The former Habersham County commission chairman who oversaw a controversial land deal in 2008 is now on the county’s development authority.
At Monday night’s board of commissioners meeting, the board voted 4-1 to appoint Jim Butterworth to fill the unexpired term of Brent Edwards, who resigned. The seat was commission chair Ty Akins’ to fill, and he made the motion to appoint Butterworth. Commissioner Jimmy Tench cast the lone dissenting vote.
Butterworth will finish out Edwards’ six-year term. The seat comes back before the commission for reappointment in February 2026.
Akins selected Butterworth over nine other development authority applicants. They include Amy Sgro, Justin Ferguson, Logan Pourbaix, Lynne Dockery, Mark Crowe, Matthew Holbrook, Michael Larson, Mike Franklin, and Sidney Roland.
Hill’s Crossing land deal
In 2008, Butterworth was chairman of the Habersham County Commission when the county purchased nearly 31 acres of land at Hill’s Crossing to build a new courthouse. The county paid the landowner, Carol Lovell, above market price – $1.189 million – but was unable to use the land for the courthouse because the city of Clarkesville refused to annex it into the county seat.
Habersham County lost $464,000 on the Hill’s Crossing land deal. That amount does not include the property tax revenue lost during the ten years the land was off the tax digest.
Butterworth and his fellow commissioner, Charlie Miller, were scrutinized for their roles in the Hill’s Crossing land deal. At the time, Miller was president of the now-defunct Community Bank and Trust, which held the loan on the land when the county purchased it.
In 2013, Habersham County turned over the property to the county development authority, which in 2018 sold it to Billy R. Martin for $725,000. One week later, Martin sold the land back to Lovell for that exact amount through her Kelly Bea Properties, LLC, registered in Florida.
Butterworth weathered the controversy and went on to serve one term in the state Senate. Then-governor Nathan Deal appointed him Adjutant General of the Georgia National Guard and, later, Georgia Emergency Management Agency Director.
Former Baldwin Mayor appointed to county rec board
Butterworth’s isn’t the only appointment marking the return of a local politician to public service. The Habersham County Commission tapped former Baldwin Mayor Joe Elam to serve on the county recreation board.
Kerri Davis resigned from the board, leaving a seven-month vacancy for commissioner Jimmy Tench to fill. Tench moved to appoint Elam to the board at Monday night’s commission meeting. The motion passed unanimously. Elam will finish Davis’ five-year term which ends in December when the position comes back up for reappointment.
Elam is a cycling enthusiast who runs a bike shop in Alto and Gainesville. Last month, he resigned as Baldwin’s mayor after accepting a new job.
Tench chose Elam over four others who applied for seats on the recreation board, including Mark Crowe, Marty Meighan, Robert Gutowski, and Stephanie Bennett.
