Peach County Commissioner Post 5 At-Large

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Thanks for your support in the 2016 election, re-election on November 3, 2020, and your most recent support and re-election November 2024! It is an honor to continue working for you and will continue to represent the entire county to the best of my ability. 2016 Campaign Video 2020 Campaign Video2024 Campaign flyer As commissioner At-Large, I will continue to look for ways all of our entities and local representatives can work together, (after all, the spokes in a tire perform much better when connected to the same hub). If our county does not work closely with the municipal growth within our county or municipalities that are growing into our county, (such as Warner Robins), we could potentially have sloppy growth and development. We cannot afford to have a cog in the wheel, not working properly and continuing to build an evolving comprehensive plan for Peach County (through the Middle Georgia Regional Commission's services with local stakeholders) and then following this plan will help pre-map our growth. My highest priority is that our county will be a better place to live, work and do business in -for the ones who are already here. The county is in a developmental growth cycle, and the way we all work together will determine its outcome, (sloppy, or well planned and curated), either way it is coming. Elected officials in Peach County and its municipalities, need to stay on alert 24 x 7 x 365 for threats as well as opportunities coming our way, and make sure the opportunities are of actual vetted long-term value for our community.
Direct email wade-yoder@peachcounty.netPhone number 478.955.1999 Resources GA My Voter Page Peach County website Peach County's Agenda & Minutes and Meeting Portal Peach County Facebook page

Peach County Work Report

  • These are the projects that I am or was personally involved with the details to get it done. Some are finished, some are in progress, some are goals, or are in the concept phase. If you have interest or questions on any of these projects, please let me know.

  • Live streaming our county meetings: A very important factor in government transparency is access to meetings and being able to listen and watch the decision-making process and the voting process of the ones you have elected to serve. But with people's busy schedules, it can be really hard to make it to the work sessions and meetings. We have made it much easier to keep up with meetings, so that you can either tune in and watch the meeting via livestream or watch later at your convenience. It started with just an iPhone/ iPad in the back of the room streaming the meeting. Later we set it up to live-stream directly to the County's Facebook page. Videos are also archived from prior meetings on the county’s Facebook page. The latest advancement is our meeting and minutes portal (Done)
  • Turn lane on 247 Connector: The Autumn Cove subdivision had a right turn lane but no left turn lane at the top of the hill. Thank you to the resident that brought this need forward and Tyler Peak (with GDOT) for the rapid response. (Done)
  • Fire Station Norwood Springs Rd. worked with Chief Doles to sell the old fire station on Lakeview to put it back on the tax roll, help the neighborhood it was in look better, and help fund a much needed fire station on Norwood Springs Rd. There are some very expensive homes out in this area, and it should really help the ISO rating for homeowners in this southeast area of the county. (Done)
  • Animal Control facility and program. This was originally going to get done over 10 years ago, so we have hit quite a few roadblocks with trying to get this back on deck. The design is a simple economical one but should be one that the animals will enjoy while they are with us. It will be an open-air design with large kennel run areas and one that the Georgia Department of agriculture seemed to like. (In progress) you can follow updates here
  • Stormwater crew: implementation of a stormwater crew to address drainage issues in and around our roads. Whether on a rooftop, or beside and around our roadbeds, if water cannot get where it is supposed to go, it will wreak havoc. As more homes, concrete, roads and other things that cause an impervious surface, that rainwater cannot absorb into the ground there will be more and more pressure points, where this extra water will flow to. Whether our paved or dirt roads, this is critical infrastructure and one of the county's largest investments as well as responsibility to protect and enhance to keep them from deteriorating or being blown out during a catastrophic storm. (Done)
  • Contract out our dirt road grading: for far too long, our residents and property owners along our network of dirt roads have been subjected to subpar grading and shaping of our dirt roads. Over time it has caused them to not function as they should, and drainage in and around our dirt roads had gotten really bad. This also caused a lot of redundancy in our Public Works department due to employees constantly having to go out to do repeated dirt road repairs. We only have around 26–27 miles of dirt road and we have contracted with a dirt road grading service at the end of 2023. There has been a marked improvement with the drainage and function of our dirt roads and residents and property owners seem much happier. (Done)
  • Convenience Center at the recycle center: we needed a convenient place for county residents to bring miscellaneous waste items, and this center has been conveniently placed at the recycle center. This should help keep our roadways cleaner and save the county money because of many individuals bringing their items to a convenient location instead of the county having to pick up everything and it cluttering the ditch banks until it gets picked up. You can get more information and other areas of waste disposal here. (Done)
  • Accountability Court: coordinated with the sheriff, and several others to meet with Judge Colvin and Jennifer Orenstein (Macon Judicial Court) to start mental health court, which later it evolved into a full-blown Accountability Court, (Mental Health, Drug violations, and Veterans). We needed this in place so our court system can better serve its purpose of deterring someone from becoming a repeat offender and in keeping them from getting a permanent scar on their life for a non-violent offense. (Done)
  • Mental health task force: put together a mental health task force to work together with our local mental health provider and for plugging in better for resources at a state level. This involved a lot of work and coordination between providers, (legal system, local stakeholders and our mental health services provider) and will help give a solid footing for ones needing mental health services whether in our community or our jail. Our mental health service provider (Middle Flint Behavioral Healthcare) helps give ones suffering from mental health issues in our community a solid footing. This is really important at keeping recidivism rates down in our jail and lowering costs. (Done)
  • Mental Health Collaborative: we didn't realize until quite some time after Accountability Court was started that the Judge had very little tools to work with in the form of wraparound services, such as classes for individuals to go to, that were put on a corrective path. Example we have a Spanish speaking AA/NA class in the south end of the county, but didn't have a English-speaking one. We cannot expect someone with mental health or behavioral disorders to get their ducks in a row when we don't. So together with DBHDD Region 6, Middle Flint Health and Wellness, we formed a mental health community collaborative where we took mental health issues our community is facing and formed six subcommittees. These subcommittees are Law Enforcement/Jail/Judicial, Crisis Medical, Youth, Housing, Community Relationships, Community Services and Non-Profits. (Done). Photo Album
  • Mental Health Crisis Center: (Goal) a common complaint is that the jail has become the largest mental health services provider. This is unfair for both the individual, law-enforcement, the jail, and oft times crisis medical (E911, EMS of the local hospital). Spending on mental health has been growing and if not done properly, it will evaporate like water in a hot frying pan. Doing things with better processes (search is getting our mental health services provider, probate judge, the sheriff, and the jail to work together on assisted outpatient treatment) can keep mental health costs from growing, and more importantly, getting the individual and family the help needed for mental stabilization.
  • Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT): (Goal) we gathered a total of five probate judges into the same room for a presentation from Muskogee county Probate Judge, Marc D’Antonio on Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT). Ones with intense mental health issues are a much lower percentile of the overall population that has mental health illnesses, and these are the individuals that used to be in the protection and monitored care of state mental health institutions. The state should have not lost focus on these individuals, they do not have the faculty or capability to care for themselves properly, and do not understand the devastating effects of being on/off of psychotropic drugs. And everyone from the individual, their families, law-enforcement, the ones working within the jail, judicial system, and crisis medical have really caught the shaft from this not being done properly. My hope is that we can get an AOT program implemented in a small way locally and get the state to incentivize and encourage usage of this on a larger scale throughout the state. This seems to be the only way that we can shrink the problem and shrink the money that is being blown with a overly broad approach to mental healthcare. You can look more into assisted/involuntary outpatient medical treatment here: Assisted Outpatient Treatment presentation
  • Correct usage of E911 CAD system for Public Safety: this keeps public safety agencies from having to do extra work re-entering information already entered by E911 or another agency, (they simply can add in their information and build on what's already been entered). For approximately 10 years public safety employees were having to duplicate work that had already been entered when they should have only had to add department specific information for the call they went on. When we pulled all the public safety agencies together to collaborate it was easy to see what can happen when everyone has hands on deck. (Done)
  • Updated technology for EMS. There was a combination of redundancy when it came to filing both paperwork and for collections that made it very necessary to upgrade technology in our EMS department. More importantly however, was the value in streamlining the process to help make things go better once the patient reaches the emergency room (in being able to transmit patient information to the emergency room in advance of them getting there). (Done)
  • Collaboration between the Nursing program at Fort Valley State, Peach County EMS and the Medical Pathway at Peach County High School: Set-up meeting between EMS Director Brian Donaldson and former Peach County High School CTAE Director James Lasseter. This meeting was to work toward setting up a partnership with EMS and the nursing program for interns as well as plugging in the nursing program with the medical program at the high school. A memorandum of understanding was signed between FVSU and EMS, but the last time I checked, it was not followed through yet for the medical pathway at the high school. (Done)
  • Service delivery dispute for the Buc-ee's area: helped coordinate a service delivery dispute resolution between Fort Valley and Warner Robins for Buc-ee’s area. This was hard but we were able to split hair in the negotiations in a way that will benefit everyone through new jobs and sales tax revenues for the
 entire county, (including sales tax benefit to Fort Valley, Byron and the Peach County School System). The 4% of the 8% sales tax collection that comes back to Peach County is powerful in how it helps us to advance the county without putting additional tax burden on property owners (as well as lowering our property taxes through the LOST penny sales tax). (Done)
  • Railroad bottleneck in Fort Valley: starting in 2017 helped collaborate a partnership between Peach County, Fort Valley and GDOT to design a solution that 341 North and 341 South could access the overpass to help with the bottleneck at the 341/96 intersection and railroad crossing / switching station (picture of design). The county and the city, agreed to be responsible for property and right of way acquisition, and the demolition of the house on the corner. Though there was a lot of work to coordinate the project between two local governments, GDOT, the railroad, and property owners (for right of way acquisitions), it was really rewarding personally in see what can be done when local governments work together. This project should be complete late 2024 or early part of 2025. Though the project is not finished, the local portion of work we had to do locally is finished. You can get updates at the F.V. railroads updates page Updates @ www.FortValleyRailroads.tv (Done)
  • Community Paramedicine through EMS. This program would be implemented through our EMS and would help bridge the gap and the potential lapse of care for patients that are at home and not directly under doctor's care at a hospital or short-term care facility. This would be a service in several ways: keeping the patient on track, and helping our medical providers avoid getting penalized for re-admissions, as well as a big assistance in helping our seniors age in place instead of nursing homes. Thanks former Director Ford for planting the seed and current EMS Director Brian Donaldson in helping continue this push. More info (In progress).
  • Firefighter/EMT Cross-training: (Goal) Approximately 60-70% of firefighter calls are medical related. We only have to ask ourselves a simple question, "who would I want (if someone I care about (or myself), is in a medical crisis, would I want someone with basic fire fighter training or advanced EMT training to be there while waiting for EMS to arrive?" Our EMS runs county-wide, and our county and city fire departments serve as back-up on emergency medical calls (which have become a majority of their calls). Quite often, EMS gets maxed out and that can really be a worrisome spot to be in when the first ones responding cannot do enhanced stabilization (such as starting an IV etc. or help EMS at an advanced level when they arrive). The first responder that shows up for a life-saving emergency can really have a positive impact on life stabilization until more help arrives. Currently, we do not pay anything extra if a firefighter has advanced certifications (it would be really helpful if the county, Byron and Fort Valley would pay firefighters at least a stipend for Basic through Advanced EMT certification). We are getting close to being able to offer in-house tele-training for the certification, which will make so that someone can very easily upskill.
  • Consolidation of municipal, county fire departments and EMS: Organized talks between Peach County, Fort Valley and Byron on possibly consolidating fire departments, to streamline operations and costs and stimulate more interest and value for volunteer firefighters. (I still believe this should be done but have been unable to get elected officials on the same page to get this done). Opinion: fire departments play a very important part in keeping a massive amount of infrastructure safe, but with modern fire code, inspections, as well as improvements and education, not a lot of work is done anymore that directly involves a fire. Approximately 60–70% of calls are rescue and medical related. It makes sense for the fire department to align skills training to match this and if we don't, we will continue to have an ever-expanding amount of EMS personnel needed when we could all be working together in better response and skill to the scene of emergency. Our fire stations are very strategically located throughout the county (and municipalities) and our firefighters are often at a call before EMS arrives, (and most times when this happens, they take a large firetruck which is at a value of around $700,000 – $1 million instead of a small rescue vehicle). With the amount of work that is done together for medical emergencies, (in my opinion) it simply makes sense to consolidate fire and EMS. To support this, (Peach, Fort Valley and Byron) could roll back the amount needed in tax millage rate, and then add it back as a (fire and EMS tax). As the county tax base grows, so does the amount this millage rate represents. We probably would not cut any positions doing this but should have quite a bit of benefit from smoother operations in everyone working together in emergency response, equipment, purchases and less overlap in fire apparatus inventory. (Goal)
  • Broadband Ready Community Certification: coordinated with the Middle Georgia Regional Commission, Peach County, Fort Valley and Byron to all go through the certification process together. This involved getting current providers, community stakeholders that were in broadband and connectivity desert areas and others to the table. (Done)
  • County wide rollout of broadband fiber connection to homes. We were in talks with several providers for a broadband rollout into the county, but when Flint showed us the map of their infrastructure, and where they would be able to roll out broadband fiber, it seemed to be a perfect fit for what was needed in the unincorporated areas. Though the project is well underway, and people are getting connected, there are customers of Fort Valley Utility Commission just outside the incorporated area of Fort Valley and some that are served by Georgia Power on the South East area of the county that fell through the cracks. Currently for what I have been able to figure out there is probably not more than 130 homes that are not able to get connected. There was quite a bit of conversation between the Fort Valley Utility Commission, the team from Conexon, Flint and myself, and it looks very positive that Fort Valley Utility Commission will be forming a partnership with Conexon. It shouldn't be very hard to find all of the gaps that haven't been covered and with new funding that is coming available from the state on the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) grant funding, we should be able to work with the various providers, Hargray, Conexon, Windstream, Cox and ATT&T to make sure that everyone has access to get fiber to their home or business. Our job (on the county side) is not finished until these 130+ customers that fell through the cracks are served. (In progress). You can Check your Conexon availability here.
  • Regional sewage plant and infrastructure planning: helped organize talks between the Development Authority of Peach County, City of Byron, City of Fort Valley, and the Fort Valley Utility Commission about regional sewer infrastructure planning. The City Of Byron is having to deal with Macon and Warner Robins for sewer, the City of Fort Valley and Fort Valley Utility Commission are running close to max capacity and the new state mega site as well as other development, is bringing a major infrastructure need that we all have an opportunity to work together on to add major value to our county and municipal property owners and citizens. Fort Valley, Byron, Peach County, and the Fort Valley Utility Commission all working together on a common need of sewer expansion could bring a lot of investment of infrastructure that will truly be meaningful to our county because of actual ownership of that infrastructure instead of dependency on infrastructure owned by surrounding counties. (In study phase) you can read more about this project here.
  • Dirt road paving projects: Sharon Road, Avera Road, Fulwood Road, Andel Rd., west end of Gracewood Rd, and last but one of the most important, Lily Creek. With the pressure of the neighborhood and traffic from 96 having to come through Fort Valley to get over to the high school among other things such as potentially the mega site, we need to get this done. (approved to move forward).
  • Pushed for these additional roads to get added to the resurfacing list: Borders, Hendricks, Barrow and Peavy Rd. (Done)
  • Senior Center and senior services in the north end of the county/Byron area. Initiated talks between Middle Georgia Regional Commission and the City of Byron to get a senior center in the Byron area. This is something that was of concern from way back in though we had senior services in the south end of the county that would extend up into the north end of the county it simply was not the same in comparison to actually having a senior center that our seniors could go to for resources, activities, interaction and the many other things that come along with aging in place. Our Senior Centers in the community can help connect a very powerful senior group that can help each other and the community. Something that is very important, is for our seniors to feel needed, and the organization of a good senior program can channel their time, energy and wisdom into helping continue to shape our community into a great place to live for everyone! (Done).
  • The area from I-75 and Housers Mill to Allendale Rd. This area has a high accident rate as well as death/injury rate from accidents. There needs to be a deceleration lane to make a right turn onto Housers Mill Rd for the westbound side and a turn lane for eastbound, turning onto Houser Mill Rd. We are working with the City of Ft Valley and GDOT to come up with a workable solution. The hope is that since this area will eventually be a four-lane highway that they can rework this area with a solution that can make it safer while at the same time building out this section in a way that is not redundant when the four-lane highway is put in. Our E911 got the data together for this area and it has been forwarded to my contact with GDOT. I met with the district assistant engineer out at Housers Mill, and his concern is the limited width of the culvert, which also gives them a limited amount of capability to expand the roadbed for turn lanes. He was able to get it approved to have the area set up with warning lights until something further can be done. The latest update: the flashing lights will be installed sometime in the late November to early December 2024 timeframe. (Done)
  • Proper maintenance of all (4) -I-75 interchanges. Byron is taking care of theirs, but the 247 connector, Russell Parkway, and Hwy 96, I-75 interchanges too often looked like crap. It was agreed by the board that I move forward and work on this, so I worked with GDOT over a period of about eight months and finally received a contract from GDOT to move forward but it failed due to lack of board support. I haven't given up on this but will need to use a different approach for this to get done. (stalled but continuing to push for better maintenance)
  • Roadbed Annexation by the city of Warner Robins: they need to annex up to where their last annexed businesses are on both sides of the 247 Connector on the west side of I-75. I spoke to the Fire Chief, the Sheriff, E911 Director, and EMS Director, and it sounds like this area is a Bermuda triangle when it comes to public safety. The other thing is, this is a highly trafficked inner change, and often it is not kept up as it should. Example: there was a grocery cart on the interchange bridge for about a week before it was moved. (still trying to draw attention to this)
  • A common vendor/contractor policy: between Peach County, City of Byron, City of Fort Valley, the F.V. Utility Commission and the Peach County B.O.E., there are a lot of tax dollars collected and then spent. Getting things easier so that more local vendors want to do business with their local governments would not only increase competition for these jobs and services, but it would also plow a lot of money back into the local economy. Many small vendors and contractors throughout the years have become disenfranchised with doing business with their local government and we need to get this back on track, or we will continue to get hammered by contractors that just throw prices up against the wall and see if they stick. This would help lower project costs (because of increased competition, help get our departments served faster and keep more of the tax money rotating back through the local economy. (Goal)
  • Form a partnership between the Peach County, Fort Valley, Byron for Special Tax Districts: setting this up and working between government entities, as well as Peach County BOE to lock in property valuations for a certain number of years would help encourage current property owners as well as interest from new property owners to fix up or purchase dilapidated properties because of the tax benefit. It will make things better for the ones living in these dilapidated areas currently if they want to invest into their property or give them opportunity to sell at a much higher price, because of the tax incentive for that area. There is a lot of property value that could be unlocked if we do this (especially in the Gano area and other areas surrounding FVSU). Many of the older residents (and ones trying to keep their own property looking good in this area) have become surrounded by dilapidated and deserted properties. Much of this area is in the city of Fort Valley but many are in the county at the south end and are part of the same neighborhood. We could work together to create an opportunity zone (special tax district) in this area that would help the current residents, help FVSU and increase property values for that area. This could apply as well to other areas in Peach County as well. (Goal)
  • 247 Connector traffic issues at the Pilot: (Goal) currently working to connect the property owners that have a common interest to potentially build a road that would connect the Pilot parking lot to Housers Mill. There is a truck storage business (Bowman Development Corp.) that is currently being built behind the Pilot Truck Stop, which is going to add to the traffic coming out of the Pilot attempting to make a left turn. The business that is next-door will be having a truck service shop as well as a large truck wash, so all three of these property owners would benefit from a road getting built from the Pilot to Housers Mill Rd. You can check out, conceptual picture of what this might look like here. Update: I have met with all property owners- and discussed conceptual layout with the city of Byron, and Warner Robins about a potential public private partnership to get this done. (Goal) Picture of proposed layout
  • Gunn Road, Peavy Rd and Vietnam Veterans Memorial Pkwy: (Goal) there is a lot in this section along 247 connector that will very likely be changing due to growth coming in the area and hopefully this gives us opportunity to fix some current issues as well. Warner Robins, Byron, and Peach County are working together really well and this should go a long ways in getting things done. How things are designed with infrastructure in this area as well as the connection over to White Road could really make a difference in the quality of life for folks in this area. How well all three government entities, (Warner Robins, Byron, and Peach County) work together with GDOT in planning now, could really make a difference in how well traffic through this area functions.
  • Cross Intercept Model training for Peach and Crawford Counties training class: mental health, and homelessness can grow as a problem (when using a convoluted approach that really doesn't help the individual and also continues to escalate financial cost) if counties and municipalities just throw money at the problem and continue to blame state and federal government, for what happened years ago, instead of doing what is needed locally to fix it and to better shine the light on what is the state and federal governments' responsibilities. One of the most basic steps in shrinking the problem is to make sure our local and state resources are actually working together and not just working in silos. We have already started this work with our Mental Health Collaborative, but this training will give a professional format to train everyone in using best practices when a crisis happens and help us map out and connect our local and state resources. This is something that Peach and Crawford should be able to do together and get some really good results because of us being part of the same judicial system, same Georgia Department of Behavioral and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD Region 6), as well as having the same mental health community service provider (Middle Flint Health and Wellness). This training and service is free through the University of Georgia's Carl Vincent Institute and is considered a federal best practice. These training dates are set up for Peach and Crawford for fall of 2024 and should be complete in December. For more information on what this will do for our community you can check out or download the Cross Intercept Model. (In Progress)
  • We have passed each local Penny SPLOST referendums: each of the SPLOST, ESPLOST, and the TSPLOST referendums have passed the approval of our county. These penny sales taxes are very valuable to paying for many of the county's bills and advancements without them having to be paid for through property taxation. We have many great retail businesses that do an excellent job of keeping shopping and spending in the county as well as pulling people in that are traveling through I-75 and other corridors. this does a lot in bringing in new revenue into the county, as well as continuing to drive down the millage rate. Another thing that has created a lot of value for rural communities (that cannot get the big box stores) is online shopping. Sales tax law directs the sales tax portion for the county back to the county (its municipalities and school system) that the order originated from. This is an article I wrote several years ago that goes into more detail on the LOST, SPLOST, ESPLOST and TSPLOST.
  • Continued decline in our Millage rate: with fiscal responsibility, good department management and penny sales taxes, it is helping to push down the millage rate that our property owners are getting charged. We have expanded our tax base, but we have also increased the way we service I-75 and the massive amount of traffic that comes through our county. Unique ways to service this traffic flow, work like a magnet pulling this traffic into the county to spend money here. A very neat factor is how much tax revenue this generates without new people moving into Peach County. If we can continue to build in and around Peach County's (4) interchanges (Byron, 247 Connector, Russell Pkwy Ext., Hwy 96), we should be able to continue to lift the tax burden on our property owners while continuing to make improvements and investments into the county so that Peach County continues to become a better place for the stakeholders who live here. Our millage rate has come down from 14.616 mils in 2017 to 11.382 in 2024.

Boards

  • Peach Regional Chamber of Commerce Board (2012 to present and currently serve as treasurer)
  • Middle Georgia Workforce Development Board (2017 to present)
  • Middle Georgia Clean Air Coalition (Jan,2018 to present)
  • Peach County High School Local School Governance Team (2020-2023)
  • Peach County Schools CTAE Executive Committee (2023 to present)
  • City of Fort Valley Public Safety Foundation, -newly formed (January 2024)
  • Middle Flint Health and Wellness -GA CSB Mental health services provider (June 2024)

Commitment to Peach County

My commitment is to tirelessly look for solutions and advancements that will help Peach County be a better place to live and work (for people that are already here). We have a list of services your tax dollars pay for and I believe it is our job to get you a solid return for your tax dollars vested here. My commitment is to streamline and enhance these services to better serve as well as cutting costs to lower your property taxes. To do the above, I believe in also serving the departments, department heads and the employees of Peach County, (without them, we serve from an empty vessel). I will also stand to protect our freedom of choice here in Peach County, so long as that freedom of choice is not bringing harm to another.
Be a good steward of county taxes: I believe the main objective of a commissioner is to be a good steward of not only maintaining a balanced budget but also how county taxes are spent and to maximize the value of these taxes for the citizens of Peach County. This helps increase the value of services while potentially lowering taxes on our tax base. As a business owner I believe in getting a return on investment, this is how your tax dollars should be looked at and our job is to get you a good return for tax dollars spent (in the form of services and quality of life in our county).
Development: development intrigues me but it also concerns me very much that we get it right, -if we don't, we will pay for it in the future with things that we simply cannot unwind from. It may seem a little odd saying this, but because of Peach County being in the crosshairs of development, (due to our geographical location) my biggest concern is not that we get development, but rather that it is the right kind and that we curate it in a way that the ones who live here now, will like Peach County better in the future. We need to constantly think about how we actually want Peach County to look and feel in the future.
Expanding our tax base through sales tax: increase commerce by increasing the amount of people coming into our county (whether it’s tourism or simply to trade with flourishing businesses) lowers the tax burden on everyone. When we can do things as a government to create a business, friendly atmosphere, our businesses can, flourish, help keep business in the county, as well as drawing people into the county to do business. We need to continue to look for ways that businesses can service the I-75 Corridor, and its massive flow of traffic coming through our county. These customers leave a lot of sales tax revenue in the county, that is shared between, county, and city governments in Peach County. The E-SPLOST penny goes 100% to the school system. I get a little long winded on this subject but if you would like to learn a little more about what the value of the sales tax has for our community, especially with the massive amount of traffic that flows through the county, dropping off this taxable revenue, you can read or download an article I wrote on the subject. For the fiscal year ending in 2023, 45% of our tax revenue came from sales tax (due to an awesome -retail sales business community). And we can thank our Peach County business owners by shopping with them whenever we can! Article written on: LOST, SPLOST, ESPLOST and TSPLOST
Tying together the strengths of our county: I believe it should be the At-Large commissioner’s mission to help tie the strengths of our county together like the spokes in a wheel connecting to a common hub. When we do this, the different facets of our county, city governments, as well as school system, (though operating on separate budgets), will have ways they will add to each other, complement each other and save money in which the same way the consolidation can do without raising the hackles of elected officials that don't want to give up their seats.
Education: I believe our education system is directly connected to the present and future economic health of our county so it should concern each and every one of us enough to get involved if we care about our county’s future. There is so much to be grateful for with the current administration in our school system, they are working so hard for our young people and for all of us!
Comprehensive planning: I believe in flexibility but believe the comprehensive planning for Peach County should be used as a roadmap on how we as a community want to shape the county. The people on these committees work really hard in forming strategies for long term growth to benefit the whole county and we should not let personal interests or agendas deviate us from these action plans. This is something that is really important for our county as there is a lot of development coming and if we don't all work together, this growth could be sloppy growth instead of curated growth that develops Peach County, (one way or the other development is coming).
Commissioners and other elected officials in Peach County should work together as a body: we should not act like divided body parts and should try our best to work together to enhance the function of the county we serve. Concentrating on what makes an individual muscle group look good (instead of training muscle groups to work together) causes a person to move like a clumsy bodybuilder instead of the agility of an athlete who has trained their body parts to work together for the good of his or her mission on track and field.
Partisan politics: I dislike partisan politics especially on a local level and believe it does nothing but cause divisiveness in communities that need every-one of their leaders, citizens and resources working together. It seems (especially at a local level) when someone is active in partisan politics, they also are not very active when it comes to the work they were elected to do.
I believe in working for advancement of the whole county and not for personal or group interests: putting nice makeup on personal or corporate interests to create or change policy that is not beneficial to the whole county is nothing more and nothing less than crony capitalism and is something I despise.
A work ready county and business community: I will continue to do everything possible to help build a viable workforce in Peach County and help give these workers visibility to market their skill set(s). I currently serve on the Middle Georgia Workforce Development Board, Peach Regional Chamber of Commerce, Peach County School CTAE Executive Board, and for several years served on the Peach County High School Local Governance Team.
Business: I’ve had a business in Fort Valley since 1992 (Valley Athletic Club) and it is the oldest gym in the county. In 2006 I started a small storage building business that has continued to grow.
Accesibility: I am very accessible, whether at my business 110 Commercial Heights, Fort Valley, GA. or by phone 478-955-1999. For more info: Personal Bio
You have my commitment to continue to work tirelessly with the Peach County BOC to: *Protect your freedoms *Work with the City of Fort Valley, Byron and Warner Robins, and all areas of the county equally *Support law enforcement and public safety *Work with our school system (and vocational program) *Continue to work with our development team and chamber *Try to shrink government and taxation *Work with and for our county employees *Get you the best return possible for your tax dollars invested here in Peach County. I believe in our county, our municipalities, our community and what we can do together! Sincerely, Wade Yoder