CLERMONT — They stayed friendly and civil, agreeing on a wide array of hot-button topics - such as water and sewer, ethics and taxes.
And the two candidates for Hall County Board of Commissioners' District 3 seat delivered a crowd-pleaser to the Clermont crowd when they advocated moving the North Hall library back to Clermont proper if possible.
The candidates are vying to replace Commissioner Steve Gailey, who is not seeking re-election. They will face each other in the July 20 Republican primary.
"I think that when this thing goes to a judge in the next few weeks, he will do a restraining order and Jones (Cottrell or) I will hopefully have an opportunity to keep (the library) in Clermont," Scott Gibbs told the crowd of about 30 at a forum Tuesday night.
"I think the restraining order will keep (the issue) tied up until we are in office."
Cottrell said, "Ever since I came to North Hall and ... ever since I've talked to anybody up here, it was my understanding that the library was coming to Clermont. ... Clermont was waiting its time to have the library placed up here."
Hall County officials have said they are moving forward on plans to put the North Hall library and community center on Nopone Road, miles from the Clermont city limits.
The plan has created an uproar in the tiny town, where residents said they had been promised the new library would replace the aging library in their town.
Clermont, which held Tuesday's forum at its Grover and Lucille Hood Community Center, is suing the county for what some describe as abuse of discretion with special purpose local option sales tax dollar to pay for the project.
Oakwood and Flowery Branch mayors have sent letters throwing their support behind Clermont.
On April 26, mayors in the Joint Local Government Association voted 4-1, with Lula Mayor Milton Turner in opposition, to change bylaws of the organization to include only city governments, effectively kicking Hall County out of the group.
"I feel like the county has got to go through with its promises," Gibbs said in answering a question on how the county and Hall's cities can "rebuild positive relations."
"The county administrator came up here and encouraged North Hall to approve the SPLOST and they did," he said. "Clermont pushed it through ... so guess what? There should be a library."
By its actions, the commission "has jeopardized the future of our SPLOST votes ... because they're not fulfilling their promises, and people are going to remember that the next time they vote," Gibbs said.
"And people don't understand how important the SPLOST is to this community because it builds projects that we would never, ever be able to afford out of the general budget."
Cottrell said he believed that "open lines of communication are probably the most important thing that we need between the municipalities and the county government."
The governments need to "make sure that as (they) create stipulations and guidelines, rules and regulations within their communities, they recognize how it affects the other partner," he said.
"And it is a partnership between the municipalities and the county — or should be treated that way. If you're sitting down making rational decisions ... you work through the compromise for the good of the entire county."
On the subject of county finances, both candidates said they favored looking at budget cuts — including ones that may involve hard decisions — in lieu of raising taxes.
"The only way I would ever support a tax increase is (for) public safety," said Gibbs, 46.
Cottrell, 61, said he didn't know if he could say he wouldn't ever support a tax hike.
"I don't have a crystal ball to know what the circumstances are going to be," he said. "Every business that I've been involved with, it's been you cut it to the bone ... and I would be thinking the same way with the county."