Charles Laughinghouse - Forsyth County Commission Chairman
November 27, 2007 It will be a long holiday season for seven Forsyth County residents.
The Citizens Transportation Projects Selection Committee began the process of prioritizing transportation projects Nov. 26. The committee spent the first meeting outlining the goals and electing a chairman and vice chairman.
Jim Boff was selected as chairman and Ernest Turner will serve as vice chairman.
The committee will have to decide what transportation projects will be funded by the special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST) to be placed before the voters in Feb. in conjunction with the presidential primaries. This means making decisions on what projects to be placed on a "priority A" list and which will be regulated to a "priority B" list.
The transportation projects on the A list total $108.6 million while the B list projects total $110.07 million. The A list contains projects that will definitely be funded through SPLOST while the B list will be funded if the SPLOST proceeds reach estimated levels.
County Commission Chairman Charles Laughinghouse said this process was "extremely important."
SPLOST committee
District 1: Jim Boff
District 2: Charles I. Smith
District 3: Bob Charles
District 4: Charles Cantrell
District 5: Ernest Turner
Chamber: Tracy Moon
Seniors: John Manton
"The selections package you put forth will sell the voters on why they should vote for this tax," he said.
Commissioner David Richard said the committee faces a tough task.
"This is one of the toughest jobs in the county right now," he said. "Your goal is to decide how best to move people through this county with the money you have."
The job won't be easy, according to Commissioner Jim Harrell.
"I want to thank your families in advance for sharing you during the busy holiday season," he said. "The task before you is simple in principal. The devil's in the details. You will need to work with a unified purpose to serve the county we live in."
County Manager Rhonda O'Connor said she would like the committee to establish a draft of the transportation priority list by mid-January at the latest.
The committee will next meet on Nov. 28 at 4 p.m. at the Forsyth County Administration Building. The meetings are tentatively scheduled to end by 6 p.m.
The next scheduled meeting after that will be Dec. 6 at 4 p.m. Following this meeting, the committee plans to meet every Wednesday at 4 p.m. until the process is complete.
All meetings are open to the public. The public will be notified of any changes in scheduled meetings.
