Jason Buelterman had not lost an election until Nov. 3 last year.
But as a wise man once said, there’s a first time for everything.
The 13-year Tybee Island mayor lost to Democratic Chatham County Commissioner Chester Ellis, who got 52% of the countywide vote for county commission chairman, while Buelterman finished with about 48%. The difference between Ellis and Buelterman was a hefty 7,000 votes a wipeout by Ellis, who benefitted from the huge blue tide of Democratic voters who went to the polls to vote for Democrat Joe Biden for president.
While Ellis did well politically, he has since suffered a rough patch over the management of the county’s public transit system, which is embroiled in a messy and expensive dispute over the steering of a contract for legal services to a Savannah law firm over a different firm that was more favorably scored by evaluators.
Ahead of a scheduled Friday Superior Court hearing, an attorney for Chatham Area Transit has filed a motion seeking to disqualify the attorney and law firm representing former CAT CEO and executive director Bacarra Mauldin. The motion also asks the court to consider tossing Mauldin’s request to be reinstated through a motion for preliminary injunction.
Filed Wednesday night by attorney John Bennett with Freeman Mathis & Gary, LLP, the motion alleges that representatives from Buckley Beal LLP, which Mauldin has retained for counsel, have been communicating with CAT board of directors Vice Chairman Clinton Edminster.
Bennett says this communication violates the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct 4.2, which is an anti-contact rule. He is seeking to disqualify the firm as a whole and attorney Edward Buckley, whom Mauldin has retained as representation.
Chatham Area Transit has enlisted the help of an Atlanta-based public relations and strategy firm to manage the fallout from last month s abrupt termination of former CEO Bacarra Mauldin.
Detailed during Tuesday’s CAT authority board meeting, the agency has contracted with Ohio River South for $9,000 a month to provide crisis management services. The company will also provide other media services such as drafting press releases, responding to inbound requests for information and researching requests for information and public records.
The contract, which was posted online by the board s Vice Chairman Clinton Edminster prior to the meeting, is for no less than six months. The initial contract is good for six months and gives CAT the option to renew as many times as they see fit.
Nearly 30 unincorporated properties in Chatham County are facing liens as Chatham Fire works to combat budget shortfalls due to unincorporated county residents who aren’t opting in to the subscription for fire services. The issue has led Chatham County to explore options including a fire fee or ordinance that would require a subscription.
“We have 26 liens out there right now, for a total of $236,000,” said Chuck Kearns, CEO of Chatham Emergency Services, which serves as an umbrella for Chatham Fire and Chatham EMS.
Currently Chatham Fire covers 34,576 properties in unincorporated Chatham County, but nearly 10,000 of those properties aren’t subscribing, which along with creating budget issues for the department, can put property owners at risk for higher insurance premiums.
Editorial Page Editor Adam Van Brimmer blogs on local topics of interest most weekday mornings in the “Savannah’s Town Square” Facebook group. The following is an excerpt from one of those posts. Join the group at Facebook.com by searching Savannah s Town Square.
Chatham Commission Chairman Chester Ellis is in midst of his first leadership test, and he s proving woefully under-prepared.
Last Friday s commission meeting, just the second of his tenure as chairman, devolved into a kangaroo court, with Ellis quasi-bullying his fellow commissioners over an unorthodox appointment of a former commissioner to the Chatham Area Transit board.
Even worse, Ellis cut off public comment on the appointment of Tabitha Odell, who is a key player in the recent controversial firing of CAT s CEO. The situation has met with public uproar, and Ellis behavior did nothing to temper the outrage.