To provide voters the information they need to make an informed choice in the May 24 General 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, Ga. — After more than a decade working in the banking industry and donating many hours to Dawson County non-profits and service organizations, Nicole Stewart decided that running for Dawson County Tax Commissioner would be the next logical step in her career.

“I actually thought about it several years ago,” Stewart said Wednesday. “As a banker, I have worked in the loan department and at one point worked closely with the Tax Commissioner’s Office doing title work and other necessary tasks. That gave me a better understanding of the different functions of the office. When I heard Linda (Townley) was retiring, I decided to campaign for the job.”

She graduated with honors from Dawson County High School and North Georgia State College and University. She is currently working on her MBA at Brenau University. She has been very active in her home county as the Chairperson for Relay for Life, Secretary of the Bowen Arts Center, a member of the Rotary Club and Ambassador of the Year for the Chamber of Commerce. In 2015, she was named Outstanding Citizen of Dawson County.

Stewart said working with so many organizations has helped her develop and polish her leadership and customer service skills and she believes those skills will serve the county well.

“I believe my banking experience is more closely related to what they do in the Tax Office than the other candidates,” she said. “There are times when taxpayers may need to set up a payment plan and that is something I do right now for our customers.”

Stewart said her vision for the office is to reopen a satellite office on Hwy. 53 near Ga. 400. “It’s not always easy for the people who work over there to get to the current office,” she said. “I don’t know why it was closed but I would like to look into reopening it. Even if we can’t afford to staff it, maybe we could open a self-service kiosk there.”

She also said she would like to have some sort of outreach program to explain to citizens what the Tax Office does and why it does it, possibly through modernization of the website. “The current website isn’t bad,” she said. “I would just like to make it more interactive, possibly allow customers to make payments online.”