 |
Jeana Conley believes her track record as superintendent of Cherokee County Schools translates well to a position on the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners.
Conley, who officially retired Monday, is running as a write-in candidate for the District 1 commission seat held by Cal Stiles. She has spent years connected to the hot-button issue of school consolidation, after commissioners and the board of education narrowly approved plans for a unified high school in Peachtree. While Conley believes the boards’ votes offer the best plan for students’ education, she said her candidacy is bigger than that – it’s about solving a broad variety of problems facing Cherokee County.
“I think there’s been this attempt to harness the school consolidation issue and make that all of who I am as a candidate,” she said. “The truth is, for eight years I’ve managed a $40-plus million budget and we’ve never, ever gone in the red.
“Even though I was a big proponent of the East and West (two high school model) in the beginning, I soon realized once we had a study completed, this tax base could not support (it). Being able to utilize a memorandum of understanding with Tri-County Community College and leverage all of their wonderful programs to supplement our high school programs, it became the best plan for us to follow and the most cost effective for this county to follow.”
Conley said her professional background has shown she knows how to operate an agency within a budget. She also believes she is proactive about tackling problems before they have a chance to take root, such as unforeseen issues related to unenclosed crypto mining operations.
“Unfortunately, sometimes after a business gets entrenched here, there’s not a legal avenue to approach (a problem with them),” she said. “That’s why you have to be in front of these things, and make sure you’re studied and know what’s coming down the pike.”
When it comes to drawing the right kinds of companies to Cherokee County, Conley said it’s important to have key foundational elements in place.
“If we really need to decide who we want to be when we grow up, and if we want to bring companies here, then what they’re looking for is the skilled worker base to be able to draw from,” she said. “When companies look at an area, they ask, ‘Do they have quality health care, do they have quality schools, do they have housing for our people and do they have day care?’
“So, curing all of those things will make us an inviting place that people want to move to. But if we really want industry to move here, then we need to be able to provide a skilled base workforce. That’s crucial, and that’s one of the reasons I’m so behind making the school happen.”
Recreation is another key issue for Conley, who said she’s heard from many residents who would like to see the county add a cloverleaf ball field complex and green space similar to Meeks Park in Blairsville, Ga. She also believes the board of commissioners needs to take a more active role in addressing issues related to homelessness in the county.
“I have talked to several law enforcement officers and as a citizen, I have been warned, don’t go walk certain places by yourself because there’s a group of people living under a bridge there, or people doing this or that,” she said.
“We’re at a crucial point where we really need to begin researching the problem so we can find a solution before we get overtaken by something that’s too big for us to manage. The county needs to be involved in supplying resources and finding out exactly what’s going on.”
Conley, who was born and raised in Andrews, said she wants to see “thriving businesses” in her district. She credited Mayor James Reid for the job he’s done in Andrews and said she would love to see the town find its niche.
“If tourism can be leveraged, and I’m not saying this is what it should be, then why doesn’t Andrews become a wedding town just like Gatlinburg (Tenn.)?” she asked. “I think Andrews could really benefit from some kind of boom-theme situation like that, and I’d like to be part of a think tank to make that happen.”