Sworn to serve
BRUCE BRANUM/THE GREENVILLE STANDARD
Butler County Commissioners; from left, Darrell Sanders, Allin Whittle, Frank Hickman, Jesse McWilliams and Joey Peavy sit at the signing table. (Bruce Branum/The Standard)
BRUCE BRANUM/THE GREENVILLE STANDARD
On Tuesday, Nov. 15, the 2016-2020 terms of Butler County Commissioners were sworn into office. Retired Judge Ed McFerrin officiated and recited the oath of office to each commissioner.
After the swearing in, each commissioner spoke to the crowd.
Joey Peavy, outgoing chairman said, “The most important thing we can do as country and state and county is to practice Mark 12:31 from the Bible. Just love your neighbor as yourself. It doesn’t’ say love only Peavys’ or white people or black people or Indians or people who don’t agree with you. If we’ll just practice that we’ll have a fine country.”
Jesse McWilliams, the longest serving commissioner said, “Diane Kilpatrick has done a great job as county administrator. I love this county; I love the people of this county. We are the safest county in Alabama. I am proud of our accomplishments. We have refurbished schools and paved roads. Working with the commissioners has been a pleasure and Dennis McCall, our county engineer, has been a great benefit to our county. He is recognized throughout our state as one of the best.
Franck Hickman added, “It is my great pleasure and honor to be appointed and reelected four times. It is a tremendous honor to be able to represent the people of Butler County and provide public service. People should try it one time. People should go campaign and knock on doors. People should find out it is not as easy as you think it might would be. To do that, you have to have a thick skin, a willing smile, a firm handshake and the ability to listen to people who don’t agree with you and be kind and courteous to them and respect their opinions and understand that they have the right to their opinions. Serving the people in this capacity has been a tremendous blessing to me. We’ve made county government more efficient. We had to make it more efficient. We did it because it was what we should do and it is the right thing to do and what is best for the citizens. When you are given job to do with limited resources you have to find a way to do it.”
Allin Whittle, the only commissioner who had the only opponent in the election, spoke, “County government is unique in the fact that it is an arm of the legislature. I love the fact that here in Butler County, the government agencies work so well together. I tell the mayors of McKenzie, Georgiana and Greenville that what is good for the cities is good for Butler County and that what is good for Butler County is good for the cities.” Whittle also spoke of his pleasure in working with McCall and Kilpatrick.
Darrell Sanders said, “You have to have a servant’s heart to do this job. It’s been an honor to serve. The reason we keep going is all the good things happening and all the smiles we see and the people who are appreciative of the things we got accomplished.
