DISTRICT 5: Roles reversed for Harry James in County Commission race

ALBANY — While many local political followers say they feel Harry James has “grown into” his role as the Dougherty County Commission’s District 5 representative during his two years on that board, perhaps they shouldn’t be so surprised.

James has, after all, been preparing for the position since 2005, when then-District 5 Commissioner Art Searles said two years into a four-year term that he didn’t plan to seek re-election.

“That’s when I started attending commission meetings, learning everything I could about the issues that were important to our community,” James said. “I knew if I was ever going to be a viable candidate, I had to be prepared.”

James’ pathway to the commission was a bumpy one: He first ran for office in 2008 but lost the District 5 seat to Gloria Gaines. He kept attending commission meetings, though, biding his time, and when Gaines announced that she would step down from her seat to seek the commission chairmanship, James quickly qualified for a special election called to fill the vacant seat.

Now, two years after Gaines lost a close countywide race to current board Chairman Chris Cohilas and James has inked his personal stamp on the District 5 seat, something of a role reversal has come into play. It’s James who now serves as the incumbent, and Gaines is challenging him for the seat.

“For me, it all depends on the mindset of the person involved and what they want to accomplish,” James said. “I see serving on the commission board as working for the people of the community. And I’m not belittling the chairman’s position, but that role is more about the limelight. I’m not someone who cares about the limelight. I’m a person who believes in working to get things done.

“And I’m someone who doesn’t care who gets the credit, as long as the job gets done.”

James offers a list of accomplishments he says the commission has achieved during his short tenure, many of which he was instrumental in bringing before the board.

“I was ready to hit the ground running when I came on board because I was prepared,” he said. “When the county ended up paying fines for problems with its land assessment value back around 2005, I knew I didn’t know enough about it to help find a solution. At that point, the Carl Vinson Institute and the governor’s office held a workshop on the issue, and I paid out of my own pocket to attend.

“I’m proud to say that during my two years on the commission, Dougherty County is one of only a few counties that has hit the state’s 40 percent (of fair market value) evaluation for properties in the county.”

Among the county’s accomplishments during the past two years, James lists the raise given county employees, their first in eight years; the elimination of all county debt; voting to assure that the then-closed Southside Library branch was not sold to a number of potential buyers and then finding funding to re-open the branch, and increasing cash-on-hand from $300,000 to $2 million.

James also notes that Gaines has, during her campaign, taken credit for some accomplishments that he says he played a more significant part in.

“She’s talked about pushing for development of the (State Highway) 91 Corridor and development of the 85.4 acres of land at the Southwest Georgia Regional Airport, but those are things that have come about because I asked the Economic Development Commission to identify properties to market along that corridor,” James said. “And as far as fighting the Sabal Trail pipeline, you heard very little about that until I took the District 5 seat.

“And where she’s claiming she’ll stop the pipeline, that’s not realistic. What I’ve done is made sure that the company building the pipeline has maximum safety and security measures in place in Dougherty County. They’re doing things here they’re not doing anywhere else along the pipeline.”

James notes that he’s also been pushing for a local option on county bids since he’s been in office.

“I think I’ve grown a lot as an individual in office,” the District 5 commissioner said. “I think that, through my work on the board, my fellow commissioners have gained a great deal of respect for me. They know when I take a leadership position on an issue, I’ve done my homework on it.

“In my travels throughout the state over the last two years, one of the things I’m hearing from people outside our region is that Dougherty County is on the move again, that we’re doing things right. I believe we’re re-establishing ourselves as leaders in the state. That’s the way it should be.”

James offers a list of accomplishments he says the commission has achieved during his short tenure, many of which he was instrumental in bringing before the board.

“I was ready to hit the ground running when I came onboard because I was prepared,” he said. “When the county ended up paying fines for problems with its land assessment value back around 2005, I knew I didn’t know enough about it to help find a solution. At that point, the Carl Vinson Institute and the governor’s office held a workshop on the issue, and I paid out of my own pocket to attend.

“I’m proud to say that during my two years on the commission, Dougherty County is one of only a few counties that has hit the state’s 40 percent (of fair market value) evaluation for properties in the county.”

Among the county’s accomplishments during the past two years, James lists the raise given county employees, their first in eight years; the elimination of all county debt; voting to assure that the then-closed Southside Library branch was not sold to a number of potential buyers and then finding funding to re-open the branch, and increasing cash-on-hand from $300,000 to $2 million.

James also notes that Gaines has, during her campaign, taken credit for some accomplishments that he says he played a more significant part in.

“She’s talked about pushing for development of the (State Highway) 91 Corridor and development of the 85.4 acres of land at the Southwest Georgia Regional Airport, but those are things that have come about because I asked the Economic Development Commission to identify properties to market along that corridor,” James said. “And as far as fighting the Sabal Trail pipeline, you heard very little about that until I took the District 5 seat.

“And where she’s claiming she’ll stop the pipeline, that’s not realistic. What I’ve done is made sure that the company building the pipeline has maximum safety and security measures in place in Dougherty County. They’re doing things here they’re not doing anywhere else along the pipeline.”

James notes that he’s also been pushing for a local option on county bids since he’s been in office.

“I think I’ve grown a lot as an individual in office,” the District 5 commissioner said. “I think that, through my work on the board, my fellow commissioners have gained a great deal of respect for me. They know when I take a leadership position on an issue, I’ve done my homework on it.

“In my travels throughout the state over the last two years, one of the things I’m hearing from people outside our region is that Dougherty County is on the move again, that we’re doing things right. I believe we’re re-establishing ourselves as leaders in the state. That’s the way it should be.”