Jensen says Whitfield County continues to move forward

Apr. 3—Businessman Jevin Jensen was elected chairman of the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners in November 2020 and was sworn in in January 2021. The county was still gripped by the COVID-19 pandemic and it was uncertain what impact the disease would have on the county and the county government. The Dalton Daily Citizen recently spoke with Jensen about his first year in office and what the future looks like for Whitfield County.

DDC: Early in 2021 you renounced the emergency powers that had been granted the chairman in 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. But I believe the county remains under a state of emergency. Do you expect that will end soon?

Jensen: Those (powers) seemed unnecessary for the fight against COVID-19. I was not comfortable with that much power in the hands of one local official. I will always seek the entire Board of Commissioners' approval for any action related to emergency events. However, Gov. Brian Kemp has extended the current state of emergency until March 27, 2022. We are all hopeful this is the last extension needed. We plan to end Whitfield's state of emergency as soon as the statewide emergency is lifted. This seems the correct course since all counties are a subdivision of the state of Georgia.

DDC: In 2021, commissioners made one of the biggest property tax cuts in county history. Why was it important to cut taxes by so much? Do you expect to be able to cut property tax rates this year?

Jensen: The local property tax rate increased dramatically in the last five years. Taxes put Whitfield County at a disadvantage to many of the neighboring counties. Our research confirmed this when you look at the entire burden on the taxpayers. Other commissioners and I had made this pledge during the campaign and it was satisfying to deliver on it. The experts in Atlanta say that due to inflation, many Georgia counties are likely to need to raise property taxes this year. Our goal is to continue to roll back and possibly cut further, but we'll need to see the data on revenue and expenses for the first half of 2022 before taking action.

DDC: On a related note, how is the county budget faring? Were revenues and spending in line with projections last year and so far this year? Did you end 2021 with a surplus? and what's the state of the fund balance?

Jensen: The fund balance finished 2021 at its second-highest level in history at $28.7 million. This balance is well over the six months of contingency recommended by the experts, so I don't see it as a priority to grow it much further. Instead, the commissioners used our surplus funds first to lower taxes and then at year-end to bolster the employee pension plan by $500,000 and further invest in our future by transferring nearly $750,000 to our long-term capital investment accounts. As a result, we can continue to improve our infrastructure without needing to raise taxes in the future.

DDC: I believe that in Georgia, county commissioners were originally called road commissioners. You were able to pave a significantly higher number of miles of road in 2021 than 2020 and fill quite a few more potholes. How were you able to do that? and do you expect to maintain that pace this year?

Jensen: Common wisdom in business is "what you measure gets managed." We started by setting goals and metrics for all departments. We then followed up and measured their progress. Metrics help the department heads know where to improve continually and where the commissioners need to provide appropriate funding. We must perform the basic "blocking and tackling" related road repairs before embarking on other projects.

The Board of Commissioners' original charter was to pave and manage the roads. Our Public Works team successfully met the challenge last year to pave and fix more potholes. Recently, Public Works tested a new material and technique for our less utilized side streets and subdivision roads. The commissioners approved this late last year. Therefore, we expect to continue to grow the number of miles paved in 2022 again.

DDC: How much of the county's $20.3 million share of American Rescue Plan Act (ARP) funding has been spent or committed? How much do you have left and how do you plan to determine how that will be spent?

Jensen: We have spent approximately $5.9 million. The final batch of American Rescue Plan funds will be sent to the county in May 2022. The citizens told us the primary focus should be on sewers and broadband expansion. The areas we will start will be ones where the needs are most significant and where it may not be economically viable for private utilities to expand today.

Also, we want to set aside about 5% of the funds for grants to local charities. Many nonprofits struggled with fundraising during the pandemic. A committee will screen the applications and the commissioners will approve each grant. The charity would need to agree that this is a one-time grant and plan to pursue private fundraising aggressively in the future.

DDC: Are revenues from the 2020 SPLOST (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) meeting forecasts? The county has several big projects that are being funded from the SPLOST.

Jensen: The SPLOST revenue is running over $5.5 million higher than expected through the first 16 months of collections. As a result, we are optimistic that income will be ahead of total projections, leaving us additional funds to replace aging local bridges, culverts, and road paving.

DDC: You made several changes to how the county conducts its monthly meetings. Can you discuss the reasons for those changes and the feedback you've gotten from the public and other commissioners? Do you plan any other changes this year? When do you expect to move commission meetings into your new meeting room in the courthouse?

Jensen: We needed to take our county meetings to the next level and improve our communication with the citizens. We had an ambitious plan to bring change to the county's government. After visiting every surrounding county, many city councils and even corporate board presentations, we blended the best qualities into a new format.

The improved audio, video, graphics and streaming capabilities have been well received based on citizen comments, and show up in our dramatic increase in viewership online. We didn't just change the meeting infrastructure, though. We felt it was also essential to give the citizens multiple public comment opportunities per meeting, unique to Whitfield County. Finally, I modified the Board of Commissioners' rules so each commissioner has equal authority over our agenda and meetings, not just the chairman.

This year, our biggest challenge is to replicate our meeting format success in the remodeled courthouse commissioners room that we hope to open in May.

DDC: Are there any topics you wanted to discuss that we haven't touched on?

Jensen: Yes, economic development. There is a new approach towards economic growth with our Dalton-Whitfield Joint Development Authority. There are four tests we apply now for any new opportunity. First, it must continue to diversify our jobs and economy. It must provide jobs with a median income above our current county levels. Third, they should pay some level of taxes, especially for schools. Finally, we aren't giving away taxpayers' land for free. A new company should pay for land and services like schools just as existing companies do.