Collins challenger speaks to Morris seniors
By Melanie Patterson
The North Jefferson News
There was no argument in Morris Tuesday morning when Jim Gunter said there needs to be change at the county level.
Gunter claims he’s the one to help bring about that change.
He is running for Jefferson County Commission District 4, the spot currently occupied by commission president Bettye Fine Collins.
Gunter served two terms that ended 14 years ago as Jefferson County Commissioner of community and economic development.
He said that in his eight years of service with the commission he was never implicated in any wrongdoing, as opposed to a string of county commissioners who have gone to trial for various corruption charges in recent years.
“We have had a rash of bad decisions in the county commission since the day I left the commission,” he told a crowd at the Morris Senior Center. “… It has been run like it’s Chicago-style politics.”
Gunter is willing to take on the $5 billion in debt that he said the county commission has saddled Jefferson County residents with.
“That debt belongs to each citizen in Jefferson County because the commission ran the debt up,” he said.
Gunter, owner of Jim Gunter Construction, Inc., said he left the commission mostly because of his opposition to the 15-mile “Super Sewer” tunnel under the Cahaba River and Hwy. 280.
He said he was the only county commissioner to oppose the project and that he accurately predicted that it would throw the county into bankruptcy.
Comments from the crowd indicated that those present were ready for new leadership in the county commission, with one resident saying there needs to be a “clean slate” at the county level.