Blairsville Scottish Festival & Highland Games Jim’s Smokin’ Que Vogel State Park beach area
S
4 | Meet the Commissioner
Blairsville Proud
Meet the Commissioner
So, exactly how do you become
the Sole Commissioner of Union County?
Some would chuckle and say the job
Lamar Paris has held for 18 years now is
“payback” for being such a community
booster. There were the years of coaching
youth football and chairing the
Quarterback Club. There were 10 years
on the County Recreation Board, helping
to find more fields and more room
for people to play. And always, a deep
pride in the mountain community
where he was born and raised.
After taking a well-deserved break,
Commissioner Paris reluctantly threw
his name in the hat when asked to serve
yet again — this time as
the county’s Sole Commissioner
(Union is one
of only eight counties in
Georgia with this unique
form of government).
Now, 18 years later,
Commissioner Paris is as
excited to serve as the first
day he took office. “I get
to work with great people
who are working hard to
make this a great place to
live,” he says. “When newcomers
“Newcomers to
our community
love what they
find here — and
they want to be
part of it.”
move here, they love what they
find and want to be part of it — they don’t
want to make it exactly like the place they
just came from.”
Of course,
the challenge
with any area
is balancing
the need to
grow without
“paving over
paradise.”
Fortunately,
Union County
enjoys a steady
and manageable
SOLE COMMISSIONER
LAMAR PARIS
population growth of approximately
1.5 percent a year. At that pace,
municipal services are not overwhelmed
— nor is the treasured way of life.
“Our saving grace is
that more than half of
our county is held by
the Forest Service and
TVA (Tennessee Valley
Author ity),” the Commissioner
explains. Yet the
growth is strong enough to
provide good employment
opportunities throughout
the community. “When
I grew up here, you had
to leave the mountains to
find work. Now, business
owners are bringing their companies
here or starting new ones because of
the lifestyle and amenities.”
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The first county courthouse was
constructed in the center of town
in 1835, but it burned down in
1859. It was replaced by a new
structure, but that burned again
in 1898. Another courthouse was
built in 1899, and it still stands in
the center of the Town Square.
It served the county until 1976,
when a new structure was built
nearby. The old courthouse was
donated to the Union County Historical
Society for preservation.
The county’s first paved road was
completed in 1922. Also during
that time, the United States purchased
large amounts of land and
consolidated it into the Georgia
National Forest. In 1937, the holdings
were renamed the Chattahoochee
National Forest. Today,
tourism is a major industry in the
county (tourists spent more than
$27 million here in 2017), primarily
due to the national forest and
also the creation of Lake Nottely
when the Nottely River was
dammed in the late 1940s.
Towns
• Blairsville (county seat)
• Suches (unincorporated)
Total Area
322.55 square miles of land
and 6.47 square miles of water
(329.02 square miles total),
situated completely within the
Chattahoochee National Forest
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