Hart County Commission Chairman to serve another year on GMRC board

The Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday evening to re-appoint Carter – but not before a full half-hour of discussion that at one point deteriorated into a full blown argument between Carter and Commissioners Joey Dorsey and RC Oglesby.

The issue goes back to June when Dorsey objected to Carter’s re-appointment citing Carter’s attempt to involve the GMRC in the County’s search for a new County Administrator.

Dorsey contended it gave the appearance of a conflict of interest and he asked that the Board wait to make the appointment until after a new administrator was hired. 

Dorsey and Oglesby then asked County Attorney Walter Gordon to give his opinion on the matter.

Gordon noted Carter had no actual conflict of interest, however he said there is an appearance of a conflict of interest.

Gordon noted the appearance of a conflict of interest had never been raised by the Board before on any matter.

It was also noted the appointee to the GMRC did not have to be the Board Chair but could be any elected official in Hart County.

Calling the appointment a burden,  an angry Carter read a lengthy statement saying he never asked for the appointment in the first place.

Carter then read another lengthy explanation regarding the meaning of a conflict of interest and referred to the County’s Web site where it said the appointee had to be the County Commission chair.

To that, Dorsey disagreed but motioned to re-appoint Carter to the GMRC as long as he recused himself from any GMRC involvement in the search for a new county administrator.

Then, an angry Oglesby chastised the Board for bringing up issue in the first place.

At that point Gordon stepped in and told the Board they were spinning their wheels and needed to move on.

Commissioners then voted unanimously to re-appoint Carter to the Board of the GMRC.