Monroe County chairman race pits incumbent against businessman

The race for chairman of the Monroe County Commission features an incumbent with 12 years on the board and a businessman who has never held elected office.

Incumbent Mike Bilderback, who has served as chairman since 2013, is facing Greg Tapley, who owns Tapley & Associates Insurance and is co-owner of MedPro EMS, a private insurance company. The men face each other in the May 24 Republican primary.

Bilderback, 46, said the main reason he decided to run again harkens back to why he ran for chairman four years ago.

“The board entered into an agreement with the Macon Water Authority to give away our south service area, … and without going into a lot of detail, … that makes it very difficult for us to justify having our own treatment plant,” he said.

At the present time, “we’re in the middle of hopefully finalizing a deal with the city of Forsyth to … build our treatment plant,” he said. “I’ve been working on that since 2004, so having our own treatment plant has been a goal of mine for a long time.”

Also, Bilderback said there have been some issues with borrowing money for projects about 2011-2012 that never have been completed.

“We had to go up on the millage last year to start paying on the principal on those bonds,” he said. “They were really early to borrow that money.”

One of the top issues Bilderback said he would like to tackle is code enforcement. Code issues range from overweight vehicles to unsafe buildings and the nuisance ordinance.

“We are going with a law enforcement officer to go out and enforce these codes, and I certainly would like to see that through as well,” he said.

Tapley wants end to boundary dispute

Tapley said he ran for the District 3 seat on the commission in 2006 because he was “fighting the county line issue.”

Monroe and Bibb counties have been tussling over the boundary line for more than a decade. The conflict flared up in the mid-2000s when Bass Pro Shops chose to put a store in Bibb County near its border with Monroe County. Bilderback was on the commission at the time, and he led the fight to try to change the location of the boundary.

At the time Tapley ran for the District 3 seat, there was talk of an agreement that the line would be based on tax records at the time, and each side would split the cost of a survey. But that never happened and the fight continued. The matter is in the hands of the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office.

“Ten years later and we’re $2.5 million in the hole in expenses pertaining to fighting this,” Tapley said. “My opponent was for fighting it.”

At this point, Tapley said he just wants the Secretary of State’s Office to make a decision.

“I’m not going to just roll over on a $2.5 million investment or expenditure we’ve made. But at the same time, I think we can come together with a fresh set of eyes and ears and mind and we have two newer commissioners, so we’ll see what happens,” he said. “It’s detrimental to all of us if we don’t come to some negotiated conclusion.”

Another big issue is water, which affects residential growth and adding new businesses and industries, he said. There has been some discussion about investing in a currently inoperable water treatment plant at a former textile company on the Ocmulgee River. But Tapley said there are many unanswered questions, such as whether the county should build its own water treatment plant, should it create a water authority or look at other ways to bring water to county residents and businesses.

“I’m interested in looking at all of those, because water is a big issue we face,” he said.

Tapley co-owns MedPro EMS with Forsyth Mayor Eric Wilson. He said the two men have been friends for 14 years and business partners for the past five years. He said if he’s elected chairman, he will be able to separate their business relationship from the elected position.

This story was originally published April 19, 2016 at 3:28 PM with the headline "Monroe County chairman race pits incumbent against businessman."