The read

From my Sunday column in the Athens Banner-Herald ...

Despite these differences, they're all on the same page when it comes to the two counties working together to attract and recruit business to the area.

Yet despite such support from across the philosophical spectrum, the proposed partnership has been, to the puzzlement of many, in a state of flux since Athens-Clarke commissioners approved it earlier this year.

The regional task force assigned with crafting the partnership drew heavily from the business community in Oconee County. All 10 Athens-Clarke commissioners have voted to pursue it, and Athens-Clarke Mayor Heidi Davison has repeatedly touted its potential. Two commissioners in Oconee County now are on record in support of the partnership and are merely waiting on the opportunity to vote on it.

The only one who appears not to be on that page is, oddly enough, the man who proposed the idea a little more than a year ago.