HOMER - Banks County will not provide land for or help fund a Georgia State Patrol post in the county.
The Banks County Commission voted 3-2 Tuesday night not to construct a GSP facility in the county.
Coming out of closed session and after two other brief actions, Commission Chairman Jimmy Hooper introduced the GSP issue for a vote.
"I make the following action motion regarding the acquisition of a Georgia State Patrol post in Banks County: a yes vote will mean that Banks County Commissioners will provide land and finances for the project; land availability and funding sources will be voted on at a later date," Hooper said. "A no vote will mean no action or plans will be made to locate, build or finance a Georgia State Patrol post in Banks County at this time."
Commissioner Danny Maxwell seconded the motion. When the question was called, Hooper, Maxwell and Commissioner David Duckett voted no to the GSP post, while Commissioners Charles Turk and Sammy Reece voted yes.
The only resident allowed to speak at Tuesday night's meeting was Gary Clark, who signed up in time to receive five minutes early in the meeting to share his thoughts on the GSP post.
Hooper acknowledged there were others in the audience who were there hoping to speak on the issue, but who didn't sign up in time.
Following the meeting, Reece voiced his thoughts - first on the public hearing on the matter held two weeks ago, then on the outcome of Tuesday night's GSP vote.
"At the last meeting, we had 100 people there and 92 of them stood up for it," Reece said. "I told my wife going home, 'I know I've lost this thing, I know they're not going to change their mind - nothing's going to change their mind, but I still feel like I've won from all the support we've had'."
Then Reece addressed the issue of three commissioners voting no in the face of overwhelming support expressed during the meetings regarding the proposed post.
"I feel like tonight we've got all these people out here for it, and if they can stand up and vote no in front of them, that's them," Reece said. "I voted my conscience."
Clark, who announced following adjournment he is beginning a recall effort on two commissioners (see related story), shared his thoughts on the vote.
"This is a sad day in Banks County," said Clark, who has worked in public safety for 25 years.
"We just wanted to make it clear that it was a win/win for the citizens of this county ... the county commissioners are placing other issues above the public's safety on this issue," Clark said. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Banks County to have a Georgia State Patrol post located in our county. Our county is a small county, population a little over 18,000 people, and we're growing. We're not going to stop growing, and we're going to have more crimes come into our area, and we need the representation from the state."
Clark asserted the county has some $8 million in the bank, and that some of that could be used to construct a GSP post, estimated to cost the county about 10 percent of that amount.
"They chose not to spend that money to keep from raising taxes for this Georgia State Patrol Post," Clark said. "Banks County could afford it. They could have built this Georgia State Patrol post with no tax increase, and we would have had Georgia State Patrol represented here."
Clark insisted the issue goes deeper than financial concerns.
"It's not an issue about public safety," Clark said. "This was a political agenda for re-election. We are about 385 days out until re-election of two of the commissioners that opposed the post in the county, and I feel that there's other projects that they're wanting to get done in order to get them re-elected."
Posts held by Hooper, Duckett and Turk will be up for election in 2016.
