Leonard “Len” Fatica, the Democratic candidate for Seat 2-C on the Bulloch County Board of Commissioners, names controlling the county’s growth and development as the top concern. He offers his experience in public safety, on planning and zoning boards, and as a community and disaster-response volunteer.

Fatica, now 70, moved to Bulloch County more than six years ago, choosing it as his home community for retirement and even building a home. He had spent about the first 40 years of his life in Pennsylvania, then moved to Ohio. His first retirement was as director of public safety from Lucent Technologies at a Columbus, Ohio location, but he then became owner, with a partner, in a chiropractic practice for three years, and also did consulting work for a couple of years with the Pennsylvania State Police.

Here, Fatica has served as chairman of the Bulloch County Democratic Committee for two years, but stepped aside to campaign for the commission seat. Fatica remains vice chair of the city of Statesboro’s appointed Planning Commission.

He faces the county commission Seat 2-C Republican nominee, Nick Newkirk, in the Nov. 5 general election, with early voting now well underway. While Fatica was unopposed in the Democratic primary in May, Newkirk led in a three-candidate Republican primary and then unseated incumbent 2-C Commissioner Jappy Stringer in a runoff.

“The most important issue I see is controlling the development and the growth that is happening in Bulloch County,” Fatica said in a recent interview. “We’re not going to stop the growth; it’s coming, whether people like it or not.”

‘Smart Bulloch’ Plan

“The county has a decent plan,” he said, referring to the referring to the Smart Bulloch 2045 updated comprehensive plan the current commissioners adopted in April.

“But we’ve got to make sure that the development of the county has a meaningful purpose,” he added. “You know, you don’t want to stick, like a subdivision in the middle of farmland. (Let’s) get the best use of land that we have.”

Still, he suggests there must be limits on how far the county goes in telling property owners what they can do with their land.

“I’m a firm believer that nobody should tell a farmer when they’re ready to retire what to do with their property,” Fatica said.

That retiring farmer, he observed, would generally have three choices: give or sell their land to their children, sell it or lease it to another farmer, or sell it to a developer.

The wells

Then there is the related issue of “water” as expressed in citizens’ concerns about the four big wells Bulloch and Bryan counties plan to drill, all within Bulloch geographically, to supply Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division, or EPD, has issued the permits, but the citizens group Bulloch Action Coalition is petitioning for a referendum to repeal the county’s related agreements.

“The wells are coming. …,” Fatica said. “Whether Bulloch County reaps the financial benefit or the state does, that’s up to what happens if this referendum does come to a vote.”

He said he trusts the scientists who say that the wells will not have a large impact on water levels in the aquifer and believes the wells can be  a revenue source to help reduce property tax.

“There’s a lot smarter people out there with the EPA the EPD and the Army Corps of Engineers than me, that I gotta trust what they say as far as what’s going to happen with the water,” Fatica said.

So he does not support efforts to block the wells from being drilled. He acknowledges that well maintenance costs, and also possible lawsuits, could cut into Bulloch County’s projected income of $17 million to $30 million revenue over a decade from the wells.

“If you could make, you know, $13 million to $15 million and put it in the coffers for Bulloch County, then that’s going to help keep property taxes low, and that’s the other issue that we have is the property taxes,” Fatica said.

Taxes & public safety

“A lot of people have moved into this area because property taxes are low – and still are.  Mine went up $300 to $400. Do I like it? Not necessarily,” he said.

But he added that he also believes “that if you’re going to have the services needed, especially public safety services” the county must have the means to pay for them.

“And that is my other major concern, to make sure as the county grows that we can support our fire department, the sheriff’s department, and EMS,” Fatica said. “Our (Bulloch County) Fire Department right now, equipment-wise, is probably 20 years behind times, but new equipment is very expensive.”

Qualifications

“One thing that I think I have over my opponent is I’ve got experience,” Fatica said.  “… I’ve worked with public safety, and I’ve worked with government on a national level in Washington, D.C. … I hold two certificates on planning and zoning from the Carl Vinson School of Government at the University of Georgia.”

Before moving to Georgia, he had served as vice chair for zoning and also of an economic development agency for Etna Township, Ohio. Here, he is a member of Bulloch County VOAD, or Volunteer Organization Active in Disasters. He volunteered with VOAD and several churches in relief efforts after the recent tropical storm and hurricane.

In earlier years he was board chairman and disaster chair for an American Red Cross chapter in Pennsylvania and responded in a number of disasters across the country. He was a president of a Rotary Club in Ohio and a Kiwanis Club in Pennsylvania. He joined first of one of Statesboro’s Rotary Clubs and then the other, where he served as president, before joining Statesboro Kiwanis. He has served as parish council president and safety team leader for St. Matthew Catholic Church.

“I’ve always been a person who believes in giving back to the community through service,” Fatica said.

Nick Newkirk was featured in an April 29 Statesboro Herald candidate profile and a June 18 story about the Republican runoff result. An update will be sought next week.