The Ware County Commission has a new county manager with naming of James Shubert during a called meeting Monday morning at the County Administration Building.
The announcement came during the January 6, 2025 meeting, which followed a called meeting Tuesday, December 31 that was ruled invalid after notification was not given to the Waycross Journal-Herald, the legal organ.
Another special called meeting was set for 10 a.m., Monday with both John Tindall and Barry Cox officially seated on the commission.
The two new commissioners were joined by Chairman Elmer Thrift, Commissioner Leonard Burse and Commissioner Timothy Lucas, and Jon Tindall.
Commissioner Lucas moved the county hire Shubert and accept the employment agreement as presented by the county attorney.
During the discussion period, Commissioner Burse read a statement in opposition to the process used in selecting the proposed county manager.
“Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for this opportunity to speak on this issue at hand. For openers, I would like to state that my comments aren’t personal towards anyone. However, they are my conclusions about how this entire process has been truncated from the beginning.
“I spoke with Chairman Thrift for about an hour to let him know my feelings about how this process was not being handled correctly. I also let him know my feelings and the concerns of the citizens of Ware County who had texted and called, not only myself, but other commissioners as well and the number one concern they expressed was why are we rushing this through and why aren’t we allowing the two new commissioners to take part in this process of choosing our next manager.
“The chairman stated that he had also received calls concerning this issue. I let him know that if he would delay this process until the new commissioners take office that it would show good leadership on his part.
“I also spoke with both incoming commissioners and they indicated that they would like to be part of the selection process for hiring the new county manager.
“Each of the sitting commissioners were given copies of the applicants’ applications and their resumés to look over and to choose our top three candidates and based on their written resumes we had three applicants that, in my opinion, were very qualified for this position, having governmental management experience, HR experience, and strong financial background experience. These are some of the qualities that I think we should strongly consider regarding hiring someone in this most crucial and important position as Ware County Manager.
“I think that if we are going to move this county forward, we need to have the right leader steering the ship and if we don’t, we’re doing ourselves as commissioners and our citizens a grave disservice.
“I would ask my fellow commissioners to rethink this motion before us and withdraw it and move to revisit this entire process allowing our two new commissioners to have total input in this selection process.
“We need to go through this process right and not put someone in this most important and crucial position simply because they’re a long-time county employee.
“So, with that being said I would again reiterate that this is in no way personal, it is against the process that was circumvented. Whoever is voted in as our manager I will work with them as I did with our previous managers to promote and do what is best for this wonderful county and its precious citizens.
“Thank you, Mr. Chairman.”
Both newly seated commissioners expressed their appreciation for Burse’s concern, but were ready to vote in favor of the motion.
The Commissioners proceeded to the vote, and in a 4-1 vote with Burse voting in the negative, the commission appointed Shubert as Ware County Manager to take effect Monday, January 20.
In other business the commissioners voted to approve Resolution 20251 and 2025-2: Victims of Crime Act Assistance (VOCA) Grant Application.
District Attorney Marilyn Bennett was present to answer any questions the commissioners may have concerning the grant.
The amount of the grant totaled $129,185 to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia (PAC) for federal funding from the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC) for federal fiscal year 2025. This grant funds two staff members and no local match is required.
The commissioners voted to approve Resolution 2025-2: Contracting with the Georgia Public Defender Council.
To provide a pro rata share of funding for the Public Defender Office in the Waycross Judicial Circuit.
