Town board vote worth the effort
On Tuesday, Nov. 5, Highlands residents will get the opportunity to put their rights to use. Election Day 2019 might not have the star power of a presidential or governor’s race on the ballot, but that doesn’t mean that the local races are unimportant.
It can be argued, that the Highlands Board of Commissioners has a bigger impact on the day-to-day lives of town residents than any national office. The town board sets the budget, and thus the local tax rate, each year and they make decisions regarding critical functions such as sanitation, water and sewer, infrastructure, parks and recreation, and so much more.
This year there are seven men running for three contested seats on the board. All three incumbents – John ‘Buz’ Dotson, Eric Pierson and Brian Stiehler are campaigning to keep their position. Challengers Mark Hehn, Nick McCall, Michael Rogers and Hank Ross have also tossed their hats in the political ring.
Odds are, if you are a Highlands resident you likely know one or more of the candidates. Having personal interactions with the people who represent the citizenry is important. But if there are candidates that you may not be familiar with, there are brief profiles of each in this week’s edition of The Highlander.
The goal of course isn’t to outline every aspect of a candidates beliefs or ideology, but to rather give a snapshot of their ideas regarding key town issues over the next four years.
Choosing our leaders by public vote is one of the fundamental principals of American life. Unfortunately, too often that right goes unused by the people who have it and with no state or national races on the ballot in 2019 the voter turnout is expected to be low.
According to the Macon County Board of Elections, only 86 registered voters from Highlands had cast their ballot during the one-stop early voting period through Oct. 26. Considering there are more than 900 registered voters total in Highlands, that number is meager.
Polls will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Voting is done at the Rec Center on 4th Street.