MoCo Commission Sets 2026 Qualifying Fees

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The Montgomery County Board of Commissioners officially set the qualifying fees for the 2026 elections during their regular monthly meeting on Monday, January 12.

Each election year, the County Commissioners are required to approve the qualifying fees for any upcoming county elections. These fees are determined by a formula dictated by the Official Code of Georgia, which states that qualifying fees must be 3% of the total gross salary for each office or position up for election.

This year, Montgomery County citizens will cast their ballots in five different races: • Board of Commis sioners District 4 – currently represented by Vice Chairman Clarence Thomas • Board of Commis sioners District 5 – currently represented by Commissioner Leland Adams • Board of Education District 4 – currently represented by Vice Chairman Eugene “Pete” Ward • Board of Education District 5 – currently represented by Board Member John O’Conner • Magistrate Judge – currently represented by Judge Ashley Thornton The qualifying fees were set at $108.00 for the Board of Commission candidates; $72.00 for the Board of Education candidates; and $1,495.01 for the magistrate judge candidates.

Qualifying is slated for March 2-6 at the Montgomery County Board of Elections office, located within the Montgomery County Government Annex at 251 S. Richardson Street in Mount Vernon. Qualifying will be held from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. daily on Monday, March 2, through Thursday, March 5, and then from 9 a.m. until 12 p.m. on Friday, March 6. For more information, call (912) 583-2580.

Reappointments

As customary for the first meeting, the commissioners elected a chairman and vice chairman, and appointed a county attorney. Chairwoman Ginger Morris, Vice Chairman Clarence Thomas, and County Attorney Ron Daniels were all reappointed to their positions on unanimous votes.

Work Session

The Board of Commissioners received several reports and discussed potential projects within the county during the monthly work session held on Thursday, January 9.

Reports

Road Department/Public Works

Road Department Director Robert Lewis gave an update of currently operations with the Department, as well as an overview of the success of the Scrap Tire Amnesty Event, which was held in December.

According to Lewis, road crews spent time grading and ditching dirt roads beginning January 1, as they worked in the northern side of the county, near Paradice Circle. The crews have also been working to complete bushcutting along Georgia Highway 221, working from south to north.

Inmate detail crews have been working to pick up trash along roadways, repair potholes, and destroy beaver dams blocking draining systems.

Lewis stated that 2,561 tires were collected at the Scrap Tire Amnesty event in December, as he emphasized that these events were important to help reduce the number of tires discarded along county roads.

He clarified that no roads were currently completely closed, but that one end of Moore Road had been partially closed because of hurricane damage and heavy rainfall. Lewis told the commissioners that he had been communicating with residents in the area and made sure that they had a safe way to travel to and from the road, as he said that the road crew planned to install a pipe to fix the issue in the future.

County Manager

Montgomery County Manager Heather Scott informed the commissioners that the FY2024 audit is being finalized. Once that audit is complete, an auditor will present the findings to the Board of Commissioners.

She stated that the Christmas decorations at the courthouse were removed later than normal because the Montgomery County State Prison firefighters help to install and take down the decorations, but had been busy assisting fire departments within the area. Scott ensured the decorations would be removed within the next week.

Commissioner Amie Vassey asked Scott for clarification on the payments of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) as she stated that she expected the County would have already been required to complete payouts on the projects for which the grant was slated and was concerned about the grant funding’s distribution.

Scott explained that an invoice had been received for payment on the project, but no payment had been completed. She stated that the grant did not provide funding in one lump sum, but rather made payments to reimburse the County for the money spent on the project. “We’ll write a note and then they send us a check for it,” Scott remarked.

Vassey also asked if there was an update on the Recreation Department renovation, which is being completed utilizing grant funds. Scott told Vassey that there had been some delays because of the passing of Roberts Civil Engineering Consultant Nick Overstreet and the imperativeness of dealing with Hurricane Helene relief efforts, but that a revised drawing of the renovation plans could be expected in the future, as the Department hoped to complete the renovation after baseball/ softball season.

Vassey questioned if there were any current Board positions that would be open for applications within the next three months, to which Scott clarified that a position with the Heart of Georgia Altamaha Regional Commission remained open and accepting applications.

Scott addressed two more of Vassey’s questions throughout the discussion, as she said that there had not been an update from Tax Commissioner Renia Wooten-Perry from the audit which she previously told the commissioners that she planned to complete, or from the Secretary of State’s office’s investigation into a situation regarding Montgomery County Election Superintendent Sheila Cheek.

Potential Fire Training Area Discussion During a discussion about the intergovernmental fire agreement with city fire departments within the county, Commissioner Jimmy “Pedro” Sharpe stated that he hoped to see the County create a fire training area.

Sharpe explained that during his time working with the local fire departments as a first responder, he had completed training in other areas, such as Laurens and Johnson Counties.

“Higgston Fire Department sends a few guys to Toombs County, but the rest of the county [firefighters] have nowhere to train. You have to have your live burn certification. In most counties, you get the live fire certification for a year -– all that takes is being trained to help,” he emphasized.

Sharpe told the commissioners that having a training ground had several benefits -– better Insurance Services Office (ISO) ratings, which mean lower home insurance rates for local homeowners; encouragement for citizens to become volunteer firefighters because of the ease of completing training; an increase in sales tax revenue due to other departments sending firefighters to stay, eat, and get gas within the county during training; and a decrease in the cost of sending local firefighters to other counties for training.

He suggested placing the training ground on the county property near Earth Saver Drive, as the only cost in modifying the property would be the purchase of storage containers to construct a structure, which could be completed by local county employees. Sharpe also informed the Commissioners that Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency Director Tristan Willis was a certified fire instructor and could teach the training programs.

The commissioners agreed to look into the possibility of creating the fire training facility, as they agreed that the resource could be beneficial for the County.

Executive Session

During the work session, Commissioner Vassey requested to discuss a recent ethics complaint that was filed against the Montgomery County Development Authority, but was advised by County Manager Scott to wait to have the discussion when County Attorney Ron Daniels was present.

Commissioners went into executive session during the regular monthly meeting on January 12 to discuss the issue, but returned later with no further action being taken.