Voice Your Opinion By Voting On County Ballot Questions

By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor

By voting on county ballot questions, citizens can help influence decisions about issues in Dade County. Unlike state ballot questions (which cover state-wide and/or nation-wide issues), county questions are specific to Dade. While this primary’s state questions cover hot button, divisive issues, the local county questions are largely nonpartisan and feature collaboration between the Dade County Democratic Committee and the Dade County Republican GOP.

Each party’s ballot has four questions, and one on each was developed by the other party. After the local Democratic party formulated their questions, Tom McMahan (Dade County Democratic Committee chairman) reached out to Cindy Cross (Dade County GOP chairwoman) to discuss sharing questions. Cross told the Sentinel, “We really worked hard to be nonpartisan because we all live here in this county. I enjoyed talking with Tom and working with the Democratic Committee.”

McMahan, Debbie Tringale (who worked extensively on developing the Democrat questions), and Cross all agreed that these questions are first and foremost to find out what citizens actually think about significant issues.

McMahan and Tringale added that having questions in the primary can motivate citizens to vote in the primary. They also hope the questions spur conversations among citizens. McMahan said, “Ballot questions can be a way of pushing an issue into the public, to get people talking about it.”

Primarily, though, the straw polls help discern public sentiment on issues. McMahan said, “If the public reacts strongly, the commissions can maybe do something with these issues. It’s all about having a conversation with the community.”

Cross agreed, “These questions give the commission something to look at. Decisions aren’t up to two or three people. All we’re doing is giving the people a say.”

The first Democrat ballot question reads: Should Dade County limit ownership of future short term vacation rental units to persons who reside in Dade County or nearby counties?

Tringale said that they spent a lot of time thinking through this question. She explained, “A lot of these [vacation rentals] are run by big property managers from outside the county, as opposed to those who already live here and build a business from within the county. If we get some traction on the question, we’ll have to work on making it more specific to move forward.”

The second question is the one that came from the Republicans. It reads: Should Dade County have a countywide Nuisance Ordinance?

The committee had talked about adding an ordinance-related question but couldn’t decide which area to tackle, so when Cross showed them this one, they were eager to add it to the ballot. McMahan explained why he sees ordinances as important, saying, “If we want to grow at least a little bit, we’re going to have to do something about housing, basic ordinances, and animal control.”

The third Democrat question reads: Should Dade County shift its focus away from expanding new manufacturing and focus more on promoting existing local businesses and home building?

Tringale said that this question was spurred by media coverage of the Industrial Development Authority, the question of how much industry is enough (or too much), and concerns that some citizens have voiced. She said, “There was so much in the newspaper and so much going on about it. We want to let our representatives know how we feel specifically about industry because we really don’t have a say about it.”

The fourth Democrat question (which the Republicans added to their ballot) reads: Should the Dade County Commissioners pass a resolution to urge the state’s Governor and Legislature to continue in the 2025 Legislative Session to improve access to mental health services, including, for example, funding for additional behavioral health centers, additional co-responder units, and other resources to assist those with mental health and substance abuse disorders?

Tringale explained that this question was pulled, almost word for word, from the December 2023 Dade County Board of Commissioners meeting. (See the December 13th, 2023 issue of the Sentinel.) She said, “Even though the commission wrote the question, I think it’s important to have a discussion in the community.”

The funding in question comes from the National Opioids Settlement. In an attempt to fix implementation issues from previous settlements, this agreement is very specific about how the funds can be used. Of the national $50 billion total over 20 years, the state of Georgia is receiving $636 million to be distributed through local governments.

Tringale said, “It’s really important for local governments to go to the state and fight for that money. The most vocal are the ones who will get it.”

She noted that Dade County has both Bridge Health and A Hand Up Ministry, and while Bridge Health is a larger, regional organization, A Hand Up is local. She wonders if voters will want to see the settlement funds go to a local organization. Expressing her own opinion, she said, “It’s all about bringing money home, and if we bring it home, we should bring it to our local organization.”

The first Republican ballot question reads: Should Dade County require a business license of all Contractors who perform work within Dade County? This includes General, Earth Moving, HVAC, Plumbing, Utility and Electrical.

Cross explained that conversations about this topic go all the way back to the 2011 tornadoes. In the aftermath, many citizens were scammed by fly-by-night contractors who did not have business licenses. There was no contact information or record of these contractors, so they could not be tracked down.

Explaining that this question has wrongly been perceived as a money grab, Cross said, “If they had to go apply for a business license, at least we would have a record of them. Even a small license fee would accomplish that goal and help protect people.” She also noted that some insurance companies may require contractors to be licensed.

The second Republican question (the one the Democrats added to their ballot) is the nuisance ordinance one. Cross explained, “We don’t have anything in law about nuisances and noise. If you and your neighbor are having an ugly interchange and somebody calls the police, there’s nothing for them to enforce.”

The third Republican question reads: Does Dade County need some type of Land Use Ordinance in the Unincorporated portion of the county?

Noting that questions like this are controversial in Dade County with multiple sides to consider, Cross said, “This is just throwing it out there to see what people actually think. Personally, I don’t want someone telling me what I can do on my property, but I also don’t want a junkyard coming in right next to me.”

The fourth question is the one that came from the Democrats about the opioid settlement. Echoing McMahan and Tringale’s statements and explaining that the jail bears the burden of mental health issues, Cross said, “We get no help with mental health. Change isn’t going to happen overnight. I talk to our representative (Mike Cameron) all the time about it. I liked how the Democratic Committee worded this question, and everybody I’ve asked about it has said it’s good stuff.”

If voter turnout for the primary proves to be low (meaning results only represent a small portion of the county), Cross noted that they can always add the questions to future ballots and said, “If they’re not getting people’s attention, we can reword them.”

The complete sample ballots are taped outside the elections office at the Dade County Administrative building. Remember that early voting began this Monday.

Stay tuned to find out how Dade’s citizens vote on these questions.