Commissioner Candidates Wright and Ellison Debate Transparency, Fund Management

Candidates for ACC Commission District 4 debated government transparency, economic development and the role of the University of Georgia in Athens during a political forum Monday night at

 is a lawyer who operates a solo practice in downtown Athens.  a contract medical illustrator, serves on the school board. They are vying to replace who announced in April that she would not be running for re-election.

The two candidates spent most of their 30 minute segment Monday discussing how local government can best manage public funds and how best to increase economic development in town.

During his opening statements, Ellison said he wanted to make the process of opening a business in Athens easier and decrease any hindrance that local government may pose.

"We are from the smallest county in the state of Georgia, but we still have high aspirations to the community, and I believe our mission should not be curtailed by a lack of revenue," Ellison said. "I want to streamline the process and make it easier for people to start businesses in Athens."

In addition to attracting businesses, Ellison also said he wanted to attract more law firms to Athens.

Wright also said she wanted to bring businesses to Athens, but emphasized education and its role in the community during her opening statements. 

"The reason I'm driven for this race is that I get Athens. I treasure the character of our town," Wright said. During her eight years on the school board, she said she's worked hard to get the school district to "where it's a bragging point" and a factor in attracting Caterpillar to the area.

When asked about how the candidates would handle s relationship with the community, both answered that they wanted to strengthen educational opportunities and help UGA serve Athens.

Wright said the best way to strengthen ties would be to increase communication between town and gown.

"I love campus," Wright said. "My family's life is there with my husband as professor. I think that the communication is important.  It's not just about football games, although that's also very important."

She also said that Athens should not forget other educational infrastructures in Athens. 

"The University of Georgia, as large as they are —and they're a huge part of District 4 — they're not the only educational institution in Athens," Wright said. "Athens Tech and other education institutions in Athens — we've got to make sure they're getting involved and they're being supported in Athens."

Ellison said he was most excited about the upcoming economic development opportunities that could follow a UGA medical campus and engineering school. He said he hoped to help citizens make use of those opportunities.

"I think we need to harness those opportunities," he said. "I want to work with the University of Georgia and make sure they're working to represent the best interests of Athens."

During the debate, panelists asked Wright what her involvement was with the Clarke County Grand Jury's investigation into the Clarke County School District's budget. , and the audit began the basis of the Grand Jury's investigation. 

Wright told the audience that she was among several board members who fought to rectify the problems with the budget and worked to make sure something similar never happened again.

She said she was "an involved and informed school member" who read the audit "and made sure we didn't look the other way." The next time it came up, board members talked louder and "blew our whistle longer."

Wright said she was part of the solution, "and the grand jury found that there weren't any findings. It was a process that I wish had happened sooner, but these things take time, and we did address it."

Ellison said that the community need to be concerned about the grand jury findings and that he didn't want there to be a culture of irresponsible spending on the Board of Commissioners.

"We as a community need to be concerned about this grand jury. Each year there's accounting irregularities and mismanagment of public funds," he said. "The grand jury presented to the citizens of Athens-Clarke County that the school board's response was to agree with these findings, promise to correct them and did not do so. This is unacceptable. This our money. This is your money. And on the commission I will be a responsible public steward because every dollar counts."

The candidates also discussed rising crime rates in Athens and the role of the Clarke County Manager's Office in government. Both said that they wanted to reign in some of the manager's powers, although Ellison emphasized that he wanted to create new systems to hold the manager accountable for funds spent in Athens.

He also said he wanted to look into reforming the Economic Development Foundation, and encouraged citizens who wanted to start businesses to talk to him instead of another committee.

"If you want to start a business here in Athens, call me," he said. "Don't call another body, call me. It's going to take commissioners working together in order to create economic development."

Wright said that she wanted have subcomittees and boards report their findings directly to commissioners and then to give tasks to the manager, but did not echo Ellison's statements that he wanted to investigate the manager for mismanaged funds. She also said that when it came to the Economic Development Foundation and to creating business in Athens, commissioners couldn't forget about existing businesses.

"I think that we need to make sure that [The Economic Development Foundation is] covering the things that are of interests of our town," she said. "We also need to be addressing the concerns of our current businesses and making sure they have what they need to grow and to do well."