Pittman touts business background

Brittany Pittman’s campaign during the special election last year to fill the Murray County sole commissioner’s position was her first for elected office. She did it with future generations in mind.

Now Pittman is challenging incumbent Greg Hogan in the Republican primary on July 31. No Democrat qualified, so the winner of the primary is essentially elected.

“As a mother and also as a lifelong citizen of our county, I just want to ensure that the future generations of our community continue to prosper, and the decisions we are making today will affect their potential to flourish and be successful in the future,” Pittman said.

“I think in Murray County it’s time for change,” she said. “Without change we’ll continue to fall further behind, and that’s basically why I ran for the office, was my desire to ensure that the same economic opportunities come our way that have come to the other surrounding counties.”

Qualifications

Asked what she would bring to the sole commissioner position, Pittman said, “My background has primarily been in business management in the finance industry, and I think in tough economic times that we’re facing you really need someone that has a strong financial background who is able to get us through these economic times and come out of this recession onto more stable economic ground.”

Pittman graduated from Murray County High School. She said she has a master’s degree in administration. She said she has worked with several large corporate banks, and was most recently vice president of a bank in Chatsworth.

“I have a proven track record of being an essential leader within the companies that I’ve worked as well as the organizations that I’ve volunteered with,” she said. “I’ve developed multimillion dollar budgets, and I’ve managed large numbers of employees as well as helped small businesses design their budgets. I would use those skills that I’ve used in my past experience to help move our county forward.”

Asked what specifically she would push for if elected, she said, “The budget needs to be reviewed, that’s a big thing, and wasteful spending needs to be eliminated.

“I would actively pursue and market our county to potential businesses, and help the current businesses that we have to retain them, and point out the tax incentives that are available because we’re considered a Tier 1 county” under state guidelines.

She said the county needs to become “more commercially and economically diverse. I will be aggressive and persevering in seeking new grant opportunities, and I would partner with regional, state and federal partners as well as the (state) Department of Community Affairs to develop tools, tax incentives and financing options for new business growth.”

Pittman said she would “work with the current committees in place to identify vacant commercial buildings, shovel-ready sites, and market them to potential businesses looking to locate in the Southeast.”

TSPLOST

Pittman said there are “pros and cons” about the regional transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (TSPLOST) referendum that will be on the ballot.

“I don’t feel that the TSPLOST is the answer that we need for several reasons,” she said. “We don’t need to take our sales tax from 7 to 8 percent when household budgets are already feeling the crunch and facing cutbacks. Given our current unemployment rate is the second highest in the state and our per capita income continues to fall, an increased tax is just going to obstruct our growth and competitiveness even more.”

Pittman noted Murray County is part of a 15-county region, “some of which have no similarities” to Murray. “It’s my fear that we would end up being a donor county to some of the larger counties and will contribute much more than we will get back. In my evaluation of the proposal there are too many questions left unanswered to consider approving it.”

Back to a board of commissioners?

A non-binding question placed on the ballot by both major political parties asks if Murray County should return to a board of commissioners instead of keeping the sole commissioner form of government. Pittman was asked her view of the question.

“I think as long as you have good, qualified candidates in either the sole commissioner or the board of commissioners that have the best interest of our community at heart, no ulterior agendas, then we’ll be OK,” she said. “I think the key is finding the right people. I think as long as you have the right people you are all right either way. I think ultimately it’s up to the voters. If that’s the way that they want to go then I’ll support that direction, but ultimately it’s not up to me, it’s up to the voters.”

Potential conflict of interest?

Pittman’s husband Anthony is parks and recreation director for Murray County. Asked if there is potential for a conflict of interest if she is elected, she said, “Nepotism won’t be an issue, it won’t be a conflict of interest because ... according to the Murray County organizational chart he does not report directly to the commissioner and that will not change.

“There’s also a recreation board in place. Any changes to any policies and procedures, they have to filter through (the board), and also complaints are filed with the recreation board and they handle all of that. All their meetings and so forth are very open to the public and transparent, so it will not be an issue.”

Pittman has four children and she said the family attends and are active members of Holly Creek Baptist Church. She said she is also “very active in my community as far as volunteering,” noting she serves on several different boards, including those of the Boys and Girls Clubs, Family Frameworks and the Murray County Development Center. She has also been involved with Relay For Life for the American Cancer Society and Keep Chatsworth-Murray Beautiful.

“While I will lead the charge, if elected nothing can be accomplished alone,” she said. “It will take a community-wide effort to make this community what we all know it can be.”

She can be contacted by email at pittmanforcommissioner@gmail.com or on her website, pittmanforcommissioner.com.

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