District 4 Commissioner George Emami submitted his resignation from the Monroe County Board of Commissioners at this morning’s (Tuesday, March 19) Commission meeting. Commissioner Emami read aloud the following personal statement regarding his resignation at this morning’s meeting:
Good morning,
I have an announcement I would like to make. I am today submitting my letter of resignation to the Governor’s office, effective upon a date yet to be confirmed between now and November. I have a few things I wish to say regarding this decision.
First of all, I’m so proud of what we as a county have accomplished together during my almost 6 and ½ years in office. I’m very proud that I have never voted to raise the millage rate; and as a commission, since I’ve been in office, we have not raised it once, despite some very difficult circumstances. I’m proud of having a small part to play with being the very first county in Middle Georgia to get high-speed fiber run through over 90% of the county. This was an effort which our board, the school board, the state and federal government all participated in and something that served people of every demographic and socioeconomic status in our community. I’m proud that I was instrumental in helping to ensure that we never mandated a shutdown in our county during COVID 19, and were the first County to formally request the Governor open the state back up for business when many local governments and states were forcing businesses closed. When I first got into office we had hundreds of thousands of dollars we couldn’t account for, we were paying huge federal and state fines for payroll mishaps, and vendors were going months or even years without being paid. We were also paying over $50k per year in interest to borrow money just to be able to meet our annual budget. During my time in office, all of that has changed. As a board we hired an incredible staff that has upgraded our entire county’s operations and each year our auditors rave about how we are doing from a monetary and risk management standpoint. All this during a time where we were dealing with the largest tax digest hit in decades with the partial shutdown of Plant Scherer. I’m proud of the lifelong friendships I’ve made as a direct result of working here and the impact they have had on my life: people who have helped to open my mind and allowed me to see from a different perspective. The list of things I’m proud to have been a part of here in the county is too long to go through, but I am so proud of our collective efforts over these many years.
Anyone who has held public office understands how difficult it can be at times. Local media and online keyboard warriors always seem to know better than you. They find delight in questioning your motives at every turn, altering the truth for more clicks, likes, or sales, and planting seeds of doubt in others’ minds. I guess the real news just isn’t interesting enough to sell. Perhaps I should thank them, as I have learned to have a thicker skin than I ever would have before being in public service. Over the last year or so, it has become much more difficult to try to run local small businesses while working for the county. Until recently, I had been resolved to try to finish my final term quietly and sail into the next chapter of my life. But in the last few months, my businesses and members of my family have been the victim of several malicious and horrifically deceitful online threats & attacks. Sadly, people other than myself have been harmed and adversely affected by this activity. In the end, I feel that I have been forced to choose between honoring my commitment to the county or having to do right by my family, my business partners, and my employees. As of today, I have chosen to seek the latter’s interests over my political career. The county can find someone to replace me, my family and businesses cannot.
I’m certain of better days ahead for our community and I’m excited to continue working to advance it through the various businesses I own and manage. Fox City Brewing has become a beacon of light economically for our city, providing over 40 jobs to our locals, driving tons of people into our town who wouldn’t have come otherwise, and pumping well over six figures of sales tax annually to the state and our local government. It has not been easy, but my partners and I have finally gotten this business to a point where it can sustain itself, only getting into the black after surviving COVID and in our 4th year of operating. I hope to have more time to devote to ensuring it stays viable and to make sure it continues to be a great corporate citizen here in our county. I’m excited to be developing Monroe County’s only Live-Work-Play-Learn development in The Preserve at Fox Run. We are finally hitting the ground running in that development and expect the project to significantly affect our county in a positive way. Also, I’m excited and very hopeful to play a role in building sustainable, yet affordable housing with our new business, “Craft Cottage Builders,” that is set to launch in the next 30 days or so. Contrary to previous reports, we will not be building tiny homes, but rather small houses and cottages that will average 1200 SF or more. We will be hiring another 20 people for that business as we begin operations. On a spiritual level, I can’t wait to be more involved with my church, Momentum Christian Church, and to have more hours to serve our community in other ways I haven’t even thought of yet! Finally, I’m really excited to have more time to spend with my family. My two girls (Mara and Maddie) are both in college. I’ll get to go to all of their functions and parents’ events and enjoy seeing them more often. My son, Baylor will be a senior at MP next year, and I want to enjoy every possible moment with him as we will soon be empty nesters. I have truly enjoyed my time as a public servant. I can’t thank the good people of Monroe County enough for giving me this chance. It’s been an incredible experience and something I will cherish and take with me for the rest of my life. Serving with you, my fellow commissioners (John, Eddie, Greg, and Lamarcus), and our staff (Jim, Lorri, Kelsey, Janet, Richard, Ben, Natalie, Jeff, and Kim), along with the entire team of department heads and county employees, has been the honor of my life thus far. I’ll never forget everything I’ve learned from you. I’m a better person because of you.
An election will be held in November to replace my seat. I will begin working with our county manager and other commissioners on an exit plan and will provide an effective date of my resignation soon. I wanted to make this announcement as soon as possible so that we can have plenty of time for as many good, qualified candidates to come forth as possible. I look forward to cheering and supporting whoever is elected next for our district and to being a positive support for these commissioners as they continue in their work.
District 4 Commissioner George Emami
