WQCH Radio reports LaFayette codes inspector and Gas Dept director Rod Robertson is retiring in the spring. During next week’s council meeting, the city plans to restructure various utility departments and place them all under a single director (current water/sewer director Jim Spier) instead of the myriad of different leaders and departments now. This is expected to make the city more manageable for a yet-to-be-chosen future City Manager.

Under Jim Spier, various aspects of city utilities will be directed by Cliff Snyder (gas), Wally Meeks (water/sewer), Mike Stewart (electric), and Phillip Jeffers (codes enforcement). Former city councilman and crooked contractor Mark White will continue to direct Public Works, which includes garbage, street maintenance, city garage, and cemetery.   

Thursday Commissioner Heiskell spent $4,230,000 buying a farm in Noble, promising to make it available for businesses which didn’t care to buy it during the last five or six years it was on the market.

Where did the money come from? SPLOST debt, which you’ll be paying back during every trip to the store from now through 2020.

Bebe continues to tell the local paper she’s got businesses interested in moving here. She’s been saying that since 2002, companies are fighting to come in, businesses are dying to be here, etc. and all she has to show for it are Nissin (which IS a success story) and the fish water factory in Kensington that never opened.

(The county has had the entire site listed for resale through Ackerman for $5 million since at least December even though the papers weren’t signed until this week.)   

2014 may be known as the year elections never ended. None of the candidates in Tuesday’s vote got over 50% support, which means a runoff will be held in a month. We’ll also have elections in May and November, plus any other runoffs that become necessary along the way.

(Good year to be in the sign business.)

Former LaFayette mayor Neal Florence (second-place finisher in the election) has now been endorsed by Doug Woodruff, who finished 3rd in Tuesday’s vote, and by previous Representative Jay Neal. The vote to decide between Florence and Steve Tarvin will be held February 4th.     

Three Walker Co deputies – Shawn Carter, Zach Simpson and Joshua Mathis – were recognized on Thursday for heroic actions saving a family from a house fire in Chickamauga back during October.

WQCH says three 911 dispatchers were also recognized for their actions during the fire: Scott Wooten, Catessa Blansit and Lisa Pless.   

After another cold night, today’s weather should be pretty nice – mostly sunny and around 40°.

Walker County Schools WILL be open today, but all schools will start two hours later than normal. Catoosa, Chattooga, and Chickamauga schools will also operate with a 2-hour delay. All four schools in Dade County will open at 10 AM.

With warmer temperatures the risk of a natural gas shortage dissipates, so Roper will also be open today beginning with second shift.     

(Photo above of Sittons Gulch Trail at Cloudland Canyon.)

Perhaps because of the cold weather, or possibly because nobody cared, fewer than 3,000 people total voted in yesterday’s special election to choose a new Representative for Georgia House District 2. Most of the voters who did show up were, like the candidates themselves, from Walker County. LaFayette’s 695 votes cast is almost greater than the total votes from Whitfield AND Catoosa combined. (695 votes from over 4,000 registered voters is still however pretty terrible.)

Each candidate won the vote in his own respective “home” territory; Florence in LaFayette, Tarvin with Chickamauga, and Woodruff in Rock Spring. Overall Tarvin won six of eleven precincts, including a clean sweep of Whitfield County. He also won overall, with 38.15% of the vote.

But that doesn’t settle things. Not hardly. Since no candidate got more than 50%, a runoff vote will be held on February 4th between Tarvin and Florence. Meanwhile, District 2 will be without representation in the State House when the session begins next Monday.

Even then, the seat won’t be decided for long. Since these candidates are just completing Jay Neal’s half-finished term, the winner and potential challengers go before voters AGAIN in late May.           

Shaw is exiting the throw rug business, making the company’s Ringgold plant redundant. however, that facility won’t close – it’ll be converted over to produce vinyl tile in 2015.

Linked article says most of the 200 employees (many of whom live in this part of Walker County) will be offered jobs at other Shaw plants, but some working there say it looks more like unemployment.   

Bread and milk ran low in Summerville (and elsewhere) this week as snow entered the forecast and temperatures dipped to record lows.

Weather forecasts prompted closures of Walker, Dade, Catoosa, and Whitfield schools. (Chickamauga, Chattooga, and others still on Winter break obviously had no need to close.) Walker County government offices and Walker Transit also closed for weather (more on that below). Roper canceled shifts on Monday night and all of Tuesday after its natural gas provider asked industrial customers to save gas for home heating by curtailing production.

When it was all said and done, snowfall was minimal or non-existent in most of the area, but temperatures hit and often surpassed forecasted lows. WQCH radio reported a low of 4° in LaFayette, surpassing the previous low temp. record for January 6th by two degrees. (The record of 8° for today was also broken.)

Schools will be open tomorrow but most will run on a delay. Walker, Catoosa, Chattooga, and Chickamauga schools will push everything back two hours. Dade schools will all start at 10 AM. Roper will open Wednesday for second shift. For any other schedule changes or cancellations, check LU Facebook.               

Despite the cold weather, today’s an election day in parts of Walker, Catoosa, and Whitfield Counties. The special vote to pick a new representative for House District 2 continues today through 7 PM.

As this is being written, voter turnout has been pitiful all day (early voting was also low) because of the weather and odd schedule of the election.               

Before voting, check the LU Q&A with House District 2 candidates. Also watch these videos from a November TEA Party meeting at Dari-Dip: Florence | Tarvin | Woodruff

All Walker County gov’t offices (except the courtroom and elections office) were closed today and yesterday due to the bad weather and cold. No tax office, no animal control, no Civic Center or Chamber, no Walker Transit.

The county’s restaurant in Kensington, however, was open both days, in case a customer stops by. (Hopefully they don’t have all seven of these people on the clock waiting for something to do.)

As someone commented elsewhere, you can’t renew your tag, you can’t get a stray dog picked up, your grandma won’t be able to get a ride to Bi-Lo or to vote, but if you need a damn grilled cheese sandwich it’s only a forty minute drive away.

Walker County government priorities.   

UPDATE: Article with responses from Candidate Tarvin available here.

After Georgia Representative Jay Neal announced his mid-term resignation in early November, candidates scrambled to assemble campaigns in a short timeframe. The limited time between Rep. Neal’s decision and the special election intimidated many from joining a wide-open race that would normally have attracted a half-dozen or more candidates.

When qualification ended, only three men signed up as potential replacements for Rep. Neal: Chickamaugan Steve Tarvin, Rock Spring resident Doug Woodruff, and outgoing LaFayette Mayor Neal Florence. Tarvin and Woodruff’s decisions to join the race weren’t surprising – both had shown previous interest in state/regional politics and had existing campaign structures from failed runs in 2012. Florence, however, had shown no prior interest in an office higher than mayor, hadn’t run for anything since 2009, and had no campaign organization or signs left over from previous efforts.

All three have done a good job in short time making voters aware of their campaigns and motivating supporters to contribute, but some of their positions on issues that matter haven’t been made clear. That’s the purpose of this Q&A – clarifying issues so voters can go to the polls Tuesday armed with enough knowledge to make an informed vote.

Each candidate was contacted on December 28th, with a deadline to respond set for 11:59 PM January 2nd. They were contacted with e-mail addresses known to work, but only two of the three – Florence and Woodruff – responded by deadline. As of 4 AM on Monday January 6th, Candidate Tarvin has still not responded to (or acknowledged receiving) these questions. Sadly, his positions will be left to speculation and previous reports. He DID reply to a Q&A in 2012, which can fill in some of the blanks.

Thursday morning shortly after 8, LaFayette swore in its first new mayor since 1991. Here’s most of the city council (Judy Meeks, Wayne Swanson, new member Beacher Garmany, and Chris Davis) with Mayor Andy Arnold in the center. Councilman Bradford will be sworn back in to represent Ward 2 during the next Council meeting on January 13th.

(We’ve got everything here from a $500 suit with nice watch, shoes, and orange tie to a plastic windbreaker and crocs with a sweatshirt. Looks like they DO really represent the people at this point, at least stylistically.)     

Today is the final day of early voting for the House District 2 special election. Tarvin, Florence, or Woodruff will face voter heat next Tuesday for the final vote. Meanwhile at least two of those candidates have responded to an LU Q&A, the answers of which will be shared this weekend.   

Meanwhile, here are brief candidate profiles from the Dalton Daily Citizen:

Outgoing LaFayette mayor and House District 2 candidate Neal Florence says he’s running to help with the state budget, but can’t specifically identify any areas where spending should be cut.

Steve Tarvin, retiring Chickamauga business owner, says his goals as a candidate for HD2 are to make federal and state government less intrusive. He wants the state to tell the fed “no” but isn’t clear in this how exactly that could be done.

Doug Woodruff, also candidate for HD2, says he wants to apply a lawyerly touch to the state budget if elected to the GA House. One of his top priorities is Internet privacy and security, but his understanding of that doesn’t seem to be really high considering he’s worried about browser cookies.

Catoosa County law enforcement agencies are investigating the strange death of 2-year-old foster child Sahara Palmer. Parents of the baby blame foster parents, and Catoosa DFCS isn’t talking. The child’s biological mom, however, tells media she saw bruises and signs of abuse when she visited her child before hospitalization.

Catoosa Co Sheriff says he’s sparing no resources investigating the death and the GBI and DFCS are also involved. An autopsy on the baby was scheduled for yesterday but the results won’t be back for a while. So far no charges have been filed in the probable abuse case.