Local residents banned together Monday evening to voice concerns and inquire about recent county appointments.
Monday night’s community forum at Covenant Church brought in over 90 Washington County residents.
The forum came one week after the second Washington County Board of Supervisors meeting of the year in which county residents filled a courtroom to capacity in hopes of making a strong enough impact to possibly witness the board reconsider its decision on the engineer appointment change from Hooker Engineering to IMS Engineers.
District 3 Supervisor and BOS president Carl McGee was the special guest of the forum and proceeded with addressing residents immediately after preliminary forum items.
As listed on the community forum agenda, McGee addressed three matters:
* The hiring decisions of the recent board meetings;
* The future of the county, particularly an update on roads and bridges and 2020 plans of the board; and
* The board’s plans moving forward.
McGee highlighted the progress of Producer’s Rice Road and informed residents the road is over 80% complete and is anticipated to be finished within a few weeks.
“If we don’t manage the few resources we have and the few dollars we have, we can’t do Producer’s Rice Road we can’t do the North Theobald project,” he said, reiterating his commitment to serving the residents and their interests.
When McGee yielded the floor to questions and concerns, several residents took the opportunity to ask questions and voice concerns.
Brad Kessler, a local business owner, said in his many years living in the county and doing business, he has seen some good and some “not so good.”
“Is there anything you can do with the other board members to make this right?” Kessler said, referring to the departure of Hooker Engineering.
Kessler’s question was one asked by many residents in both similar and somewhat different fashions.
“Being president is not what you think it is…as president, I get one vote. I can’t make a motion and I can’t second a motion,” McGee said.
Speaking to attendees, McGee said the real influence lies within them and they have the most readily available power to actually produce change.
Kessler said he and others tried to do their parts to influence and that no one wanted listen.
Jimel Shamoon asked if there was any possible way to “scrap” the vote and start over again because, “People are not happy.”
“We’re here to ask you to reconsider, revote and see what we can come up with,” Jimel Shamoon said.
McGee responded by explaining what it would take to overturn a decision made by a vote.
“Once that vote is made, you have to be on the prevailing side,” McGee said, noting he and Gordon were not. “We cannot legally bring up that issue … Someone on the prevailing side can bring up that issue.”
“All they would have to do is make a motion,” McGee added.
Greenville resident Anne Jones said the fact the board would not even consider revisiting the appointment decision brought to her mind the word, “cowardly.”
McGee informed residents the only way a president of the BOS can make or second a motion is to give up the position while the particular motion is on the table.
“You can indeed rescind the decision, but you have to be on the prevailing side,” McGee reiterated.
James Ceranti said he has a problem with the engineering firm being from somewhere else and the letting go of Hooker Engineering hit close to home.
Collins Brent alluded to one of the issues with the recent county decisions being the lack of registered voter participation and education.
“We’ve got to get involved and help the person that’s running, whoever we think fits our values and fits the things that we want to see accomplished in the county … The voting percentages are horrible and so we need to get out there and talk to neighbors and friends and encourage people to vote,” Brent said.
District 1 Supervisor and BOS vice-president Lee Gordon was in attendance as well and also briefly addressed some concerns and responded to inquiries made by residents when all who desired to speak had spoken.
Gordon told residents he did ask about the reason for not voting to reappoint Hooker Engineering, but was not given one.
Gordon stressed to residents the importance of exercising their rights, which include rights to attend regular meetings and be heard, rights to county information and others.
Gordon also reassured residents everything he does is in their interest and he can be relied upon for transparency and fairness in all matters.
“You want to trust in people and when you vote me in, you trust that I’m going to do the right thing,” Gordon said. “So yes, the procedures we went through, all of it was legal, whether I liked it or didn’t like it.”
