Bibb Leaders Want To Share Cost Of Lobbyists

By MIKE STUCKA
Macon Telegraph
February 5, 2010


Bibb County commissioners said again Thursday that they want to hire lobbyists who can work around the area’s legislators. This time, though, they think they can get other governments to split the cost of the help.

The idea of local lobbyists isn’t new. Officials talked about it last year, when the area’s legislators were writing legislation affecting local boards and institutions without telling them about it. But the call for jointly hired lobbyists to work Atlanta and Washington drew more interest Thursday.

Macon Councilman Ed DeFore, who also is a member of the Macon Water Authority, said he’s interested in hiring lobbyists even for the current legislative term. If the local legislators can bring home the bacon, there’s no need, he said. But he argued the city needs more.

“I just wish our county delegation could go and try to bring something for back home, like Larry Walker and Sam Nunn brought the Agricenter to Perry and Houston County,” he said.

Bibb County Commissioner Lonzy Edwards, who also is the Macon Water Authority’s attorney, said there are big relationship problems.

“I would be happy if we could find some way just to know what’s going on in a timely fashion so we could react to it,” Edwards said. “For each of the last several years, we’ve been blindsided by stuff we didn’t know anything about.”

Bibb County’s leaders wanted hotel-motel tax money to benefit the Georgia Music Hall of Fame and the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. Edwards said in recent years legislators wrested control of the money from local governments, then failed to pass legislation that would shift the fund.

Though local governments asked again for the split, legislators created a compromise that would share money with the Douglass Theatre.

Edwards was echoed by Bibb County Commissioner Joe Allen, who said a lobbyist hired by Albany already is getting money for that city. He said Bibb County is left without state money or knowledge of what’s going on.

“For the best interests of the taxpayers and general public, we need to hire someone who can go out and bring information back to us not just on the state level but the national level,” Allen said.

But local legislators are fragmented, as are other local politicians. Legislators disagreed about the Douglass Theatre tax money. But after Bibb County Chief Administrative Officer Steve Layson said he was “shocked” to find out Bibb County hadn’t received its fair share of stimulus funding, commissioners noted residents’ opposition to many road projects.

“We were told face-to-face we needed shovel-ready projects, and nothing is ever shovel-ready in Bibb County,” Commission Chairman Sam Hart said.

Late Thursday, Hart could not provide the amount of stimulus money that Bibb received.

State Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon, said lobbyists can help cities and counties on specific issues.

“If it’s just to make sure they’re in the loop, I think it’s a waste of money,” he said. “We could all do a better job of communicating, and if we do, there’s no need for a lobbyist.”

Peake also said legislators are “fighting like crazy” to get state money.
“I’m a heckuva lot more motivated than a lobbyist would be,” he said.

In other business Thursday, commissioners:

• Agreed to contribute $8,500 toward a $45,000 nationwide search to replace Janice Marshall, who is retiring from the Macon-Bibb County Convention and Visitors Bureau. The bureau will ask for a similar amount of money from Macon. Marshall announced her retirement in November.
  
• Learned efforts to match Macon and Bibb County health insurance plans are succeeding. The county’s plan has a 60-day waiting period, while city employees can get health insurance on the first day. The two governments may meet in the middle, at 30 days. The changes would help the governments merge departments including animal control and engineering.
  
• Discussed ways to find the best site for a new fire station near Bass Road and Interstate 75. Commissioners said they want land that’s inexpensive, easy to build on and gives good access to the area. More residents and businesses, including hotels, are moving into the area.

Telegraph staff writer Travis Fain contributed to this report, which includes information from The Telegraph’s archives.

To contact writer Mike Stucka, call 744-4251.
mstucka@macon.com

http://www.macon.com/local/story/1011425.html

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