[ September 25, 2023 ] I'm Shirley Mitchell and I was born and raised in Pickens County. My parents were Clara and E.C. Barnes and they were country store owners in Jasper and I grew up living and working at the store and on our farm.

I attended the Pickens County School System and the Pickens Trade school now known as Chattahoochee Technical College. I was married to Jackie Mitchel until he passed away. We were married for 54 years. We have there children Sandy, Robin and Renee.

Jackie worked for and retired from Lockheed. I worked for and retired from Royston in Jasper. I live at 17 Woodlane Drive, Jasper, Georgia and I am announcing my candidacy for Post 5 Jasper City Council.

I'm running for Jasper City Council and it was never my desire to get involved in politics. As a matter of fact I have always hated politics and politicians. I always believed when a politicians lips were moving they were lying. So I guess you are wondering why I'm getting involved now. Well, let me try to explain why in the world I'm running for Post 5 Jasper City Council.

Just a few years ago Jasper was a thriving growing city with an elected mayor and council that was responsible to the citizens who elected them to govern the City in a manner which would provide the very best service for the least amount of taxes. That does not seem to be the case today.

I rarely see men working on the streets. I've seen kudzu growing into the streets and even over street and road signs. It's like nobody cares and I was okay with all the weeds on the roads but not when a man was killed when he drove his car into a huge ditch that was left unrepaired for a year and obviously improperly secured for the driving public.

It was obvious that the Mayor and Council did not have a work force who could have repaired it or evidently even secure it. The Mayor nor any Councilmember showed concern for those people who lived on Gennette Drive who were inconvenienced for such a long period of time because of lack of care and the incompetence of the City Manager.

Jasper City Park is a joke. I have never in my life been so upset when I saw the condition of that pond where people used to visit and picnic with their families. The City used to stock the pond with catfish so people could fish from the bank. The water fall was beautiful and used to aerate the pond water along with a fountain that no longer works. I believe the pond has become stagnated and mosquito infested. There is no grass on the pond bank, just soil erosion and very unsightly. It's like nobody cares especially the Mayor and Council.

It really bothered me when the City Council hired the first City Manager in decades and went out of Jasper to fill this position. I believe they wanted no one from Jasper who might have local ties as they wanted total control.

It was not a good thing for the Citizens when they took the power out of the Mayor's office. I didn't like it when they hired the first City Manager who fired or early retired most of the city work force and spent the rest of his time helping the Council and their expensive City Attorney from Gainesville, Georgia change the City Charter; wherein they took away the Mayor's power as Chief Elected Official and gave themselves a raise without standing for election which the old charter required.

When the first City Manager resigned they hired a lady from Virginia to replace him. Then they hired a lady Assistant City Manager from Florida to help her at tax payer expense. This proved to me and I hope you that this Council has no respect for people from Jasper or Pickens County.

Another example was when the long time City of Jasper Fire Chief was given early retirement, the Council chose not to promote the existing assistant Fire Chief. Instead they hired an unknown South Georgia Fireman as Chief over the local and decorated Assistant Fire Chief who worked for the Jasper Fire Department his entire career. The Assistant Chief resigned shortly after the new Chief arrived. This again is proof this Council has no regard for its employees and what you or I think. The Jasper City Council will just do what they need to do to maintain their absolute control.

I was also opposed to the council doing away with our city garbage service simply because they couldn't manage what had worked for years. Doing away with our city garbage was bad but, how they did it was without any bid process which was even worse. They just secretly negotiated a price and raised our rates without any consideration for the elderly living in Jasper. The elderly and disabled in the Jasper housing projects suffered the most. The City manager's only concern was losing the account, not the hardship this change caused the housing project residents. I don't believe what they did could stand legal scrutiny. At the least there is the appearance of evil.

Now I come to my biggest concern and you can bet it is not my last because it should be obvious by now I have no faith in this Mayor and Council. Rumor has it that the City Council plans to privatize the City of Jasper Water and Sewer system. This means turning it over to a private company and our rates will be out of control only going upward. This will happen much like our City Garbage Service because they are not capable of managing a system that has worked well for years.

A City that does not have control of its Water and Sewer systems is out of control. If this happens we as water customers will have to deal with a company making huge profits off the citizens who once owned the system. Believe me this will happen because they are not competent enough to manage our water system.

I ask you for your vote and support for it is now the time to fire this Mayor and Council. All incumbents must be defeated as they have caused to be fired, forced to resign and early retired our dedicated employees of the city of Jasper without any regard to their years of dedicated service to our City.

I'M ASKING FOR YOUR VOTE AND SUPPORT.