Living Jackson Magazine

The nine mayors of Jackson County are in the hot seat all the time as growth brings new challenges to them all. Pictured, from left, front row are Ronnie Maxwell, Arcade; Pat Graham, Braselton; Charles “Buzzy” Hardy, Commerce; Jerry Baker, Maysville. Back row, Larry Wood, Talmo; Jim Joiner, Jefferson; Bill Copenhaver, Hoschton; and Monk Tolbert, Pendergrass.
Not pictured: Doug Haynie, Arcade.

Hats off to our Mayors

By Priscilla Daves

As the nation’s 42nd fastest growing county, with a population increase more than double the rate of the rest of Georgia, the current leaders of the county serve a crucial role in Jackson’s future. Integral among those leaders are the mayors of the nine municipalities.

From long-time residents with deep roots in the community to those “not from around here,” Jackson County’s current mayoral line-up offers a rich combination of business aptitude, interest in their communities and dedication to the job. A common thread among all of them is a vision and interest in organized planning for the future.

Hats off to these fine men and woman, who are committing their time and talents during a significant phase of Jackson County’s growth.

Doug Haynie - Mayor of Arcade
The City of Arcade was chartered in 1909 when a small school, the first in Jackson County located on what is now Segars Street, was founded. The city also boasts the county’s first airport.

As with most of Jackson County, Arcade has an interesting and varied past, but Mayor Doug Haynie has his eyes focused on the future.

Citizens of Arcade enjoy services including a park with two ball fields and recently installed playground equipment that was obtained with a combination of state and local funds. There are no city taxes in Arcade to offset the cost of services, a lack that can present a challenge during budgeting.

Haynie was elected to the Arcade Council in 1998 and appointed Mayor Pro Tem by his Council peers. In 2000, Haynie was elected mayor and began planning for the future of Arcade. Haynie’s philosophy is to plan and to be prepared for challenges created by the rapid growth coming its way.

Haynie is director of commercial operations for Jim Anderson Insurance Agency in Lawrenceville. He is the only mayor in the county with a job outside the county, but he attends all major meetings and events, and he keeps a careful watch on the city.
Under Haynie’s leadership, the city has put together a comprehensive plan for growth patterns. Arcade has seen the opening of the bypass and has withstood an investigation into charges of excessive law enforcement. The city is currently building a new municipal complex to accommodate growth.

“We want to ensure quality residential and commercial/retail growth in our town,” Haynie said. “We want to bring good-paying jobs to our area so our residents can live, work and play in their own community.”
When the Haynie family relaxes, Doug and his wife, Tobie, ride motorcycles in the mountains. They have two children, Kristin, 23, and Zach, 21.

Haynie said he wants a good future for his family.

“Growth is coming to Jackson County, and we can either direct it or be overrun by it,” he said.

Pat Graham - Mayor of Braselton
When Pat Graham took over the office of Mayor of Braselton in 2002, she sent shock waves through the community. She was female, she was from “outside” and she was not a Braselton—the first time that had happened in the city’s history.
From the first meeting, Graham made it clear that Braselton was facing a new day in government: more organized, more efficient and looking toward the future.

Along the way, she managed to change many things about the way Jackson County does business.

Braselton, once a small town with one border flat up against Hoschton and the rest a circle around the town’s center, has grown like the proverbial weed so that it now takes in territory in four counties: Jackson, Barrow, Hall and Gwinnett. Unlike that weed, Graham has found ways to get along with those four governments whose decisions once were taken without consideration of what was good for Braselton.

She and her husband, along with their four children, moved to Braselton in 1995. A former executive from Frito-Lay, Graham recognized a need for different management styles. She found annexations were approved without any development regulations and the city had a weak zoning code. It was only after she got into office that she found that the city’s audits were years behind and the rest of the town’s government was dysfunctional.

In the first two years of her term, Graham got the audits completed and the city’s budget in the black, new policies were passed, zoning codes were updated and working relationships were established with each of the four county governments.

She brought in other business management techniques, making Braselton the only city in the county to have a permanent public relations firm on hire to raise the profile of Braselton with both the citizens and its neighbors.

She’s done all this without a city millage tax levy, although that may not be possible forever.

The people of Braselton returned Graham to office last fall with a whopping 73 percent of the vote against a strong challenger. Earlier this year, The Jackson Herald named her the 2005 Newsmaker of the Year.

In the meantime, she also pays homage to the past. On June 16, she joined with members of the Braselton family to celebrate the heritage of the past as a monument was unveiled in the city hall’s front yard commemorating the first Braseltons who founded the town.

Buzzie Hardy - Mayor of Commerce
Everyone in the city of Commerce knows Charles L. Hardy, Jr., as Buzzie—in fact, some people will probably learn that he has another name from this article.

Hardy is a native of Commerce, and his family roots go deep into the city’s history—his uncle owned The Commerce News back in the days when Commerce was a state political powerhouse strong enough to support two gubernatorial candidates. Hardy took over The Commerce News after his uncle’s death and ran it for a number of years until he sold it to Mainstreet Newspapers.

Today he is the owner of Commerce Printing and Office Supply, where his son, Chas, is an active participant. He and his wife have two other children, Tracey Newcomer and Ellen Shae. To relax, Hardy likes to fish, hunt and play golf.

Hardy decided to run for mayor almost 17 years ago bacause he “wanted to make the city manager form of government work.”
Commerce has the luxury of owning its own municipal electrical system, but like any small city, it faces a number of challenges. Among the biggest is a mega-shopping district just four miles from the city center. Hardy has worked hard with other community leaders to keep the downtown alive as challenges continue to grow. Today, almost all the shops are full and among them are several restaurants that seem to be thriving—a sure sign that people are coming into the city on a regular basis.

A few years ago, the council adopted a slogan—Commerce: On the Right Track. The city’s leadership is determined to keep that slogan true.

Among his achievements in almost two decades of work as mayor, Hardy said he is most proud of creating the 500-acre Commerce I-85 Business Park.

Hardy knows that the struggle is far from over. He also knows that the coming growth will bring new challenges. His hope for the future is that Commerce will have orderly growth in both industrial and residential areas.

Bill Copenhaver - Mayor of Hoschton
One of the newest of all Jackson County’s mayors is Bill Copenhaver, both in election in December 2005 and as one of the latest of all nine to have moved to Jackson County.

He had not served on the city council before deciding to run, but his wife, Yvonne, had been very active in Hoschton Women’s Club, one of the more political groups in the county.

The Copenhavers have two adult children, Robert Copenhaver and Julie Copenhaver Coile. They have four grandchildren, Caitlin, 12, Abby, 10, Patrick, 6, and Grayson, 4. The family attends Blackshear Place Baptist Church in Oakwood, and Copenhaver is active with the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce.

He likes to travel, read and do woodworking. Whether mayoral duties will allow much time for those pursuits is another question.
He decided to come out of a pleasant retirement to run for mayor.

“I saw that Hoschton needed new leadership and a plan for the future growth of the city,” Copenhaver said. “The city could not just continue to react to whatever came along—we must plan for the future.”

Spurring the need for planning is the historic rivalry between Braselton and Hoschton. Rapid growth spilling over from Gwinnett, Hall and Barrow counties has made cooperation between the towns vital, but old disputes can sometimes linger—
especially over land, limits and water.

Copenhaver said he is pleased that Hoschton has started planning for the growth of the city, and that more interest is developing among its citizens and its businesses in what that growth should be.

“I hope to see the city grow with a hometown feel,” he said. “We want to remain a city with its citizens and their well-being as our central focus. To do that we have to have a city that is pedestrian friendly and encourages its citizens to walk about the city and feel safe doing so.”

Jim Joiner - Mayor of Jefferson
Jim Joiner was nearing the end of his career when he first ran for Jefferson’s city council. Following one four-year term on the council, he ran for mayor against Byrd Bruce who had served more than three decades in the job—and he won.

Joiner is now in his second four-year term as mayor and the past four-and-a-half years have been full of challenges. He has retired from his job as an insurance agent, but he insists he is not a full-time mayor.

One of his proudest accomplishments is that he hired the city’s first city manager who does have full responsibility for the day-to-day running of the city.

“I ran for mayor because I wanted to be sure that Jefferson was ready for the growth that was coming our way,” Joiner said.
Under his leadership, the city has started the Quad Cities Planning department, which allows Jefferson to team with other cities in the county to operate a planning department.

The city has also built a new ballpark and recreation center on Old Pendergrass Road that is rapidly being surrounded by subdivisions. The city park has been revamped, the new Community Clubhouse includes a popular children’s park and Curry Creek Park’s additions include a walking trail.

Probably most significant to the city’s future is the creation of a new Civic Center from an old manufacturing plant just off the downtown area.

Joiner has been president of the Jefferson Rotary Club and remains an active member between his beloved golfing and boating. He and his wife, Ruth, have two adult children, Jay and Kelli Joiner Porter, and four grandchildren.

Not resting on his laurels, Joiner said that his major hope for Jefferson’s future is to see the downtown business area revitalized. He has been a regular at community meetings since 1999 to start the Better Hometown Program and was instrumental in seeing Jefferson become a Better Hometown. He was also the first mayor to have a Better Hometown manager in his employ and has continued to support that program and others that will enable the dream of an even better Jefferson downtown stay alive.

Jerry Baker - Mayor of Maysville
As a man who is in construction, Maysville Mayor Jerry Baker decided to use his skills as a builder to build better lines of communication between the council and the citizens of Maysville.

Baker has been mayor for two years, and did not serve on the council before running for mayor. “I saw a need, and I wanted to fill it,” he said. “And I always wanted to try my hand at politics.”

He is the owner of Baker Construction and in his spare time can be found restoring vintage automobiles, spending time with his family or playing gospel music. Baker and his wife, Amanda, have two adult children, Chris and Laura Beth. The family are members of Ridgeway Baptist Church in Commerce where Baker is a deacon and the music director.

Maysville is a beautiful town that became almost a ghost town in the years after World War II. It fell from a town that could support several doctors, many businesses and a number of people to just a little backwater.

Feeling the first tremors of growth for the past decade, the city’s homes are being bought up by commuters and restored. Today the town boasts a number of restaurants to cater to both the early morning construction and commuter trade as well as the ladies-who-lunch crowd. Unfortunately, a number of buildings remain vacant.

There is a new library and a new emergency services building, and the Autumn Leaf Festival is one of the county’s most popular events each year. Still, behind the charm are the challenges.

Baker said that he hopes to see the town update its sewer and water system in the future and complete its sidewalk project. He wants those empty storefronts to become functioning businesses.

As growth comes, Maysville will need to expand its city limits, he said. To accommodate that growth, the mayor noted, the city needs to develop and implement planning and zoning ordinances.

Ronnie Maxwell - Mayor of Nicholson
Nicholson is a town awaiting its future.

“Everyone is waiting for (Hwy.) 441 to be finished because we can’t do anything until it is,” said Nicholson Mayor Ronnie Maxwell.
The Hwy. 441 corridor, one of the state’s major arteries, is being four-laned from Athens up to Clayton. For the past year, the major construction on the road has been through Nicholson, and at times access between homes and roads has been difficult to impossible. However, when that construction is finished, the day looks bright for the Nicholson area, Maxwell said.

“Every day I get calls from people who are interested in buying and building in Nicholson. Everyone is waiting for the road to be finished,” he said.

A small shopping center is in the works, and industrial and commercial clients are looking at land sales.

Maxwell came into the mayor’s position five years ago when zoning was the hot topic in the town. While he had served a four-year term on the council prior to that election, he had been off the council for four years. Then zoning became an issue among others of the expected growth and Maxwell stepped back up.

Maxwell said he and others in Nicholson felt that their community has never gotten its due, and one of his and his council’s priorities was to change that. So, in the past five years, the city moved into a new city hall with a family park, the site of the spring Daisy Festival—one of the biggest and oldest festivals in the county.

The city also bought an old church and turned it into the town’s new civic center, put in sidewalks “from city limit to city limit” and built the 37-acre East Jackson Recreation Park.

In addition to owning a plant nursery with his wife, Gail, Maxwell is a Jackson County bus driver, manages rental property and a storage building company. He and his wife go to church at the Community Chapel Church in Thyatira where one of their sons is the minister. The Maxwells have four adult children, Kelby, Shanda, Jason and Jeremy, and 12 grandchildren.

One of Maxwell’s proudest times as mayor was this past December when he served as the Georgia Municipal Association’s District Five Chairman of the Mayor’s Motorcade to East Central Hospital.

No matter what is on Maxwell’s calendar, Nicholson remains close to his heart.

“I want to see Nicholson grow, but still retain the community feel so it stays friendly and neighborly,” Maxwell said.

Monk Tolbert - Mayor of Pendergrass
We won’t bother to tell you Monk Tolbert’s legal name because we are not sure even his children know what it is. While playing football at Jefferson High School, the coach tagged him Monk, and Monk he has been ever since.

His roots are deep and his family is well known. Tolbert’s wife, Glenda, is active in the Jefferson community and plays organ and piano at the Jefferson First Baptist Church. They have two adult sons, Mark and Scott, and four grandchildren.

Tolbert and his wife are Realtors and developers in Pendergrass. He has been a member of the Rotary since 1971 and has been president of the Jefferson Rotary Club where he is a member. Four years ago, Tolbert took over the position of Pendergrass mayor after serving on the city council for two years.

“I wanted to see Pendergrass become a real town,” Tolbert said. “I wanted to see a town instead of a collection of houses.”
While the town had its own post office, it was technically a wide space in the road, a place to drive through between Gainesville and Jefferson. Then, about four years ago the bypass off Hwy. 129 went to the east of Pendergrass, and people joked that the city had been lost.

“In the long run, the bypass has turned out to be one of the best things that has happened to us,” Tolbert said.

A few years ago, the city got a $400,000 grant to bring water to the city, which opens up more opportunities. The town received a law enforcement grant for hiring police officers. Once they had police, they needed a full-time city clerk, which in turn led to the library being open full time. The bypass also opened up more land growth.

“It all just came one after the other,” Tolbert said.

Tolbert said he wants the city to grow in an organized way, and the city set up its own planning and development department and commission a couple of years ago.

The city now has two parks, including an older park, renamed in honor of Police Officer Chris Rouse who was killed in the line of duty. A new park, named for a former Pendergrass councilwoman, the late Joyce Wilkerson, opened this spring.
New police, new roads, new parks, new growth: Pendergrass is an old town ready for its new beginnings.

Larry Wood - Mayor of Talmo
Most people living in Talmo, one of the county’s smallest towns, probably have trouble remembering any other mayor than Larry Wood. He’s been mayor for 19 years, the current record of all the mayors.

Since he was on the city council before becoming mayor, Wood’s service to the city has been long.

Wood is in real estate development and land management, an area he entered after successfully creating an employment business called ETCON. He left that business a few years ago to work in his community. He also takes the occasional hunting trip and likes to ride his Harley. He has one child, Macie.

Wood has always been a man of few words, but he is heard when he does speak, and when he talks about Talmo his care is evident.

Talmo is a small town that was bypassed by Hwy. 129 many years ago, leaving the people to face a fate that other towns like Jefferson, Pendergrass, Nicholson and Commerce are just now facing.

Talmo’s answer has been to stay small and quiet. The McEver Meat Packing Company was the largest industry, but it was sold and has now been closed. There are other small businesses and many farms making Talmo a great place to live.

This quiet, lovely town is standing right in the way of a wave of growth, however, and the town’s citizens know it. Enter Wood.
“I ran for office the first time to serve the citizens of Talmo,” Wood said. “I still feel the same today.”

Under his leadership, Talmo remains a member of the Quad Cities Zoning and Planning Department, which means the small town has access to a professional land-use planner for its zoning decisions.

“There are many things we have accomplished for the good of our citizens, but one of the most important is a very effective land management code for zoning and subdivision regulations,” Wood said. “The code will allow the city to control its growth in a positive manner now and in the future.”