Bill Simonds's Unforced Errors

My View by Jim Yacavone

In sports they are called unforced errors. They are mistakes that are not caused by the other team or game conditions but rather by a player’s carelessness or inattentiveness. Coaches hate unforced errors, and if a player consistently makes them, the odds are that he or she is not going to be in the game too long.

Fannin County Commission Chairman Bill Simonds has made his share of unforced errors, and some of them have cost the taxpayers money. On occasion his administration of the county more closely resembles amateur hour at a local talent show than it does an efficiently administered local government. You get the impression that there are times when Simonds acts without thinking or consulting anyone.


For example, he recently signed a large check that was well beyond his spending authority without the approval of the county commission. His excuse was that he didn’t realize what he was signing. The excuse is worse than the omission. It’s not comforting to hear the county’s chief executive officer say he wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing.

Last year Simonds decided to prohibit citizens from making political comments during the public comment portion of commission meetings. This is an obvious violation of free speech. It also looks bad when an elected official doesn’t want to hear from the voters. Did he ever think of running the idea by the county attorney? The fact that the policy persisted for months makes you wonder whether the two of them ever talk to each other.

Then there was Simonds’ lawsuit against the post commissioners over the right to hire or fire department heads. He lost the case and then expected the county to pay his legal bill. The post commissioners rightly refused to do so, but the taxpayers still picked up part of his tab as well as the entire bill for the post commissioners’ legal fees.

What is particularly egregious is that Simonds’ case was a predictable loser from the start. There was a Georgia Supreme Court decision directly on point and contrary to Simonds’ position. To win the suit Simonds had to convince the court to overturn existing law, and that is hard to do. Did he think of asking the county attorney or some other lawyer whether the suit had any merit?

Remember the Kubota tractor fiasco? The county leased a tractor, and Simonds unilaterally decided to return it and stop making lease payments halfway through the lease. The problem was that the equipment lease did not allow that, something that anyone with any experience should know.

What happened next was predictable. The leasing company sued the county, and the county ended up paying over $30,000 in damages. Did Simonds consider the consequences of his action? Did he seek legal advice before returning the tractor?

Simonds latest unforced error is his failure to comply with a 15 year old Georgia law that requires counties to publish a code of ordinances every year. Simonds learned about the law over a year ago but did nothing to comply with it until I submitted a public records request a few weeks ago. It is fair to wonder whether he would have even bothered if it weren’t for the fact he’s up for reelection.

I’m not saying that Simonds doesn’t deserve to be reelected. The fact is that Simonds has done some good things as chairman. It’s for the voters to decide whether he should stay in the game. I’m simply keeping the stats on Simonds’ unforced errors like any good sports fan would do.

That’s my view. What’s yours?