Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Josephine, said it is not a matter of if the Baldwin County Commission will implement a permanent chairperson but rather, when.

"We're going to do this, and that is all there is to it," Elliott said. "If I can't get the votes together this year, I will get them next year. This is going to happen. This needs to happen for Baldwin County."

Elliott, who served on the commission from 2014 to 2018, is preparing to introduce legislation that will amend Alabama law to allow for the election of a Baldwin County Commission chairperson in a county-wide election.

That individual would serve as a fifth commission member, with voting privileges, and would also serve as a fulltime employee of the county. Currently, county commissioners hold their positions while also maintaining full-time employment elsewhere. The legislation calls for the position's salary to be based on the same salary schedule as a circuit court judge in Baldwin County.

In their meeting Tuesday, May 2, commission members unanimously adopted a resolution opposing the proposed legislation.

In the resolution, the commissioners "urge all members of the Alabama Legislature, and in particular the Baldwin County Legislative Delegation, to oppose any efforts to pass this legislation."

Elliott, who first introduced the chairman idea in 2018, said the exponential growth the county is facing requires a fulltime person that acts as a type of CEO for the county to address the issues that come with that breakneck pace.

"If you look at other fast-growing counties, they have a strong chairman in place to set the vision and be in a position of leadership and have the ability to be there at all times running that giant organization," Elliott said.

"We need our commission thinking strategically and to coordinate with other elected officials in the county about what our broad, long-range goals are going to look like and unfortunately that's very difficult to do when you're one of four part-time commissioners who meet every other week to pay bills and let the county employees run the day-to-day operation," he said.

Baldwin County's budget will top nearly $200 million, this year. That alone, Elliott said, requires daily, consistent oversight.

An elected chairperson, Elliott said, could also be a consistent voice on a number of area boards that the commission is required to attend, perhaps most notably the RESTORE Council that decides how $20 billion are spent granted to the region after the BP oil spill.

Currently, the commission chairperson, which potentially changes each year, attends those meetings.

"They only meet four times a year. That new person comes in, finds out what we do, finally learns how to work it and then the year's over. It's a hard way to govern and be impactful especially when the other council members are consistently there," Elliott said.

The drafted legislation also calls for the elected chairperson to appoint the following county positions, subject to the approval of the county commission: county administrator, county engineer, clerk / treasurer, budget director, emergency management director, personnel director and development and environmental director who would report directly to the chairperson.

Currently, county staff members report to all four commissioners.

"That management structure is difficult to maintain, and we've started to see that come to a head recently," Elliott said. "This is not reaction to that but the symptom of that must be acknowledged."

Finally, simple math, Elliott said, makes the change necessary.

"We have seen the commission hopelessly deadlocked in a two-two vote scenario," he said. "Having a deliberating body with an even number of people that can end up in a deadlock is silly. I think everyone can agree that needs to be helped."