Collins hits ground running in first week

Collins will be bringing multiple changes to county governance, and he reiterated Friday his goal will be to provide the public services people expect from the Commissioner’s Office, but with a commitment to cutting spending he considers wasteful and boosting revenues where possible.

But having just taken office, the new commissioner will need time to dig into the details before making many changes. He spent his first few days meeting with department heads and other elected officials and has been examining county records to start planning specific changes.

One big adjustment he has already made is the hiring of a new county manager.

Collins said there was a sentiment on the campaign trail that people desired a new direction in county management, and personally, he wanted to begin his term in office with a clean slate in such an important position.

“A lot of the times, when you change administrations, you’ve got to change the guy under you,” Collins said. “Basically, everybody does it when they switch offices. And politics don’t come into that – you’ve just got to change. It’s not that I didn’t trust (Garrett) or anything like that.”

Before advertising the position, Collins wished to approach people he thought would do well in the position. The first candidate he interviewed decided the job “wasn’t for him,” but the second candidate turned out to be his choice.

Collins found his new county manager in lifelong friend Tony Hughes, a local builder who reached out to Collins last year to express interest upon learning the position would be available.

When the opportunity presented itself, Hughes said he had been on the lookout for a career change to give his body some relief after meeting the physical demands of the construction industry for over 40 years.

And as a 40-year Recreation Department volunteer, the county manager job seemed like the perfect way to combine his professional experience with his passion for improving the county.

As the full-time right hand of the commissioner, Hughes will be ensuring that Collins’ policies are enacted across county government and overseeing the day-to-day operations of the county by coordinating with the various departments.

Of course, county manager is a big job, and Collins said he feels confident that Hughes can fill it.

Hughes has decades of experience managing construction projects – overseeing, bidding, budgeting, scheduling, etc. – and he spent 13 years in manufacturing with heavy focuses in engineering and distribution.

And Collins looks forward to working with Hughes, who has pledged to give “110%” in everything he does for the county.

“In each department, if he sees we can bring in some revenue here or cut a little expense there, he’ll bring that to me, and I’ll have the final decision,” Collins said, adding that he will be relying on Hughes and others to augment his vision for the county.

According to Collins, a particular area of interest for Hughes will be Parks & Recreation, where, again, he has been involved as a volunteer and coach for years.

“He has some plans for the Rec Department, to broaden it or maybe make a little more money,” Collins said. “He knows rec well.”

In addition to other ideas, Hughes said he wants to fully promote youth sports, as “our future is our children,” while gauging the community’s interest in the return of adult sports leagues, like Men’s Softball and Basketball, and maybe women’s and/or co-ed leagues, too.

Hughes believes that re-establishing adult-oriented rec programs would allow the county to better utilize its facilities at Meeks Park and multiple gyms with the benefit of attracting more community involvement plus revenue to supplement the Rec Department budget, both in terms of league registrations and encouraging visitors to spend money locally when hosting area teams.

And he said adult league sports and tournaments would “give our grown-ups something else to do” while enabling Union to be competitive with other counties that sponsor similar programs.

“I’ve always looked for a challenge and wanted to help people,” Hughes said of his new responsibilities. “I love doing stuff for the community … and I’m going to hit it wide open and as hard as I can go to make things happen to the best of my ability.”

Added Hughes, “I’m looking forward to going around and meeting everybody and showing them that I appreciate what they’re doing for the county. Just want to get on board and everyone work together as one big happy family to make the county a much better place to call home.”

As for Garrett, Collins said he had told him he would be hiring a different manager and asked him to stay on for 90 days to allow for the new one to be in place by March, with about 30 days in overlap to let Garrett spend some time training his replacement.

But after 31 years working for the county in various roles under multiple commissioners, Garrett decided that Dec. 31 would be his last day. So, Hughes will be starting his new job this week.

Aside from the county manager, Collins said the jobs of the rest of former commissioner Lamar Paris’ office staff “are secure right now.” Many of these employees have been in their roles for years and will undoubtedly prove invaluable to Collins as he crafts his administrative agenda.

“The office staff have been excellent to work with,” Collins said, noting the same of the other officials he has met with in the courthouse.

Mentioned above, one of the policy changes Collins is already implementing is to limit county-owned vehicles being driven home by employees. To begin his term, there were at least 26 take-home vehicles in a fleet of which he is still determining the size, Collins said.

In the previous administration, certain employees across multiple departments were granted permission to take work vehicles home after shifts, including at the Road Department, Transfer Station, Parks & Rec, Building Inspections, Maintenance, and even the Commissioner’s Office.

For Collins, this is an obvious place to save a little public money by reducing fuel costs while avoiding wear and tear on county vehicles and cutting down on liability.

At root, Collins said he wants a vehicle policy that incorporates common sense. For example, if bad weather is forecast, Road Department employees can take their work vehicles home to be able to respond at a moment’s notice directly to the scene of a downed tree or other hazard.

“Unless you’re in maintenance or something, where you’re on call 24/7, drive your personal vehicle here, and then you can drive the county vehicle around to do your job here in the county,” Collins said.

The new commissioner will be parking his own county vehicle each night before heading home in his personal car, and he said he will be looking closely at the entire fleet to potentially liquidate vehicles that are not in regular use to keep insurance costs down.

Importantly, the new policy will not impact local first responder agencies like the Fire Department and Sheriff’s Office, the leaders of which use their own judgment regarding which of their employees should have vehicles to respond from home when emergencies occur.

Collins has other irons in the fire that he will be revealing in short order, and he invites the public to attend his first regular county meeting on Thursday, Jan. 16, inside the Union County Courthouse at 65 Courthouse Street.

Additionally, Collins said he is open to hearing ideas from anyone in the community; if someone wants to talk with him, he or she can call his office at 706-439-6000 and schedule an appointment or simply walk into his courthouse office to see if he’s available.

“And I plan on having three or four townhall meetings this year to invite the public out and get their input,” Collins said. “It’s just an honor to be the commissioner of Union County; it’s a humbling experience, and I’m excited.

“Some people have said, ‘Are you worried, or is it overwhelming?’ And I’ve said, no, not yet. I like a challenge and finding something we can save taxpayers money on, because it’s just as much my money as it is yours or whoever lives in the county.

“If it ain’t but a few dollars, we need to do that, without cutting service. We don’t want to cut service to save money … we can’t cut safety.”