Monday, October 22, 2012
© Copyright 2013
Rockdale Citizen
CONYERS -- When Jason Hill began considering a run for Rockdale County Commission chairman, he said discerning the answers to two key questions helped him make his decision.
"About a year and a half to two years ago, my wife and I started praying about it and I talked to some other people who were supporters to see what they thought about the possibility," said Hill, "and as that grew, we started talking to more and more people about the possibility and the same questions kept coming up Can you do a better job than the guy who is in there, and can I win? The answer came back yes for both of those questions. We started the campaign and the support has been overwhelming from the start."
Hill, a former county commissioner (2004-08) and a Republican, will challenge Democratic incumbent Richard Oden in November's General Election.
Pointing to his previous commission experience and his family's longtime local business, Still Lumber Company, Hill said he feels as chairman he can make a big difference for the community in the all-important realm of economic development.
"I don't pretend to think that the county commission controls the economy, but we can prepare ourselves to be ready when the economy does come back so there's room for people to do business," said Hill. "Frankly, I don't think there's been much of a plan in the last three and a half to four years for that."
Hill -- who in 2008 was defeated in his quest for re-election by current commissioner Oz Nesbitt -- said that Rockdale County needs to be able to provide support and infrastructure to potential new businesses and industries.
"We need a clean community, a business-friendly community that treats everyone fairly and treats everyone the same," he said. "We need to figure out how to be more friendly to (businesses) when they want to operate here.
"The commission really hasn't addressed the infrastructure needs that economic development requires. They've replaced some leaky water pipes and repaved some roads and those are things that needed to be done, but they're not economic development tools. We need new roads to open up new avenues for development and that free up traffic that brings business to Rockdale County. We need new sewer lines and sewer capacity to open up room for economic development and those things haven't been addressed."
He also said the county needed "new ideas" for economic development and mentioned the business incubator being developed by the city of Conyers. He vocalized his support for a partnership with the city (which Oden has also done), locating the incubator at the county's Parker Road site, near the Rockdale Career Academy, as the start of an education-commerce corridor.
Hill added he frequently hears from voters about public safety and pledged his intent to work with the Rockdale County Sheriff's Office in any way possible to keep neighborhoods and businesses safe.
"If we don't have a good, safe community, we don't have much of a community at all," said Hill. "Publicly, there have been a couple times when the chairman hasn't worked with the sheriff and we're going to work with (the sheriff) to make sure they have what they need, be it manpower or capital-wise, to do what we can to make the community safe."
He also said he'd like to bring a different style of leadership to the commission.
"(People talk to me about) the overall tone of government leadership we're getting," he said. "People feel they want better representation from the people who make decisions for them. They want to be assured they're not going to waste money on things that aren't important but will look at things like code enforcement and public safety, and that's where our money is going to be spent and not wasted.
"And I think people want a chairman who's going to act like the chairman of a board and not a top-down CEO. The chairman pushed the two part-time commissioners away from their decision-making as soon as he took office. He's maintained that tone, and a few weeks ago he made the statement that a particular vote didn't mean a thing and that power still rested with the chairman. It sounds like he's lost touch with what he was elected to do -- he was elected to represent the people ... If you lead by example, you understand that you've got to listen to other people and get other people involved in the process to set the tone for the whole community."
A native of Rockdale County, Hill graduated from Rockdale County High School in 1989, earned a degree in management from Georgia Tech in 1994 and received his MBA from Georgia State in 1999. He and his wife Andrea (who met while both were students at Georgia Tech) have two children, Graham, 7, and Ashley, 5.
For more information, visit www.electjasonhill.com.
More like this story
- Oden, Nesbitt retain BOC seats ( November 6, 2012 )
- Rockdale candidates square off in forum ( October 18, 2011 )
- 2012 candidates meet in forum ( October 18, 2011 )
- T-SPLOST, county pay raises top topics for Rockdale BOC candidates ( July 25, 2012 )
- Hill: Proposed Channel 23 policy a political ploy ( August 22, 2012 )
Comments
superman 7 months ago
Oden is not an effective leader. I remember when Oden took office and pushed the Malcolm Baldridge award down the director's throats. This was a big item on his to-do list but he left it in the hands of the directors to figure it out for themselves. He, to my knowledge, didn't assign anyone to spearhead until just before everyone seemed to "forget" about it. I know many of the directors and department heads were forced to spend 2-3 hours at a time just staring at one another trying to figure out what to do and how to satisfy this ridiculous notion that he could achieve the Malcolm Baldridge award in just 3 years. It took Coral Springs, FL 7 years and several attempts to reach this... Instead our department heads spend 2+ years of this administration just asking "What is the Malcolm Baldridge award and how to we please Oden?" I believe there were 10-12 directors involved, assuming their salaries averaged $65,000 that's $300+ per hour just to have them in the same room. That's wasteful spending! This is just one example, I'm know there are more but this one is very likely to be overlooked.
Elmo 7 months ago
In his case, the Malcolm Baldridge award was a "participation trophy", sort of like the Nobel Peace Prize was for someone else we know.
More SYMBOLISM OVER SUBSTANCE.
BrentLuNae 7 months ago
Again, I don't like my tax dollars being wasted. Check your wallet then cast your vote.
superman 7 months ago
Oh- Let's just vote Oden out of office. He should have been voted out in the primaries and I'm shocked he wasn't! Jason operates a business here in Rockdale and does so successfully. I've purchased from them many times. Oden runs a motivational speaking company in DeKalb... He says "Shop Rockdale, Shop Rockdale, Shop Rockdale" (somehow if you say it 3 times people believe it) but he chooses to lease space at Stone Crest. I've heard Oden speak many, many, many times, and he's not that good. Borderline cut my ears off kind of not good.
Elmo 7 months ago
"but he chooses to lease space at Stone Crest...".
And using a car provided by Rockdale County taxpayers to commute to his "office".
"Motivational speaker"? You're kidding, right?
Southside 7 months ago
Everything he says on chanel 23 is written for him to read. What is embarassing is that he reads on about an 8th grade level. He is an embarassmet to Rockdale County and himsef, but he isn't smart enough to realize it.
Elmo 7 months ago
Do you suppose he'll propose the county buy him his own TelePrompter?
heresyafacts 7 months ago
Oh yeah, that's right. They had to rent the teleprompter and an operator back in February -- $665, billed to the county. http://bocwatch.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=715
heresyafacts 7 months ago
I, too, have been unfortunate enough to have been an audience member at one of his 'motivational' speaking engagements. I find it difficult to believe that he has or could ever make a living at it.
BrentLuNae 7 months ago
I don't like my tax dollars being wasted and when I went into the court house and saw those wall photos of the current administration, I felt that was a TOTAL waste of my hard-earned bucks! When you go to the polls to vote, think about your wallet first then cast your vote. Jason sounds sincere to me and I believe he will make a difference in Rockdale and make it better and again, it ain't about skin color.
Frustrated 7 months ago
just imagine how the employees must feel having to look at those portraits every day and knowing they havent and arent getting a raise any time soon.
Rob 7 months ago
Richard Oden is all about Richard Oden. Rockdale County is just a stepping block for his future plans. It amazes me that Rockdale actually put this guy in a leadership position. He simply will not engage in conversation if you have a different point of view and has been turning Rockdale on it's head by bringing in all his cronies. Firing longtime employees to put his pals on the payroll. This man stands for everything that has destroyed America. He touts Obama as the savior and has never met a huge government progressive idea he doesn't like. Oden belongs in a place like Chicago or Detroit. NOT Rockdale County.
But on the other hand Jason Hill is a bit of a mystery. I and several others have tried to get to know this guy but he doesn't make it easy. He's pretty much clueless when it comes to government overreach like Agenda 21 which is trying hard to destroy Rockdale County along with much of GA. He wants to create more government with his County Manager fantasies and hasn't been real clear on his vision for making Rockdale safe again. In the end I feel Hill is our only hope ( I have already voted for him) but he worries me too. Our job as citizens will not be done on election day. Regardless of what happens we need to pay attention to these folks and keep their feet to the fire. Our ace in the hole is Miss VanNess. As long as she's around to keep Hill straight, we'll be fine........ I hope.
Clark 7 months ago
I agree that Oden needs to be voted out, but what is all this nonsense you keep bringing up about "Agenda 21 destroying Rockdale?" Could we have some specifics please, or are you just going to keep spouting something that someone told you they heard about it?
Sundance 7 months ago
I also would like to know what that Agenda 21 means.
VPublicola 7 months ago
Agenda 21 is a non-binding, voluntary program of the United Nations that is concerned with sustainable development.
BrentLuNae 7 months ago
What Jason will have to do is hire an Executive Assistant with a strong governmental background. This ain't the time to hire a "good ol boy". Once he does that and factor in his own experience, he will be just fine. You ask, where will he get the money to pay this Executive Assistant? He will have it after he removes one of those high-salaried people in the current administration. Taking that action will not only pay for an Executive Assistant but his own personal assistant as well.
heresyafacts 7 months ago
I'm with you. Send that one back to ShirleyGirl and her crowd. Fulton County mindset has done nothing for Fulton; we don't need it here.
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