Brian Stover for Commissioner Chair

At the close of March, we initiated contact with all Paulding County candidates, extending an invitation for them to address common questions posed by the community. Enclosed are their unaltered responses to these inquiries, providing insight into their respective stances. While not all candidates opted to participate, we believe that understanding their viewpoints is pivotal in making informed decisions as constituents.

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Brian Stover’s ANSWERS

1. Tell us about who you are? I am a lifelong resident of Paulding County. This has always been my home, and I am dedicated to what is best for our community. I am a business owner, and started my first company at the age of 19. My wife Rachel and I have been married for 17 years and we have three children. I want them to have the same or better opportunities that I had. I enjoy being a part of organizations that work to make our community a better place. I am a member of Paulding Rotary. I actively support various non-profits in our community, both financially and by volunteering time, including McKenna Farms, the Family Alliance of Paulding County, and others. I want to live in a community that is ready for the future and offers a solid quality of life for its residents without the added burden of high taxes.
2. Can you provide a brief overview of your background and experience, and explain what motivated you to run for Chair Commissioner of Paulding County? First and foremost I have served on the Board of Commissioners for the last five years. I know what the Chairman’s job requires and I believe we need someone with experience to take on that role. In addition to my service on the Board itself, I have been a business owner for the last 28 years. The decisions I make in my businesses affect the lives of all of my employees, and they depend on me to do a good job everyday of leading these companies. I know what business owners need to grow and get better because I have been there. I know what it means to make tough decisions, to set a budget and live within it, to be creative and come up with solutions to unexpected problems, and provide for the people who depend on me every day. My motivation is that I want Paulding County to be the place where my kids want to live. That vision drives and directs my efforts, and I believe I have the necessary experience to take on the role of Chairman to keep making that vision a reality.
3. What is your stance on the county budget, and how do you plan to address any budgetary challenges or deficits? I am committed to a very conservative budget and over my years on the Board, we cut our tax millage rate from 6.5% down to 4.22%. We now have the lowest millage rate of any surrounding county, even though we lack the commercial and industrial tax base of other counties such as Bartow, Cobb and Douglas. Even with our lower tax rates, during my time on the Board of Commissioners we doubled our fiscal reserves. As the Chairman, I realize my responsibility to ensure that we are using our funds wisely and making good decisions.
4. How do you propose to handle taxation policy in Paulding County, and what measures would you implement to ensure fair and equitable taxation for residents? The Commissioners have lowered the tax rates over my time on the Board and at this time we have enough funding to move this County forward without any additional tax increases. The best thing we can do to help our citizen taxpayers is to continue to attract, develop and grow our business community. The
   development of a commercial and industrial tax base helps reduce the burden of
   property taxes on our homeowners.
5. With concerns about inflation affecting households, how do you plan to mitigate its impact on Paulding County residents? We are all feeling the pain of inflation. Just go to the grocery store or take your family out to dinner and look at that bill. While inflation is a national problem, as Chairman I can make sure that we are conservative when looking at county expenses. We can also work to ensure that our economic development program is solid and brings in jobs and opportunities to the residents of Paulding County. And to repeat something very important, by growing our commercial and industrial tax base, we can reduce the tax burden on homeowners.
6. What is your stance on the development of rental communities in Paulding County? A responsible Chairman is mindful of the fact that there are laws protecting private property, and must be mindful of what the law does and does not allow. Any candidate that proposes that they will just stop any such development across the board is not being mindful of restraints against infringing on private property rights. What we can do and what we have done is to put guidelines in place for rental communities so they fit into our community in a more pleasing way. For example, as a Board we have recognized this type of limited use as a narrow special exemption in the R3 zoning category. This has reduced the number of developers wanting to construct such rental communities and has slowed the growth. We also enacted new buffer requirements and additional construction standards to ensure these communities remain attractive and do not fall into disrepair.
7. How would you balance the need for affordable housing with the preservation of community character? The best way for this type of preservation is for solid architectural controls. Over the last several years, we as a Board have increased the minimum required square footage of housing and of lot size. We also increased the buffer requirement from the road from 15 feet to 50 feet. We have now put sunset clauses in our zoning. This means that whatever is zoned today, if nothing has been built within three years based on that zoning, the zoning will revert back to the original zoning. Therefore, we can look at it again and see if we need to make any changes at that time. Because what is needed today might not be the best thing 3, 5, 10 years from now. I will continue to work to make sure all new zoning regulations are set up in a way that legally allows us to change if necessary.
8. How do you plan to address issues related to new builds on two-lane roads in Paulding County, particularly regarding traffic congestion, safety, and congested schools? We need to prioritize our transportation needs and our crumbling infrastructure. As a county, we can do better, but we have been moving in the right direction and I want to keep that momentum. We have recently changed some of the zoning categories that will restrict what type of properties can be built on small two-lane roads. Continuing to make these changes will ensure that the roads we have can accommodate the neighborhoods being built. While a Commissioner, I voted to
   bring on an engineering firm that specializes in road studies. They are currently evaluating the roads within Paulding County and will make recommendations on what roads need to be expanded, how to make our intersections safer, and ways to handle the increase in traffic for the next twenty years. The key is getting ahead of the issue, which we have begun by engaging this study. As Chairman, I would implement the recommendations that make sense, and in doing so I think we will see great improvement.
9. Given the shortage of law enforcement personnel, what strategies do you propose to address the lack of police presence and ensure public safety in Paulding County? I have always had a good relationship with the Paulding County Sheriff’s department and I pledge to continue working with the next sheriff to be sure their needs are met. Keeping our community safe is always a top priority and as your Chairman, I will keep this on the forefront. We recently completed a comprehensive salary study for our law enforcement and took action to raise the salaries of our law enforcement personnel, so we could attract and retain top quality people. Another way to recruit is to work on their retirement program. We have lowered the retirement age for law enforcement employees to 59, again in efforts to recruit the best quality law enforcement personnel. I will also listen to the recommendation of our Sheriff regarding what equipment and resources are needed, and will work both locally and at a state level to secure what our law enforcement departments need to keep us safe.
10. How do you plan to address the overcrowding of schools in Paulding County, and what measures would you implement to improve educational facilities and resources? I know the school situation is frustrating for parents and I understand. However, educational facilities can only be managed by the Board of Education. But as your Chairman, what I can do is continue to build a relationship with our local school board to work with them to ensure that the county can help meet their needs regarding things such as road infrastructure, sewer and water, and high-speed internet. Our county continues to grow, and we need to be an active partner to our school district and keep those lines of communication open so that we can work together to best accommodate the growth.
11. What initiatives do you propose to enhance infrastructure development in Paulding County, particularly regarding road maintenance and expansion? I have already discussed the traffic study that I initiated in Paulding County. I also plan to continue working with Carroll EMC, Greystone, and other energy providers to secure high speed internet for all parts of our community. Another issue we have with infrastructure is sewer and water. We have to continue working to get in front of the demand and we have been doing that. Our reservoir is supplying water to 67% of our county, but with the new transmission main line being installed we will be at 100% soon. I want to continue working to increase our capacity for water and sewer and working with the State DOT. Many people don’t realize this but Paulding County is one of only five or six counties in our district that can initiate county-led projects. We have the ability to implement what we need, and I am the leader that can get things accomplished. I did not build my businesses by sitting on the sidelines and I won’t do it as Chairman. I will work with our State DOT representative to be sure our projects are receiving the attention and funding we need.
12. How do you plan to encourage economic growth and job creation in Paulding County, especially in light of recent challenges faced by local businesses? It is difficult to be a small business owner, but we want small business in Paulding County. While I plan to work with our Economic Development Organization, the Chamber of Commerce, the Paulding County Airport Authority, and the State’s EDO to bring in new businesses, I am also committed to supporting the small business owners currently calling Paulding County home. We need to take care of what we have and then go out and recruit more. We actually have programs in place to help small businesses, like grants offered by our EDO, but we can always do more. I plan to continue having conversations with business owners to find out what assistance they need from the county government to grow and thrive. I have spent years building resources both locally and at the state level that we can call on to help our businesses.
13. What initiatives would you implement to promote small businesses and support entrepreneurship in Paulding County? I am an entrepreneur, and I am a business owner. I know how hard it is to make a business successful. As a county I would like us to make it easier for businesses to start or expand. That could be making it easier to acquire a business license or working with local resources to offer classes and assistance on running a small business. As Chairman, I will listen to the business owners and those entrepreneurs wanting to start new businesses, and work to make what they need happen.
14. What measures would you implement to promote transparency and accountability in county government, ensuring that residents are informed and engaged in decision-making processes? It can be a little difficult to get information out to our community, as we do not have any major media outlet. But we have Channel 23 to broadcast our Board meetings and other events happening in the community. We use social media to promote meetings, town halls, surveys, etc. As Chairman, I will see that we continue doing this, and will be approachable. If anyone has a question or concern, they should pick up the phone and call their Post Commissioner or call me. If they don’t want to call, they can email. But I also want to encourage people to go to the meetings or the pop-up tents or the town hall sessions. Take the survey if there is one. Make sure your opinion is getting out there. I promise you we read them and consider them before making any decision for our county.
15. How would you approach environmental conservation and sustainability efforts in Paulding County, balancing growth with the preservation of natural resources? Over the years, we have added, rather significantly, to our green space. We purchased the land for the reservoir and added to the land at Raccoon Creek. We have studies that show us the importance of preserving this green space and our
    comprehensive plan keeps the area west of Highway 61 green. Plus, it is important to always look at ways to save costs and energy usage. I would task every County department to look at their operations for ways they can reduce waste and save energy.
16. What is your stance on zoning regulations in Paulding County, and how do you plan to address concerns related to land use and development? First of all, I want to continue with what we have already started — redoing the Unified Development Ordinances (UDO). The Board raised the minimum square footage for lots. This is how you control land usage and density. Developers can no longer pack as many houses as they wish on their land. Raising these standards slows the growth. We really have great zoning compared to what we used to have and I plan to continue evaluating what we have and how it is being used. By opening up new commercial industrial and e-commerce zoning categories, we will also bring in more businesses. Then this circles back to helping small businesses grow, which brings in more tax dollars, which lessens the tax burden on our citizens.
17. What measures would you implement to address homelessness and housing insecurity in Paulding County? We are fortunate to have some wonderful nonprofits and churches in our community that minister to the homeless population. I would like to bring these groups together to make sure the needs are being met.
18. How do you plan to attract and retain young professionals and families in Paulding County, ensuring a vibrant and dynamic community for future generations? As I said earlier, I want Paulding County to be the community where my kids want to live. To do that, we have to offer what young adults and families want – affordable housing, mixed use areas, entertainment, and greenspace. Under my
    direction, the county will continue laying the groundwork to make these things available. It will take some time, but we can put things in motion now so that the next generation has a different Paulding, one that is just as special as it is now, but with greater amenities and mixed-use areas for their enjoyment.
19. How do you plan to foster collaboration and partnerships with neighboring counties and municipalities to address regional challenges and opportunities? We all have to work together to be successful. We have made great strides in building relationships with officials from both Dallas and Hiram and this has been incredibly beneficial to all involved. I want to continue building these relationships. It shouldn’t be the cities versus the county. We all want what is best for our community. In addition, as Chairman, I will have a seat at the monthly Northwest Regional Commission that allows me to meet and work with other representatives to enhance our community.
20. Can you provide examples of successful leadership experiences that demonstrate your ability to effectively manage complex issues and lead change in a community setting? Primarily, during my last five years that I served as Post 4 Commissioner on the Board I have led efforts to enhance our zoning and keep our tax rates lower than any surrounding county. In business, I have gone from a single business as a 19 year old to now owning multiple businesses and employing numerous people. While in Rotary, I was honored to have been elected to serve two terms as President, and I am the only Paulding resident to have ever served as Rotary Assistant Governor for the State of Georgia. I was one of two people who were instrumental in changing the Paulding Rotary to allow women members. It was a change that needed to be made and I helped take the lead to make it happen. I will bring that same experience and willingness to lead change when it is needed to the role of Chairman.
21. How do you perceive the current state of Paulding County, and what is your vision for the future of our community? Please outline specific goals and initiatives you would prioritize to realize this vision, considering factors such as economic development, infrastructure, education, public safety, and quality of life for residents. Our community has a tremendous amount to offer and with the right leadership we can lay the groundwork for future generations. I want us to have an abundance of recreational opportunities, more commercial and mixed-use developments, and first-rate housing. We do this by managing our growth, creating job opportunities, providing entertainment choices, enhancing our greenspace, having top quality schools, superior law enforcement and emergency services, and reducing the tax burden on our citizens. I have already started putting these things in place during my time as the Post 4 Commissioner and I want to continue this initiative as Chairman.
22. Additionally, we invite you to provide a closing statement that you feel we may have missed, allowing you to share any additional thoughts or insights with the community. When asked what sets me apart, I have to say it is my experience. Not only as a business owner and leader, but as a past Commissioner. I know how our County works and I know the many hard-working individuals dedicated to the County department where they work. Every department needs to be run by the best and have the team and resources they need to be successful. I will work to be sure every department operates at the highest level and has what they need. I am going to increase economic development and manage growth as much as we can. I want our citizens to be proud to call Paulding County home, just like I am. I would greatly appreciate your vote so together we can make it happen.

For further insight into Brian Stover’s platform and initiatives, please visit his Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61558533053485 or explore his website at http://stoverforcommissionchair.com/