Editor;
Recently George Ralph Miller appeared before the Board Of County Commissioners to profess his innocence in the Chat Holley debacle and called his termination as Special Counsel to the BCC a "knee jerk reaction" and said he has been left with a "professional black eye". Well Mr. Miller, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck. Mr. Miller goes on to say he is a "close personal friend" to Lloyd Blue but insisted he had not done business with Mr. Blue since 1990. As a professional attorney, if Mr. Miller had really wanted to avoid the appearance of impropriety he would and should have recused himself because of his close personal friendship with Lloyd Blue. Full disclosure of the beneficiaries of the purchase (Blue and his wife Pleas) were not revealed to the county prior to the sale and disclosure would assuredly have avoided the appearance of impropriety.
George Ralph Miller was also the County Attorney from 1969 to 2001. If memory serves me correctly there were any number of land deals brought before the BCC during those years that involved property owned by Lloyd Blue and/or his associates during Mr. Miller's tenure as the County Attorney and this isn't the first time that the appearance of impropriety has reared it's ugly head in regard to land purchases that directly benefited Mr. Miller's close personal friend. Those were also situations were because of the personal relationship between Miller and Blue that the County Attorney should have recused himself and didn't. Mr. Miller was also paid a $10,000.00 -a-month retainer to REMEMBER who told him to proceed.
I'm not sure (if anything) what a wedding and event venue owned by Lloyd Blue has to do with the Chat Holley purchase but I am more than just a tad awed by the fact that the venue is almost on top of Chat Holley Road. The BCC's intent to purchase this property ostensibly was to create a turn lane, a turn lane that would benefit a private business? Surely not. But stranger things have happened in Walton County that have benefited only a few and lined many an Attorney and the "good ole boys" pockets.
I have been to many a County Commission meeting in the past were policies and procedures or lack thereof have resulted in egg on the faces of the County Commission and the County Commission has had ample opportunity and time to rectify those problems. If the County Commission doesn't learn from the mistakes of their past history tells us you are doomed to repeat them. The Citizens of Walton County have long asked that the BCC operate in the Sunshine and avoid costly taxpayer mistakes. Isn't it time that you do so?
One more thing, Lynn Hoshihara was hired as the County Attorney at an annual salary of $95,000.00. George Ralph Miller was on a $10,000.00 -a-month retainer to serve as a special counsel. Surely the County Commission can find ONE attorney for that amount of money who has the best interest of the taxpayers at heart and will work to promote transparent government to prevent this from ever happening again. At the very least, you owe that to the taxpayers Commissioners.