Multi-member commission referendum closer to reality

Legislation needed to bring about a vote on a multi-member commissioner government for Walker County is expected to go to the Georgia House this week, Commissioner Shannon Whitfield said.

None of the local legislative delegation, Sen. Jeff Mullis, Rep. Steve Tarvin and Rep. John Deffenbaugh favor the change. They agreed that the matter should be put to a vote after recent straw polls and a non-binding referendum on the primary ballot called for such a change.

The three have on numerous occasions said they personally prefer the current sole commissioner setup.

Whitfield made having a countywide referendum to decide the matter a major part of his successful campaign.

Once both the House and Senate have approved the legislation, which is a referendum calling for a citizen vote on the matter, it will go before Gov. Nathan Deal for his signature, he said.

The referendum calls for a four-plus-one commission similar to Dade County’s multimember commission, Whitfield said.

“You have a fulltime chairman who runs the day-to-day operations and management of the county. That person would run at large in the county,”he said.

Four districts would be created centering on each of the county’s four cities — Chickamauga, LaFayette, Lookout Mountain and Rossville — and formulated based on U.S.Census figures.. A commissioner would be elected from each district.

“Every ten years, you apportion those maps to rebalance out your population within a particular tolerance,” he said. “

Once passed by the legislature, the bill would be signed by the governor and added to the next general election ballot, the commissioner said..

The next scheduled general election is November 2018.

“Once it goes on the ballot in the general election and if the legislation doesn’t change anything, there will be an option on the ballot to either vote for the sole commission or a four-plus-one commission,” Whitfield said.

If voters approve the referendum for either multimember commission, the earliest date for election of commissioners would be during the November 2020 general election and taking office on Jan. 1, 2021.