizens" will have a leg up on the competition with me, and I suspect a great many other voters as well.

Ed Varn June 6, 2012 at 11:22 pm

And here's another question: "Do you believe in limited, smaller government? If so, where do you see areas of Gwinnett County governance that could be limited, cut back or eliminated? And if you don't, why do you believe that government makes the best decisions? Cite examples, please."

Kristi Reed (Editor) June 7, 2012 at 12:52 am

I would like to see those examples too.

Rick Schneider June 7, 2012 at 01:50 am

How would you feel about eliminating the Board of Commissioners from deciding Planning application decisions?
I would like t see the Planning Commission decide planning applications along with a citizens committee and eliminate the BOC in the ruling. The Planning Commission will decide and vote on the ruling and there would be a 25 member citizens committee educated on zoning laws of local citizens of which 5 would be chosen randomly for each session. The citizens committee would vote on the application and approve or deny the application as well. If both the Planning commission and Citizens committee agree, the application passes or is denied. If both disagree the application goes back for review and voted on again. This would eliminate any special favoritism in the zoning applications and assure a fair ruling.

Kristi Reed (Editor) June 7, 2012 at 02:29 am

That is a very interesting idea.

R June 7, 2012 at 03:24 am

If FBI investigations reveal that commissioners who signed the consent order settlement in 2010 were involved in corruption - would you then explore options to terminate the current consent agreement early?
http://www.ajc.com/news/gwinnett/sheriff-says-public-corruption-1453620.html

Floyd Akridge June 7, 2012 at 03:56 am

No it's not Kristi...Rick suggests eliminating elected officials from making decisions and instead decisions are made by some 25 people who are chosen from some method that doesn't involve accountability to the public. No thanks.
And are you telling me that the majority, if not all of the 25, couldn't be bought? With no accountability to the public I'm betting the odds of corruption are GREATER with this plan.

Floyd Akridge June 7, 2012 at 04:00 am

R...I gulped when I read this. I don't care who might be charged. We are so much better than this as Americans. It's not really going to matter if this is someone I know and/or people I'd like to see out of government...if something legit is found it's going to hurt deep. I feel sick enough as it is now just reading the article.
It shouldn't be like this.

Kristi Reed (Editor) June 7, 2012 at 10:02 am

@Floyd - Rick's idea is interesting. Whether or not you support an idea should not keep you from respecting the perspective and concerns of the person presenting it.

Gail Young June 7, 2012 at 11:23 am

What changes do you recommend in the current governing structure that would put in more checks and balances to (hopefully) prevent the corruption risk?

Jimmy Orr June 7, 2012 at 01:58 pm

Would you allow outside interests to influence recommendations made by county staff to the Director of Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources in proposing changes to the Stormwater Systems and Facilities Installation Standards and override county staff's recommendations? As per Gwinnett County Code of Ordinances Chapter 100 - Stormwater Management Section 21 - General Provisions upon recommendation from his/her staff "The board of commissioners finds that delegating similar authority to the director of the department of water resources to adopt standards and specifications for the installation of stormwater systems and facilities will make administration of the county's stormwater program more efficient and more cost-effective." Therefore, the bottom line is would you trust the professionals on county staff in the Department of Water Resources to make recommendations to the Director of the Department of Water Resources which would be efficient and cost-effective or will you defer to outside interests?

Kristi Reed (Editor) June 7, 2012 at 02:05 pm

@Gail and Jimmy - also great questions.

Jim Regan June 8, 2012 at 04:04 pm

Why during the current economic downturn does the county continue to provide county vehicles for some employees to take home?

Scott June 9, 2012 at 08:48 pm

I'd like to ask Mike Beaudreau why his campaign staff felt it necessary to litter my yard with their fliers today. Apparently they were out visiting the neighborhood. When I returned to my house I found 3 fliers blown into my yard with another near my front door.
Damn shame we don't have Gwinnett Clean an Beautiful anymore. His people should clean the county up...not trash it!

R June 9, 2012 at 08:58 pm

For clarity to other readers - the current Trash Program arangement was consent ordered.

Floyd Akridge June 10, 2012 at 10:34 pm

Please kristi...where was my attack on Rick? Whatever...
My point was accurately presented...if you can call decisions made by an unelected body (starting to sound like Obamacare or Dodd-Frank?) interesting then we clearly have a difference of opinion of accountability in Government that is more than a little. Furthermore, I do not see how corruption is prevented by this method...are you really suggesting that lack of accountability INCREASES a non-corrupt environment?

James Ryan June 20, 2012 at 05:48 pm

I'd like to know why Dacula residents are restricted to Buford Gas when gas pricing was so called deregulated? I have heard that we (Dacula) pay almost double for natural gas.

Ed Varn June 20, 2012 at 06:27 pm

James, I asked this question recently. Basically, municipal utilities were exempted and we get the pleasure of paying more so we can support Buford's school system as well as Gwinnett's.

Concerned Citizen July 1, 2012 at 01:22 pm

That is not true, Ed. You only pay Buford School taxes if you live in the City of Buford. If you do not live in the City of Buford, you are only paying Gwinnett County School taxes.

Ed Varn July 1, 2012 at 01:46 pm

Concerned Citizen, if you'll check the Buford School budget, the bulk of their funding comes from Buford Gas. It's their main source of revenue. Been that way for decades.

M.K. Osborne July 1, 2012 at 04:20 pm

Your good ole PSC did that to you .

Concerned Citizen July 8, 2012 at 01:25 pm

Ed Varn, please send me the link that you got your information from. I would like to view that for myself, because I still believe you are wrong. The school system is funded through City of Buford school taxes that you ony pay if you live or have property in the city limits of Buford. The school, to my knowledge, is not funded through City of Buford gas revenue.