At Monday morning’s county commission meeting, retired attorney Jim Hudson addressed the commission about the ongoing controversy surrounding security breaches in the Coffee County elections office in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.
Over the last several months, Hudson has addressed the Coffee County Board of Elections and Registration during its meetings. In the June meeting, he presented a resolution to the board asking that the elections board bring in an independent counsel to investigate the breaches. During a special called meeting on June 20, the board voted on but did not approve the resolution.
Monday morning, Hudson took his plea to the Coffee County commission. “I am here to urge you to do the following. I am urging that you put your stamp of approval on the resolution that I submitted to the board of elections. I know that you cannot pass that. That’s a resolution that must be passed by that board. What I am asking is for your approval and you recommend to the board of elections that they pass the resolution,” he stated.
Hudson spoke to the commission for over 30 minutes during the public comments portion of the meeting. During his remarks, he discussed the breaches in detail as made his request for independent counsel.
When he concluded his comments, several other citizens, including Larry NeSmith, city commissioner Olivia Pearson, and Kathryn Grant of Valdosta addressed the commission.
At the conclusion of their remarks, which also signaled the conclusion of the meeting, commissioners did not address Hudson’s request for independent counsel.
Prior to the public comments, the commission handled a lengthy agenda, many of which were standard business items that must be approved each year on July 1. Among those agenda were:
- The Unison Behavioral Health county participation contract — $20,000
- Memorandum of understanding between the health department and the county for the building at 1003 Shirley Avenue
- Agreement for the GIS services with the Southern Regional Commission for the 911 roads and addresses database for $2000
- Ad litem services for juvenile court with Chad White for $14,400
- Indigent defense with Brian Rumker for $24,999.99
- Phelps Road grading and drainage improvements to Burke Paving for $46,897.50
- Two pickups for the road department from Anderson Ford for $95,796
- Demolition of the old elections office to Spires Construction for $25,000
- Construction of the new courthouse administrative building to Charles Lewis Construction for $4,958,569
Commissioners also approved the following board appointments for terms that expired on June 30, 2023:
- Unison Behavioral Health — JoAnne Lewis
- Unison Behavioral Health — Police chief Brannen Pruette
- Library Board — Sylvia Stone
- Family and Children Services — Jenny McIver
- Tax Assessors Board Post 3 — Ben Vickers
- Tax Assessors Board Post 1 — Nathaniel Smith
- Georgia Forestry Board — Wade Tanner
- Planning and Zoning Board — Marvin Knight