Transparency And Openness Of Government Are Issues In Oconee County Commission Race

The two candidates running as outsiders in the Oconee County Board of Commissioners contest have made transparency and openness in government a key issue.

At the last Board of Commissioners meeting on May 3, Commission Chairman Melvin Davis gave them the perfect illustration of the problem they are addressing.

With the other three commissioners sitting by, Davis told what is certainly a fabrication to a citizen who also made a misstatement about a poultry processing plant.

Davis told Barb Carroll that references to a poultry plant were just an “example” and that nothing concrete has come before the county.

That clearly is incorrect, as Oconee County Utility Department Director Wayne Haynie told the county's Industrial Development Authority in April, with Davis present, that the county was in discussions with a poultry concern.

Haynie said the same thing to the Board of Commissioners on several occasions, starting as early as Jan. 26.

For more on the story, with video and additional examples of transparency and openness issues, go to Oconee County Observations.

Pictured: Davis responding to Carroll.