J. PATRICK MARTINI J. Patrick Martini (D) has announced that he will seek the office of chairman of the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners.

Born in Lansing, Michigan in 1976, the candidate served honorably in the United States Marine Corps from 1994 to 1998. Following his stint in the corps, he moved to South Carolina, and resided there for several years before relocating to Lincoln County in 2005 to be closer to his parents, Marilynn and Gerald McKinney.

Martini is currently completing a Bachelor of Arts in political science at Augusta State University where he is a member of the Omicron Psi Honor Society.

If he is elected chairman, the candidate plans to:

.. Examine the necessity of all staff positions on a case-by-case basis and abolish any positions that can be eliminated without negatively affecting the provision of services.

.. Examine the rules and regulations governing the code enforcement office.

According to Martini, "The purpose of building code enforcement is to protect the public, not raise revenue or burden residents. Beyond that, some of the current rules clearly lack common sense."

.. Pursue economic development by working with local business owners to expand their operations and actively encourage the development of new industries and enterprises.

.. Re-invest county expenditures back into the community.

"Local businesses should be utilized when the county government is contracting for services such as trash pick-up," Martini said.

.. Support a property tax freeze for senior citizens.

"I would also like to examine the possibility of doing something about current assessments for all citizens," said the candidate. "Property values have become hyper-inflated in recent years, and from the statistics I have seen, Lincoln County's assessed property values are way out of line with other comparable counties around the State of Georgia.

"If the county needs to raise revenue, it should be honest about it and do so by adjusting millage rates; raising revenue by reassessing property values strikes me as being rather disingenuous."

In further comments, Martini indicated that he likewise has concerns about how eminent domain has been used in certain instances. "In my view, while situations do arise that call for its use, it is not intended to circumvent the United States Constitution's requirement that citizens receive just compensation for their property."

Any correspondence for Martini may be directed to P.O. Box 504, Lincolnton, Georgia 30817.