Political Notebook: Rep. Scott takes shots at Obama budget requests

U.S. Rep. Austin Scott released a statement this week voicing his opposition to President Barack Obama's latest budget requests.

Scott, R-Ga., said Obama's fiscal 2017 requests continue out-of-control spending that will harm rural areas through cuts in crop insurance. Scott said he also was not in favor of a $10 tax per barrel of oil that he said would drive fuel prices up 20 cents per gallon.

"As we have unfortunately come to expect, the president cares more about his personal agenda than the economic security of everyday American citizens," Scott said in a news release.

Scott said that Obama's proposal would raise spending by $2.5 trillion. He credited Obama for "recognizing" the importance of the A-10C Warthog military aircraft that is flown out of Robins Air Force Base, Lowering the overall defense budget, however, is not acceptable, Scott said in the release.

"I am disappointed that their overall budget request does not adhere to the defense budget agreement passed just a few months ago. Instead, the defense base budget was cut further, showing an unwillingness to provide for our warfighters and maintain the strongest military in the world," he said in the statement.

REICHERT SELECTS NEW DEPARTMENT HEADS

Macon-Bibb County may welcome two new department heads next week.

Mayor Robert Reichert announced during this week's County Commission committee meetings that he has selected LaTonya Slaughter as Municipal Court clerk and Brett Lavender as head of the Information and Technology Department. The final vote on their appointments would likely come at the Feb. 16 commission meeting.

Slaughter has worked with the Macon Municipal Court since 1998. She takes over the full-time role left vacant in December 2015 when Municipal Court Clerk Terry Bizzell resigned. An audit released in early January cited several issues during Bizzell's tenure as clerk, including assigning some tasks to other employees that he should have been performing himself.

"Slaughter knows all the ropes and the cast of characters and would make an excellent candidate," Reichert said Tuesday.

Also, the IT Department has the "right person to take us into the 21st century" with Lavender in charge, Reichert said.

Lavender most recently was the IT director for Clayton County. In Macon-Bibb, he would takes over from Steve Masteller, who retired last June.

The county commission also was informed Tuesday that Assistant County Attorney Reginald McClendon accepted a job with the Clayton County legal department.

"He has been a valuable member of the legal team and will be sorely missed," County Manager Dale Walker wrote in a report.

MACON OFFICIALS DISCUSS PUBLIC COMMENTS

The Macon-Bibb County Commission will continue to monitor the public comments that take place during regular meetings.

That decision came after commissioners tabled a resolution that would have limited comments to the beginning of the meeting. Currently, people can talk about agenda items for five minutes at the start of the meeting, and other topics can be addressed for the same length of time at the end of a regular meeting.

Commissioner Al Tillman sponsored the resolution, because he said some people take advantage of being able to speak twice during meetings.

"I think if we allow everyone to speak up front, we can move ahead with our business," he said during Tuesday's committee meetings.

Several commissioners said no change is needed now, but they would continue keep an eye on the situation.

THEY'RE CERTIFIED

The National Park Service designated 34 communities across the country as "certified local governments" in 2015, including Jones County and the city of Gray. More than 1,900 communities now participate in the program, which provides local governments access to historic preservation guidance and grants.

As a certified local government, communities can use expert technical historic preservation advice from the National Park Service and their respective state historic preservation offices.

HOUSTON DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY SUPPORTS E-SPLOST

Members of the Houston County Development Authority expressed support for the education special purpose local option sales tax, or E-SPLOST, on Wednesday.

The authority did not have enough members for a quorum to approve a proposed resolution supporting the E-SPLOST, which is on the March 1 ballot. However, authority Chairman Mark Byrd said absent members will give their approval by electronic vote, then it will be ratified at the next meeting on March 9.

JONES COUNTY, GRAY NAMED CERTIFIED LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

Two Middle Georgia communities -- Jones County and Gray -- are among 34 nationwide that have been named "Certified Local Governments" by the National Park Service.

The CLG designation makes communities official partners in the portion of the federal historic preservation program that engages local, state and federal partners to promote historic preservation. As a CLG, a community can use expert technical historic preservation advice from the Park Service and their respective state historic preservation offices. The designation also gives communities access to grants for historic preservation.

In order to become certified, a local government must meet several requirements, including a commitment to enforcing local and state historic preservation laws and establishing a qualified historic preservation commission.

Staff writers Stanley Dunlap, Wayne Crenshaw and Andy M. Drury contributed to this report.

This story was originally published February 12, 2016 at 3:17 PM with the headline "Political Notebook: Rep. Scott takes shots at Obama budget requests ."