Primary election, Fetch Your News will work hard to present a profile of each candidate running for public office. All candidates will be contacted and offered an opportunity to respond to questions. 

DAWSONVILLE — Name recognition will not be a problem for Billy Thurmond as he campaigns for Chairman of the Dawson County Board of Commissioners.

Thurmond has served his Dawson County neighbors for 37 years in the county’s Emergency Management Agency and he brings an impressive resume to the campaign. During his tenure, Dawson County was recognized as the state’s EMA of the Year in 2000. In 2011, he received the Governor’s Public Safety Award for contributions to the profession and, in 2012, he was honored as Georgia’s EMA Director of the year.

Now that he has retired from public safety, Thurmond would like to serve the county as commission chairman.

“I have a good knowledge of the county and its people and I think I can bring something positive to the county, ” he said.

Thurmond says he believes Dawson County is headed in the right direction but his vision is to make government more productive and cost efficient.

He said he would begin by stemming the flow of valued county employees away from the county to other municipalities that can offer higher pay and incentives.

“I’ve made a study the county’s workforce and discovered we’ve had a great deal of turnover,” he said. “We’ve lost 300 employees in the last 5 years. We’ve become a training ground for county employees who then move on to other municipalities and that’s not cost efficient. I want to make sure we’re competitive in the work force.”

Fleet maintenance is another area where Thurmond said some savings may be found.

“Sixty per cent of our county vehicles are at least 10 years old and have 175,000 miles. We need to take a good look at that and see if it might be more cost effective to replace them rather than continue to repair them.”

Thurmond said he is well aware of the growth headed toward Dawson County.

“We are going to experience a lot of growth and I want to make sure that growth is tied to our land use plan,” he said. “I want our county to maintain its natural beauty.”

Thurmond said he wants the citizens of Dawson County involved in planning how that growth takes place.

“Our citizens are our greatest asset,” he said. “I would like to form some type of citizen committee to have them help us plan for the future and make recommendations to the BOC.”

Thurmond and his wife Lisa are active members of Kilough Church. They have two grown sons and one grandson.