Walker County, Ga., Commissioner Whitfield makes two hires
Walker County, Ga., Commissioner Shannon Whitfield announced Wednesday he added two new employees.
Robert Wardlaw, a Coca-Cola employee of 20 years, now will serve as the county’s economic and community development director. Matt Williamson, an attorney who served as the county’s Republican Party chairman, will be its legal and policy director. Both men supported Whitfield’s successful campaign in 2016.
Wardlaw will replace Larry Brooks, who resigned from the county Feb. 14. Whitfield said in a statement at the time that the decision was mutual. Brooks has not returned multiple calls seeking comment about his departure.
It’s not exactly clear who, if anyone, Williamson will replace. During his campaign, Whitfield said he did not want a full-time county attorney, believing the expense was a waste of money. He instead has billed Robin Rogers for hourly work.
Whitfield said in a news release the county will pay Williamson less in a year than it spent on hourly attorney fees last year.
County spokesman Joe Legge said Wardlaw and Williamson each will make $69,000 a year. Legge said Don Oliver, the county’s full-time attorney under former Commissioner Bebe Heiskell, made $126,000 in 2016. He also had an assistant making $40,000 a year, and the county paid an extra $60,000 to his department for “professional legal fees.”
Whitfield said these additions should help the county grow. He told the Times Free Press in December that two of his priorities were recruiting more businesses and rewriting ordinances, areas that he expects his two new hires to address.
Before this job, Wardlaw served as the Walker County Economic Development Authority chairman. In a statement, Whitfield said Wardlaw will add jobs to the community.
“Wardlaw’s knowledge and proven track record in the business world gives us a competitive edge over other communities to turn [potential deals] and other opportunities into winning outcomes,” he said.
Before his election, Whitfield told the Times Free Press that he and Wardlaw had become close. At one point, he thought Wardlaw was going to run for the sole commissioner position. Whitfield, then a Chickamauga city councilman, told Wardlaw he would support his campaign. He said they talked every day for two weeks.
Then one day, he said, Wardlaw informed him he was not going to run. Apparently, Wardlaw heard people in the community were more interested in Whitfield as commissioner. Whitfield said they then met for 2 1/2 hours to discuss the campaign.
Williamson was the Walker County Republic Party chairman from 2015 through last month, when he resigned to pursue this new job. He also resigned from the public defender’s office.
In a news release, Whitfield said Williamson will help rewrite county codes and ordinances, as well as handle “day to day legal issues.”
“I look forward to helping make ordinances clear and concise, reviewing and revising our contract management system, keeping the government in compliance with all federal and state laws and helping the Commissioner carry out his vision of making Walker County a better place for all of us,” Williamson said in a statement.