Macon County Commissioner District II (You may vote for one)

• Jim Davis (Republican)

Macon County Commissioner District III (You may vote for one)

• Bobby Kuppers (Democrat)

• Jimmy Goodman (Republican)

Jimmy Goodman

If elected, District 3 Republican Macon County Commission candidate Jimmy Goodman said he would work to make the government more open.

He said he proposes to do this by having all County Commission meetings videotaped and posted on the Internet.

He said he recognizes that the citizens of Macon County would be his bosses if elected.

Goodman, who owns Jimmy’s Custom Cabinets, said, “Nobody trusts government anymore.”

Goodman, 50, said he disagrees with the county commissioners’ moving forward with building new schools since the public voted down a bond a referendum to build the schools.

However, he agreed a new fifth and sixth grade school was needed, because more space is needed.

But he opposes doing away with the small community schools of Iotla and Cowee and putting in a new K-4 school.

He said Iotla and Cowee schools should be renovated and “keep the kids where they’re at,” because parents are more involved in education in smaller schools.

Renovating the smaller schools would be more costly than building a new school but better in the long run, Goodman said.

Goodman said he served on the county planning board for three years working on ordinances dealing with high-impact growth and subdivisions.

The county’s planner recently resigned due to a restructuring of the planning department, and Goodman said the county needs to hire a new planner.

Building permit fees are high, and the county needs to slow down in developing new regulations, he said.

With high permit fees and the current state of the economy it is getting expensive to build, he said.

Moreover, before developing new ordinances the county needs to make sure what it has in place is being enforced, he said.

Asked why he thinks he is qualified to be a county commissioner, Goodman said he meets the criteria of being 18 years old and being a resident of the county.

He also said he has leadership capability from running his own business which involves managing employees and a budget.

Bobby Kuppers

Democrat District 3 Macon County Commission candidate Bobby Kuppers said he is running for the office because as a civic teacher at Franklin High School he tells his students to get involved in government.

“If I tell them to get involved, why shouldn’t I?” Kuppers asked.

Kuppers, 54, said he had a great experience growing up in Macon County and wants to make sure others do, too. One way to do that is to manage growth responsibly, he said.

“The biggest problem facing Macon County is growth stress,” he said.

Growth affects everything, he said, including schools, water and sewer infrastructure. The county needs to develop a “long-range plan” and “road map” for the future, he said.

He also would like to open up county government by meeting with constituents of the 15 precincts on a regular basis.

On education, Kuppers said the county needs to make sure that enough schools are in place. Voters in November 2007 voted down a bond referendum to build new schools, but the county commissioners and school board went ahead and moved forward anyway.

Kuppers said he thinks the county commissioners made a good decision even though, “It became clear a lot of people in the county didn’t think they (schools) were needed.”

“The schools definitely needed to be built,” he said.

He said he is qualified to be on the county commission because, “I grew up here,” adding it’s important to have a long-term connection.

His experience as a submarine commander in the U.S. Navy provided him with leadership skills, he said. He will also look into economic development and has an understanding of the educational system since he is a teacher.