Candidates for Grovetown’s upcoming municipal election took the opportunity to articulate their respective platforms, Thursday evening, during the Grovetown Candidates’ Forum.
The Columbia County Chamber of Commerce coordinated the event, free and open to the public, in which mayoral and city council contenders took the stage at the auditorium of Grovetown Elementary School.
WJBF anchor Brad Means moderated the forum, which began with city council member Ceretta Smith, former council member Deborah Fisher and current mayor Gary Jones speaking in the Mayoral Candidates’ Forum.
Means addressed each runner with five questions about how they would address the city’s issues, with subjects ranging from Grovetown’s rapid growth, to public safety, to economic development.
Jones and Smith agreed that growing traffic is a significant issue in the city, hamstrung by the fact that, as Jones mentioned in his response to question about the town’s expansion, most of its main thoroughfares are state roads, limiting what actions a local municipality could take.
The mayor did note, however, that the opening of Gate 6 of Fort Gordon has relieved some of the increase in traffic, and that the city could be more stringent about where businesses and apartments are developed.
“Apartments bring more traffic onto the roadways,” Jones said. “So we don’t need to put apartments in high-density areas; so those are some things that I would like to see us continue to work on.”
Likewise, Smith stressed “responsible growth,” by “partnering with builders who are willing to come here and not just build and take, but come in and invest in the community as well.”
Fisher lauded the efforts of Columbia County District 4 Commissioner Alison Couch in conferring with the state about Grovetown’s traffic issues, which Fisher would later refer to as her “top priority” if she is elected. Fisher noted that she would like to see the Board of Commissioners “join forces” with the Department of Transportation to “find out what we can do for our traffic.”
Smith said that rolling back the millage rate, bringing more family-friendly activities and entertainment to town, and drawing more people to join law enforcement would be her top priorities as mayor. For the latter, she proposed programs to incentivize potential officers to join the Grovetown Police Department, such as tuition assistance.
“I’ve been talking to officers in other areas, and they say these are things that would attract them to the city and cause them to stay for the long haul,” said Smith. “Because we’re just not able to compete with the larger metropolitan areas when it comes to salaries.”
Jones underscored the need for citizen engagement, mentioning that out of some 17,000 residents, 9,000 are registered to vote.
“A way to improve on that is community outreach, and I will continue to try to do that and get people involved so that we can progress in that area,” Jones said.
More from the candidate forum will be in The Augusta Press on Saturday.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
