The Hall County Board of Commissioners is searching for a replacement for the District 1 planning commissioner appointment.
Planning commission positions are appointments, as opposed to other governmental seats that are decided by elections. As planning commissioner Trey Bell resigned from his position at the end of 2022, the Board of Commissioners now faces the task of finding an appropriate and suitable replacement. Commissioner Kathy Cooper said she plans to put Frank Sosby’s name forward in the coming days.
Sosby was a previous Hall County Planning Commission member who represented District 1 prior to Bell. Cooper said appointing Sosby again would be valuable to the commission’s duties because of his experience.
“Frank Sosby would be my suggestion for the planning commission, he served for me before Trey Bell did,” Cooper said. “He's been off and on the planning commission for years. So he's very well qualified to serve.”
Each district commissioner will bring forward a recommendation for the rest of the board to consider and vote on. Once the Board of Commissioners reach a consensus, they will appoint an individual to the planning commission.
Cooper said it is important to have someone who is community-driven and well-versed in property law. She praised planning commission chairman Chris Braswell for his extensive knowledge of county development.
“I think you really would want somebody that has a little bit of background knowledge — real estate, of course,” Cooper said. “Chris Braswell, he knows the ordinances backward and forwards. So you have to have somebody that is willing to learn that and know what, you know, what is good and what's not. But you also have to have somebody that, you know, is in touch with their community to know what the people would want to see, as far as development.”
Planning commission seats are traditionally compensated on a per-meeting basis. Cooper said it is important for appointees to put a lot of their energy into the position, as planning commissioners are required to visit the locations of all variance and rezoning requests.
“You have to be able to dedicate some time to it,” Cooper said. “The meetings are long for them. And it just helps if you know development and real estate and the ordinances and, you know, have good communication back and forth with our planning staff also.”
The Hall County Board of Commissioners will meet on Jan. 12 at 6:00 p.m. The Planning Commission will next meet on Jan. 17 at 5:15 p.m.
