The county’s Board of Commissioners are mulling over what type of government we will have here in Newton County.

This is a subject that the chairman for sure has a big interest in, because the decision made could affect the power and pay that goes with that position.

Our polls, which are not scientific in any way, show that the citizens of the county do not want both a county manager and a ruling chairman.

We suggest that the commissioners ask their own constituents what they would like and then vote the will of the taxpayers they represent, and not their own will.

The chairman should excuse himself from any final vote.

Currently we are paying over $261,000 in salary and more for benefits for our county’s upper management, a third of this was temporary and will go away when John Middleton retires in later in the year, after a 14-year career.

The other two thirds could be reduced by having only one head of the county.