Call her chairman

Published 12:33 am Wednesday, August 17, 2016

With no opposition on the November ballot, Lynn Laughter is set to become the first female chairman of the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners next January.

But when she takes office, she’ll make history in another way. She’ll become the first chairman since the position started being elected by the voters more than 20 years ago to have been a sitting commissioner when elected. Laughter currently serves as the District 4 commissioner.

“I didn’t even realize that,” she said. “People have been asking me about being the first female chairman, and that’s an honor. I’ve been asked if I’m going to be chairwoman or chairperson or just chair, and I’ve decided that I just want to be called chairman.”

Current Chairman Mike Babb says having been a commissioner will give Laughter an advantage that he and other incoming chairmen haven’t had. Even though he’d been a volunteer firefighter for many years and had done his best to get informed about county business, Babb says it was “like drinking from a fire hose” after he was first elected in 1996.

“Lynn has been in our meetings for the past four years. She’s sat in on budget meetings and been able to talk to department heads and constitutional officers, so she really should be up to date on county business,” he said.

But Laughter says she still plans to take steps during the next five months to make sure that she hasn’t let any relevant detail escape her grasp.

“I plan to meet with the existing commissioners and talk to them about our plans,” she said. “I want to find out what’s important to them and what they want to work on.”

Laughter, a Republican, has completed her basic certification as county commissioner and plans to pursue advanced certification through the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute and the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia.

“I’m going to focus on finance and economic development,” she said. “I don’t know if I’m going to get that done, but I’m going to try.”

Laughter says she also wants to have an extended discussion with Babb.

“He’s served 16 years as chairman and before that many years as a fireman,” she said. “He’s going to know where all of the potholes are, any areas where we might trip up.”

One of the things she says she needs to discuss is the various regional and state boards that the chairman serves on.

“I need to talk to him and see which ones I have to sit on and which ones I have a choice about, and of the ones I have a choice about, which ones would be most beneficial to the county for me to be on there,” she said. “I do have a full-time job, and county business also takes up quite a bit of time, so I need to be careful about my other commitments.”

Laughter says one thing she is still trying to decide is whether she will be a voting chairman. The chairman does not have to vote unless there is a tie or under some other limited circumstances. But the chairman is also not legally prohibited from voting at other times.

During his past two terms, Babb has typically voted only when needed, as did Brian Anderson before him.

But during his first two terms as chairman, Babb generally did vote on most matters.

“My feeling is that the public has a right to know how the chairman feels about things, so I’m leaning towards being a voting chairman, but I haven’t made up my mind yet,” Laughter said.