Mize pleads for patience

Cutting the budget and slow to act on a step salary plan may give the impression that three members of Oconee County Council are determined to run-off county workers, but that’s not the case, according to a councilman who addressed financial matters during today’s special council meeting.  Don Mize, a first-term District Three councilman, said he has asked County Administrator Amanda Brock to convey to the workforce the council is, as Mize put it, “all for the employees.”  He is asking for them to afford the council patience as it goes about a wage and labor study that he and his colleagues hope addresses some of the salary inequities among the county workforce.  Earlier in today’s meeting, District Four’s Julian Davis addressed criticism of him and District One’s John Elliott for their positions in favor of increased spending.  Davis said “hate continues to sprout in this county” and that kind of dialogue is counterproductive to good government.