Public commenters raise South Mountain golf course, county reserves and health-coverage statistics at commissioners meeting

During public comment at the Franklin County commissioners meeting on May 14, residents offered praise for a new county parking lot and raised concerns about South Mountain Golf Course and county fiscal reserves.

John Jordan spoke briefly to praise a new parking lot, saying, "That new parking lot is great. It's pretty nice, isn't it?" He asked the county to pass along thanks to the contractors.

Valerie Jordan provided a longer comment that included budget-reserve figures, land-use observations and an update on South Mountain Golf Course. She read a series of figures into the record: "In 2023, your reserve account had 4,100,000.0, in the county budget of a hundred and 70,000,000 or 2 and a half percent in the reserve account. In 2024, the reserve account was 2,700,000.0 with the with the county budget being a hundred and 71,000,000, million dollars or 1 and a half percent in the reserve account. For 2025, the reserve account is 3,200,000 with the accounting budget of a hundred and 62,300,000.0 or 1,900,000.0 and 1.9 percent in the reserve account." She referenced "Title 16" when discussing county reserve authority.

Valerie Jordan also said she received correspondence from Seth Cassell, state forest director at DCNR, about Michaux State Forest being chosen for a new visitor center and said she had spoken with Connor Corpura in the governor's office about the status of South Mountain Golf Course. She said, "I'm praying that South Mountain gets saved." She said she would forward the letters to county staff and to a local advocate working to preserve the site.

The commissioners did not take immediate action on the items raised during public comment.