The read

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

Improving communication is never a bad thing, and if commissioners can work to make it even better, they should. However, a dramatic restructuring of local government - turning Oconee County into more of a county manager-style government - is wholly unnecessary.

Oconee County staff members recently held a meeting where they were free to air their concerns regarding the proposed change. And, as noted in this newspaper, all of those in attendance expressed some measure of concern about the restructuring and were largely opposed to it.

Furthermore, when pressed by The Oconee Enterprise for examples of failed communication, commissioners offered vague stories that sounded more like hurt feelings than breakdowns in communication. One commissioner lamented it was unfair that a staff member had gone to pick up a check in Savannah without giving the commission advance notice, while another was frustrated that local watering restrictions had been lifted without his knowledge - despite the fact the state's ending of the restrictions automatically lifted most of those regulations.

This isn't to minimize the need for effective and open communication, but to point out the proposed changes appear to be an overreaction to a legitimate problem.