Poitevint seeks District 2 post

A Grady County man who believes county tax dollars are not being spent to benefit all residents is seeking a seat on the county commission.
Billy Poitevint of 1926 Stage Coach Road qualified Friday as a Republican candidate for the District 2 county commission post, which is currently held by incumbent Democrat Commissioner Charles Renaud.
Renaud and Poitevint will do battle in the Nov. 2 general election since no other Republicans or Democrats qualified.
“I have always been interested in local government,” Poitevint said. This is not the first political campaign run by the semiretired sheet metal worker. Several years ago, Poitevint ran for a seat on the Grady County Board of Education but was unsuccessful.
“I would like to see the county taxpayers’ money spent to benefit all and not a select few,” Poitevint said. He believes that more county resources should be invested in dirt roads rather than in projects that benefit a “select few.”
“There are some dirt roads in this county today (Tuesday) which are practically impassible and the county doesn’t have the funds to fix them because of other projects the county is spending money on to benefit a few citizens,” the Republican candidate said.
Commenting on some of the issues facing the county commission including solid waste, Poitevint says the county does not need less dump sites, but needs better sites.
“I attended the public hearing on solid waste and I told them we need to fix up sites like Mitchell County that can be serviced by a pickup truck and you don’t need a garbage truck,” Poitevint said.
In Mitchell County, according to Poitevint, residents drive up on a concrete ramp and a trailer is parked along side the ramp and residents can dispose of the garbage. A truck then pulls away the filled trailer and an empty trailer is put in its place.
Poitevint says fewer sites are not warranted because every time he drives by, the dumpsters are full.
The District 2 candidate also believes for the most part the county is already zoned since the majority of land is being farmed.
“Most of the county is farmed and that is what it is used for so, as far as I am concerned, the property owner has it zoned,” he said.
However, Poitevint is against anyone being allowed to negatively effect or cause a neighbor a problem and he believes that the county’s existing land use regulations are sufficient to prevent that from happening.
Poitevint is the owner and operator of Cairo Roofing & Sheet Metal, which formerly operated on 2nd Ave. S.E., but since he semiretired in 2001 the operation has been moved to his home on Stage Coach Road. He began working with sheet metal in 1959.
He and his wife have two grown children, four grandchildren and one great-grandchild. The Poitevints are members of Eastside Baptist Church and have been for the last 27 years.
“I am a conservative, and I believe in spending money wisely and where it will benefit everyone in the county,” Poitevint said.