MONROE COUNTY, Ga. — The Tuesday primary didn’t decide who will be the next Monroe County Commission Chairman. Greg Tapley and Alan Gibbs will campaign for four more weeks.
It was a close call from the primary election. Tapley received 45% of the votes and Gibbs had 42.5%.
Tapley has been the county commission chairman since 2016. Gibbs is running in his first election and said the county needs something new.
"It's a fresh start. You know, the last one has been in there for two terms. I've not been in office. I'm your neighbor, I'm your guy that lives down the road from you. I'm just one of the citizens of this county that wants to maintain this county," Gibbs said.
Tapley said since he was elected, the county has made progress financially.
"We as a team have stopped the county from having to borrow money to get to the end of the year. We’ve created a surplus, you know, over $10 million dollars in a surplus you know for a rainy day so to speak," Tapley said.
Gibbs said traffic is a problem in Monroe County.
"We’re going to have to try to figure out ways to get these big trucks around the city of Forsyth because this town is not big enough for these big trucks to come through here. I understand what I’m saying. I’m not telling you this is going to be a problem we can fix next week. This is a major undertaking. But if we don’t start putting one foot in front of the other, we’re not going to make it," Gibbs said.
Both candidates agree that they want to focus on improving the roads in the county. Tapley said the commission recently found a solution.
"The TSPLOST passed. We pushed that because that helps take the burden off the county resident and puts it on the folks that are traveling through so we get more of a percentage of their funds and helping solve our problems," Tapley said.
Both candidates said they want to keep Monroe County's fabric as a small town.
"If you don’t get out and vote for people for what you think for what you want this county to be, then it’s going to turn into something else. It’s going to turn into a big city and this is not what this county is about. We’re a rural county, and I’m going to do my best to keep it that way," Gibbs said.
"Had a big meeting with our development authority to set a vision that said 'Hey, we don’t want you know a thousand employee operations you know here. We want the smaller manufacturing entities to come in accumulate to our community,'" Tapley said.
The board of elections recorded only 20% of voters made it to the polls for the Tuesday primary election. Gibbs and Tapley said people’s votes matter.
"You know this breaks down to every vote is going to count. I understand why in an election like a federal election, you may feel like it’s a big number and your one single number doesn’t count. But it counts in this county, and we need you to come back to the polls," Gibbs said.
"The one main reason the one main right that the soldiers went and fought and were injured or died for us. That’s what they were fighting for is your right to vote, so you need to go vote every time you can," Tapley said.
The June runoff will be on the 18th and early voting will start no later than June 10.