Habersham County Commissioner Bruce Palmer will host a town hall meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 28 to discuss questions and concerns Habersham citizens have surrounding public safety. This will be the second town hall meeting Palmer has hosted since joining the commission in January.
“[These meetings are important] to be transparent with what is going on our local government activities,” Palmer tells Now Habersham. “We can discuss present and future issues facing the county and our citizens.”
Palmer expects one other commissioner to be present at this meeting. At the last town hall meeting, no other commissioners attended. Palmer says there’s a reason for this lack of attendance from county commissioners: to not hold a quorum.
“We have to be careful not to have a quorum where county business will be discussed,” Palmer says. “We can do that, but it would need [to be] advertised as an official meeting.”
Palmer says the only cost of these town hall meetings are the costs of refreshments, which he says is “very small.” All personnel involved are salaried county employees, so there is no additional cost to county taxpayers for the time those employees spend at the town hall meetings Palmer has hosted.
However, some community and commission members don’t agree that these town hall meetings are a good use of the time of county employees.
“While I appreciate Commissioner Palmer‘s hard work and dedication, I think that it does tie up resources and county personnel to help put on and put together his town hall meeting,” Commissioner Bruce Harkness says. “Many staff help put these meetings together and have to work overtime or after hours to be present to help with the presentation.”
Instead of town hall meetings, Harkness believes the commission could do a better job of sharing information with the public at regular meetings and work sessions. He says that a “true town hall meeting is to listen to the taxpayers,” not share information.
“It probably would be a better use of staff and resources to have that dissemination of information at our regular meetings or at our work sessions,” Harkness says. “County employees have to be present at those regular county meetings anyhow and prepare for those meetings.”
Palmer says that part of his platform as a commissioner is to increase transparency in government operations, and that he believes these town hall meetings are an effective way to do that.
“I feel there is a small cost to increase transparency in our government,” Palmer says. “I’ve had many positive comments from the first one [town hall] I had in September. Transparency was very important to me and a promise I made to the citizens if I was elected as a Habersham County Commissioner.”
The town hall meeting will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 28 at 5:30 p.m. at the Ruby Fulbright Aquatic Center.
