As early voting is underway for the November election, the Macon-Bibb County Board of Elections approved the list of poll managers at Thursday’s meeting and solidified its customary, but not mandated, rotation for selecting board officers.
The formal vote to formalize rotating the chairmanship every three years among Democrat, Republican and at-large members ends a monthslong quest to amend the by-laws, which was delayed by board member absences over the summer.
For the last two months, unusually large numbers of people attended the meetings to give input and share concerns over a proposal that current chair, Republican Robert Abbott, initially put forth that stretched out the rotation to five years.
After consulting other counties’ procedures, Abbott suggested all four partisan members serve first.
By law, the Macon-Bibb County Board of Elections consists of two members selected by each of the top two political parties represented in the Georgia General Assembly as of the last general election — traditionally Republican and Democratic. Only Abbott and fellow Republican Barbara Boyer preferred the rotation be Democrat 1, Republican 1, Democrat 2, Republican 2 and then the at-large representative.
The County Commission selects that fifth member from a list of nominees agreed upon by the four partisan members of the board. The law does not specify that the fifth member be independent or nonpartisan.
If the board deadlocks on nominees, as it did this year, the county government body can appoint someone within 60 days of the vacancy. They did not do that this year, so Mike Kaplan continues to serve in that position.
Although it was Kaplan’s turn to chair the board, when it came time to elect officers in May, he did not know if the county would replace him, so he Kaplan nominated Abbott, the senior Republican who succeeded Democrat Karen Evans, who seconded Abbott’s nomination.
Democrat Tom Ellington then suggested the by-laws change to maintain the rotation going forward.
The vice chair also cannot be a member of the same party as the chair.
During Thursday’s meeting, the board also explained that under state law, officers of local political party organizations may not chair the board, but are eligible to serve.
Keep Macon–Bibb Beautiful
Some neighborhood streets will be tidier this Halloween due volunteer cleanups beginning this weekend.
Keep Macon-Bibb Beautiful is helping coordinate efforts Saturday: Mount de Sales Academy students will spruce up Pleasant Hill with a Cavalier Cleanup near the Booker T. Washington Center from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., St. James AME Church Pastor Johnnie Cook’s Lots of Love volunteers will be cleaning up around L.H. Williams Elementary from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. and members of Mercer University’s Zeta Phi Beta chapter plan a litter pickup Saturday around Ingram Pye Elementary.
In Fort Hill on Oct. 25, KMBB, Community Schools United and Burdell-Hunt Elementary are partnering for the “Treat the Streets” cleanup. The volunteer effort will begin at 9 a.m. at the school at 972 Fort Hill St. and end with lunch.
In the final months of the year, KMBB will spearhead tree plantings across the community and provide free trees for the public.
KMBB Executive Director Asha Ellen told board members Thursday that they have more than $22,000 remaining from an anonymous donor for them to plant trees.
They are currently working to identify public sites for the plantings, Ellen said.
The beautification organization also will continue planting pink-flowering shrubs and trees along the Cherry Blossom Trail through grants from the Fickling Family Foundation.
The public can plant their own free trees through Georgia’s ReLeaf Grant Program.
KMBB is partnering with Keep Warner Robins Beautiful for this year’s program, Ellen said.
They will be giving away about 300 trees on Dec. 13 from 9 a.m. to noon at the Rosa Jackson Recreation Center at 1211 Maynard St.
For the annual essay competition for school students, KMBB’s Education Committee will award prizes on Nov. 6 beginning at 6 p.m. at the Douglass Theatre.
Education Chair Janice Habersham said they received 60 entries this year from Bibb County schools.
The upcoming “Bring one for the Chipper” Christmas tree recycling campaign is making some big changes this season.
During her director’s report, Ellen explained that participation dwindled over the years as KMBB traditionally collected undecorated live trees on the first Saturday in January.
Two of KMBB’s main volunteer organizations also are no longer available to assist with the single-day drop-off.
Whether it’s because more people are using artificial trees, or the event has been held too early for those who leave trees up longer, they decided to extend the campaign for about a month.
Macon-Bibb County’s convenience center on 11th Street is expected to be a drop-off location for people to deposit Christmas trees from Dec. 26 until near the end of January.
Once the trees are collected, KMBB plans to coordinate again with Georgia Power to chip them into mulch to be distributed throughout the community.
— Civic Journalism Senior Fellow Liz Fabian covers Macon-Bibb County government entities for The Macon Newsroom and can be reached at [email protected] or 478-301-2976.
