Welcome! Thank you for checking out my site as I run for Leesburg City Council. I hope to earn your support, and -if you live in the City of Leesburg, Ga - your vote!
If you have any questions or comments, please use the contact form on the top menu!
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I will be ordering yard signs later this morning, so please let me know if you would do me the great honor of having my sign in your yard!
The campaign could also use several volunteers for a couple of things.
One is good old-fashioned knocking on doors. Yes, it is July, and yes, it tends to be around triple digits both in the evenings and on Saturdays. But knocking on doors is the most sure-fire way to spread the campaign’s message and interact with the voters of Leesburg, and I am committed to doing it.
The other is something that anyone reading this can do. It is basically a remote phone bank, where I have phone numbers, the call script, and a note pad all on the same screen that you can sign into and work from. All you need to help with this project is an internet connection and a phone.
If you would like to help with either of these efforts, please let me know.
Also, if you don’t really have any time but you would like to help, I can always use two things: your prayers and your money.
If you’re uncomfortable using the paypal button on the right side of this screen, please feel free to mail checks to:
Sexton For Leesburg
126 Nacoochee Drive
Leesburg Ga 31763
Thanks y’all!
Jeff
 Solid Red Yard Sign Design  Black and Red Yard Sign Design
This week I will be at the Lee County Board of Commissioners meeting tomorrow, July 13, from 5:30 until after it is over. There will be a public hearing about a Parks and Recreation matter at 5:30, followed by the regularly scheduled Board of Commissioners meeting at 6p. The Board meeting will feature a public hearing on the Hazard Mitigation Plan, a copy of which forms the bulk of the 140+ page Agenda Packet for this meeting, as well as me presenting my vision for Leesburg Central Park to the Commissioners.
Later this week, I will also be working to help clean our rivers along the Upper Kinchafoonee Creek with Leesburg Mayor Quinn and several other volunteers. We currently plan to meet at the bridge on Hwy 32 west of town at 8am.
I would love to meet you at one of these two events this week!
Last night’s Leesburg City Council meeting literally lasted about 15 minutes, and once again I was the only candidate running in the Sept 21 Special Election in attendance.
Also present, however, was one of the brothers that owns and operates San Joe’s Mexican Restaurant. Many of you remember this restaurant as once being in downtown Albany and offering dang good authentic mexican food.
San Joe’s currently has a restaurant in Dawson, and they are working to relocate to the former Krystal’s building at the corner of US 19 and Robert B Lee Rd that Austin’s BBQ recently vacated. They moved one step closer to that goal last night when the Council – minus Councilmember Judy Powell, who was on vacation in Tahiti – unanimously approved San Joe’s application for a license to sell beer and wine by the glass.
However, to serve their margaritas and other mixed drinks, they also need a license to sell liquor by the glass – and that is where they need our help.
You see, for San Joe’s to get this license, apparently there will need to be a vote in the City of Leesburg to allow these sales – and there has to be a citizen petition to get such a vote on the ballot. When it was initially mentioned during the meeting that a citizen would have to request this vote, I immediately requested it only to be told of this petition requirement.
So now I have two things to ask you, my fellow Citizens of Leesburg, to support:
1) My campaign, as I work to attract San Joe’s and other businesses to our City and support existing business in any reasonable way I can – such as working for a business friendly sign ordinance.
2) This petition and eventual vote to allow sales of liquor by the drink in the City of Leesburg.
For Leesburg,
Jeff Sexton
Today marks the official start of the next chapter of your lives. I wish you all the best!
This article appeared on Page 5A of the March 31 edition of the Lee County Ledger
There has been some recent public discussion regarding a growing level of cooperation between leaders in Lee and Dougherty Counties.
First, I want to discuss some positives. Growing lines of communication between neighbors is basic common sense. There is no reason not to acknowledge each others’ presence at a bare minimum, and there are many solid reasons to openly talk to each other – such as the fact that many EMTs in the area are employed by both Dougherty and Lee Counties, on different days.
There are also issues, such as fires that start on one side of a county line and spread to the other, where you need those lines of communication, and you need cooperation between the neighbors. Or maybe some crime spree happens near the County line, such as the rash of robberies in Eagle Trace on the Dougherty County (Albany City) side of LeDo Road last fall, and you want the other County’s law enforcement officials to be aware of the issue so that they can watch for suspicious activity while on their patrols as well.
But there is also much to be troubled about in regards to this “spirit of cooperation”.
When I see that the Director of the Lee County Chamber of Commerce is content with Lee County being a “bedroom community” to Albany, that deeply troubles me. When I see the Chairman of the Lee County Board of Commissioners essentially bragging that Lee County has so few jobs that 85% of its population has to work in Dougherty County, that deeply troubles me.
When Lee County business and government leaders are more worried about “cooperating” with Dougherty County than bringing more jobs and more growth into Lee County, that deeply troubles me.
These leaders are content with the status quo, and more than anything else, that deeply troubles me.
Leaders should always strive to push their people to become MORE than they are. They should not be satisfied with being a “bedroom community”, but should instead seek to make their NEIGHBORS the “bedroom community”.
Quite frankly, I don’t want the Lee County Chamber of Commerce and the Lee County Board of Commissioners trying to attract Best Buy to come into the former Circuit City building barely a half mile from the Lee/Dougherty line. I want those organizations trying to attract Best Buy to buy some land near the intersection of Forrester Parkway and US 19 and build there instead – inside Lee County. The people are there to support the business either way, and it will get the same amount of traffic either way, with the new Publix and CVS going up at that same intersection. The difference is that the property tax it pays will go into LEE County coffers. The sales tax it generates will go into LEE County coffers. The additional traffic it generates will lead to further LEE County growth.
When it comes to attracting jobs, businesses, and other growth, there should not be a spirit of cooperation between Dougherty and Lee, but a spirit of competition. When neighboring local communities compete for these things, everyone prospers.
Competition among local governments keeps them as least intrusive as possible, and therefore keeps taxes as low as possible. But it also prompts them to work to offer better, more efficient services than their neighbors.
For example, a local government truly concerned about attracting local businesses does not try to run local businesses away by enacting restrictive sign ordinances. A local government truly concerned about attracting local businesses does not continue to pour money down the drain on pipe dreams that will never be fulfilled, but instead works to help businesses grow wherever they wish to locate. A local government concerned with the safety of its citizens knows that it has waited too long to deem a dog dangerous when it bites a human for the first time. A local government concerned about the safety of its citizens knows that having a police department known more for its ineptitude that its bravery only repels potential citizens who wish to live in relative security.
But hey – this is all common sense.
Welcome back to JefferySexton.com, my online campaign headquarters.
Due to the recent resignation of Leesburg City Councilman Steve Kitchens, there will be a special election this September to fill the remaining year of his term. I certainly wish Mr. Kitchens the best, as I know that this was not a decision he made lightly.
When I found out about Mr. Kitchens’ decision, I immediately contacted my wife and close friends and decided that I would run in the special election. Qualifying for that election is the week of June 7, with the election being on Sept 14. I plan to qualify on June 8, as well as cast my vote in the July 20 Republican Primary, before attending that night’s Lee County Board of Commissioners meeting.
To catch y’all back up on my activities since the last campaign, here’s a brief rundown:
First, on the night of the election, there was a Council meeting where I kept the one campaign promise I made last time to an individual – that I would bring a storm water drainage issue she was having before the Council.
Since last September, I have only missed a single Council meeting and only a couple of County Commission meetings. I began videotaping both sets of meetings in January, and I place them online for all to see as a matter of transparency in government. I have begun to work closely with City Clerk Casey Moore to establish a website for the city, and we hope to have the site and other features fully functional before school starts back in August.
I have also remained active in local government, speaking out against the illegal Sign Ordinance that both the City and the County currently have (more on that in the next post) as well as speaking out against Lee County leaders luring business and development to Dougherty County rather than Lee County.
I have recently begun to attend every meeting of the Lee County Republican Party, as well as the Libertarian Party of Southwest Georgia, and if I knew when the Lee County Democrats met, I would attend their meetings as well.
Overall, local issues are not about Party so much as doing the right thing for the citizens and residents of our City, and that is why I like non-partisan local elections. We need someone on the Council well versed in what the Council is currently facing, and I am the ONLY person with the attendance record to know these issues.
I said last fall that I was committed to the City of Leesburg, and I mean it. This is my home, this is where I want my children to call home, and their children as well. I hope you’ll join me as we work to blend the best of Leesburg’s past and its future!
Congratulations are in order for Mayor Pro-Tem Richard Bush, who won the field tonight 70-20.
I’m not going to lie and say the better, more accessible candidate won. I didn’t.
So the 2009 Leesburg City Council election is in the books. Game Over, I lose.
But I am announcing here and now that I WILL be back in 2011. I’ll announce which post I intend to challenge for sometime in the summer of 2011. Until then, I will continue working for the city I love so much I adopted it as my hometown. I will continue to push for more open government, better flowing traffic, more recreation opportunities, and more professionalism from our City Council. On that last note in particular, I must applaud the Council for actually having perfect attendance tonight. Kudos!
This site will continue to operate, though I do intend to give it a facelift this weekend – changing the main banner, maybe adding some links, that sort of thing. I will also continue to be available via Yahoo Instant Messenger at SextonForLeesburg, and GMail/GoogleTalk at sextonforleesburg@gmail.com. Please do not hesitate to contact me with anything I may be of assistance with, and I’ll work to get your problem solved.
Thank you to the 20 people who voted for me and all my friends and supporters who did not live in the City of Leesburg and therefore could not. I promise you I will come back in 2011 bigger, better and stronger.
That campaign begins NOW.
This is a concept that I have long thought about, been trained in, and prayed about. For reasons not exactly known to me, I’ve been regarded as a “leader” throughout most of my life. Fortunately, I had amazing adults training me as a child so that I would know the true heart of leadership – a concept I later learned was called “service leadership”. Indeed, I still look back to those lessons when faced with a difficult decision.
Service leadership is, at its heart, putting the people you lead before yourself. Making their interests and desires YOUR interests and desires. Working to solve their problems in a way that both helps them learn to solve it themeselves, if possible, and still gets the job done.
Service leadership is a burden not to be taken lightly. It does not seek glory for itself, choosing instead to work in the shadows where possible. It means having no desire for self, only that the people be served to the best extent possible. Yes, this means that “leaders” who lack the heart of service leadership must be challenged from time to time – a seeming contradiction, if you do not know the service leader.
When a service leader speaks, it is to build up and to protect those whom he serves. His actions are to serve the same purpose.
Because he must protect those he serves, he must also be skilled in the art of combat in whatever arena may be called upon by his position. A general must be skilled in military combat or he is not worthy of the rank. A pastor must be skilled in spiritual combat or he cannot protect his flock from the wolves. A political leader must be skilled in political maneuverings or he cannot defend against others who would seek to harm his citizens.
Service leaders are both born and raised. Born, because the heart of the service leader is a gift of God. Raised, because the service leader must be taught how to lead and how to defend. He already knows in his heart how to serve.
Ultimately, service leadership is a choice. The servant leader must choose day by day, moment by moment, to seek his own glory or to serve his people. He must accept the call to leadership, and he must accept the burden it places upon him.
Note: This letter was written early in the morning on October 13. That night, in a meeting Jeff couldn’t attend due to the 13th being his anniversary, Leesburg City Councilwoman Judy Powell attended the Lee County Commission meeting and spoke in favor of the proposed boat ramp along the Kinchafoonee Creek at Slappey Rd near the Lee/Dougherty line.
As I walk around Leesburg talking to people, I keep hearing about recreation and the need for more safe recreation opportunities in town. Not just organized sports, such as baseball, softball, and soccer, but solo exercise such as a walking loop or a safe place for kids to play on a playground without fear of a baseball flying over a nearby fence.
The problem for these people is two-fold: 1) The City of Leesburg doesn’t have a Parks and Recreation Department, it is entirely run by the County. 2) Their City Commissioners don’t always show up for their own meetings, much less the County Commission meetings where recreation opportunities could be discussed.
Because the City of Leesburg doesn’t have a Parks and Recreation Department, one might think that City Councilpersons might take an interest in showing up to Lee County Board of Commissioners meetings, where they could at least keep track of what the County was doing in regards to such a major issue with their constituents. I’ve been doing that for two months, long before I decided to run for City Council myself. The problem is, I haven’t seen any City Councilperson there with the exception of Mayor Jim Quinn. Furthermore, of the two City Council meetings I’ve gone to, only three Councilpersons have been at both of them – Sydney Johnson, Bob Wilson, and Mayor Quinn.
The citizens of Leesburg deserve a Councilman dedicated enough to seek out news and developments on the topics that concern them, as well as the topics that are boring to them but are equally important. They deserve a Councilman professional enough to actually show up at the meetings where these issues are discussed. They deserve a Councilman open enough to share his own analysis of the topic and the information he based his analysis on.
I created SWGAPolitics.com with those exact ideals nine months ago, and I will continue to uphold those ideals as the newest Leesburg City Councilman.
Jeff Sexton,
Leesburg, GA
This article was published in the Albany Journal on Weds, October 14, 2009 as a Letter to the Editor.
Lee County is projected to grow from our current ~30,000 people to over 70,000 people over the next 20 years.
We, as a community, have never seen that kind of growth before. Even the doubling of population we saw over the past 20 years, when we grew from roughly 16K people in 1990 to roughly 33K people today, is only a small taste of doubling from where we are now to where we are going.
But I, as an individual, HAVE seen first hand the kind of growth we are projected to go through. I’ve lived through it. Bartow County when I was a kid was roughly 40,000 people. Bartow County now is closer to 90,000.
So I’ve seen some things that worked, and some things that didn’t. One of the major things that worked was Dellinger Park, which is the inspiration for my sports complex idea. That park attracts a wide variety of people for a wide variety of reasons, including sports tournaments, exercise, and family time – both family reunions and just having a day at the park with the kids feeding the ducks in the duck pond or playing on one of several playgrounds. This constant stream of people then enticed other development in the general area, and now they have SEVERAL new subdivisions, restaurants, banks and retail stores. Even First Baptist Church of Cartersville recently relocated from downtown Cartersville to the area near Dellinger Park. So a park of this type CAN prove to be an economic engine in a town, and this is why I would like to see one in Leesburg.
So vote for the guy who has been there and knows how to anticipate, encourage, and manage growth responsibly.
Vote Jeff Sexton for City Council!
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