I will look into any potential code violation —Richard Raines

Commissioner Raines is new to the job and he may not have been following the Foxborough saga last year, since Vince Schneider already did all that; I have added a few links and pictures for illustration. -jsq
From: Richard Raines
To: Vincent Schneider
Cc: Joe Pritchard
Cc: Ashley Paulk
Cc: Joyce Evans
Cc: Crawford Powell
Subject: Follow Up
Sent: May 23, 2011 3:20 PM

Mr. Schneider,

Thank you for meeting with me briefly this morning. As promised, I forwarded your letter along to the other members of the Board of Commissioners, the County Manager, and our County Fire Chief.

I’ve ased Chief Guyton to review your letter to see if any of your grievances warrant an inspection by Code Enforcement.

As you mentioned today, your desire is to see the McDonald’s Restaurant

project “completely shut down.” While I sympathize with your situation, as most do, we have a form of County government which is purposefully designed to be limited in scope and authority. As I stated this morning, there is little we can do outside of enforcing code violations and investigating potential violations when brought to our attention.

There may very well be some action you can take to further your cause, but, unfortunately, petitioning the Board of Commissioners to exercise authority it does not have, will only further your frustration. I think you deserve better than to be placated or simply brushed aside, which is why I’ve chosen to address your grievances in such an honest and direct manner.

I encourage you to use other avenues, such as letters to the editor of our local paper, participating in the Citizens Wishing to be Heard portion of the County Commission meetings, organizing a community group engaging the restaurant directly with negotiations, etc. If your position is one which is shared by your neighbors and others in the community, you may be surprised at the effect it will have.

I am open to continuing this dialogue and will look into any potential code violation which might be taking (or have taken) place.

Sincerely,

Richard D. Raines
Lowndes County Board of Commissioners
District 2

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry