AJC Gwinnett Opinions asked local readers who are part of our Voice of Gwinnett panel:

During this election year in Gwinnett County, three candidates have qualified to seek the office of Gwinnett County Commission chairman and three candidates have qualified for the District 1 seat on the commission. What question would you like to ask those candidates? What county issue is the most important in those races?

Here are responses:

Why didn't stadium come up for a vote?

This is a question for the candidates who are seeking re-election:

Recently, the commission elected to build a stadium using taxpayers' money and commit the taxpayers to a long-term commitment to the farm club of the Atlanta Braves. Why have voters not been allowed to vote on the commitment since it is their money?

The biggest issue I see in this time of recession is the wastefulness of the spending of taxpayers' money by the commission and the other agencies in Gwinnett County government.

SAM DODSON, Snellville

Will you apply the brakes to construction?

Will you put a moratorium on building in Gwinnett County?

It appears no elected official has been able to do it.

The schools can't even keep up with the number of students caused by the construction of subdivisions and apartments. Before a new school is even opened, there are six to 10 trailers to accommodate excess students.

Gone is the Grayson I knew and loved.

I will not vote for any incumbent.

MADELINE MANGAN, Grayson

What about public transit?

My question is: When is Gwinnett County going to get serious about public transportation. Considering the high cost of gas, it only makes sense that Gwinnett County consider a major public works project such as a light rail system. In doing so, jobs will be created and, above all, the environment will be well served.

CHERYL S. ROSS, Norcross

How will budget be cut?

How do you plan on reducing the rate of spending of Gwinnett County as population growth slows? What programs, projects or boondoggles do you plan on cutting out of the budget?

ROBERT SAMPLE, Loganville

Too many residents

Question No. 1: With the increase in growth in population and additional overflow of single-home developments in the county, and their effects on schools, traffic and crime, how do you propose to end, limit and/or curtail this growing problem?

Question No. 2: What do you propose as a solution to the increased number of known illegal immigrants in Gwinnett County who create additional problems such as crime, overcrowding in schools and the taking of jobs from American citizens and those immigrants who come here legally? What could be viewed as a viable solution to be adopted on a state and national level?

RICK ROWE, Snellville

Who will you represent?

I have two questions.

First, who is going to be your constituency, the citizens of Gwinnett County or the developers?

Second, what are you going to do about making the current bus system accessible to more people via more routes and more destinations?

But one of my overriding considerations is to vote out every single member of the commission who approved this boondoggle of a new stadium. The citizens were never consulted, but we're going to be paying for it for years to come.

KATHY DUNN, Norcross

Will you nip growth?

Are you going to support the continued developer-benefiting unchecked explosive growth or do you have a real plan to increase the quality of life in Gwinnett County?"

BILL MAY, Lawrenceville

How will you soothe upset?

Since there are so many residents who are upset about the stadium being approved without their consent and the assessed value of their homes being increased beyond current sales prices, how are they going to soothe those ruffled feathers?

DICK RUSSELL, Snellville

Will you control growth?

[Questions would be about:]

Controlled growth (infrastructure must be in place first).

Mass transit option should be made available to ease congestion on the highways.

TERRY FREEMAN, Lawrenceville

What about drought?

I would ask the following questions of the candidates:

1. Do you support the continued business "overgrowth" that Gwinnett County has faced over the past five years? If not, what are you going to do about it?

2. I feel that there are several issues that are significant to Gwinnett's future, mainly water conservation and transportation. With the summer months approaching, the residents in this county are going to be seriously impacted. Future commissioner, what do you plan to do about reclaiming water for human consumption and use?

DONNA HARDY, Grayson

What about gangs?

I seem to be hearing more and more about gang activity in Gwinnett County. What will you be doing to take an extra step in controlling that activity in our schools and our neighborhoods, other than what is being done now?

JEFF BISSELL, Buford

How about overbuilding?

1. I'm concerned about the problems of commuting, traffic, pollution, and I think the only realistic (and long-term) solution is improving public transportation. Gwinnett Transit helps, but it doesn't cover enough area —- it's slow. We need to have rail transportation for commuters.

2. I'm concerned about the depressed areas near Norcross, Lilburn and Gwinnett Place mall. Let's stop constructing new buildings next door to empty buildings. There must be a way to make using an existing building more profitable than starting a new site.

3. I'm worried about water. We need to develop systems to store more water. We can use less (and have done well this past year), but if we are to continue growing, we must have enough water.

MARY OSBURN, Duluth

Can detectorists dig?

I have two questions, and they are somewhat related.

First is probably a common question: Are you going to attempt to do anything about the burgeoning population of the northern end of our county?

The infrastructure is not adequate to support continued, rampant growth, and if we are thinking ahead, there will come a time when we don't even have the water supply for what has become a sprawling metropolitan area.

Rather than continue the upward spiral of property tax that is subsidizing the seemingly mindless decision to allow more and more construction, which eventually detracts from our property values, why not have a two-year moratorium on new building? The roads in my area (Hamilton Mill) are not sufficient for the amount of traffic they support, and even the back roads are beginning to show signs of wear.

My children are on their third change of schools, and they are just entering fifth grade next fall. This is outrageous, and I for one am tired of the commissioners ignoring the wishes of the residents in favor of their big supporters, builders and developers.

My second question is this: I am an amateur archaeologist and metal detectorist. I am 55, responsible and have never unplugged a hole that I did not adequately refill. I am rushing to yet-to-be-developed areas to search for old artifacts, signs of our past. They are rapidly disappearing. ... Soon, all of the pasture land and the land our ancestors saw will be covered with condominiums, homes and strip malls.

Why not allow people like me —- who responsibly use metal detectors and report significant finds to the archaeological associations —- to dig?

I worked on the Fort Daniel dig in an attempt to determine the boundaries and some of the history of what began as a Colonial fort. It is less than a mile from my home. All of the homes in that particular area are under pressure from developers to add more neighborhoods.

The standard answer I hear is that "some metal detectorists have disturbed archaeological sites" in the past. Some drivers drink before driving and cause more severe damage, yet we don't ban all driver's licenses or cars, so the comment makes no sense.

Why not allow me to dig (with permission of course) in areas where I have found through research that people worked, lived and traveled 200 years ago? What harm could it do?

I would support a [law] to allow metal detectorists to do their thing responsibly. There are not that many of us.

My guess is that 90 percent or better of the old artifacts we unearth soon will be lost forever. Better to recover those items than to have that happen.

WILLIAM C. FIELDS, Dacula

Will you add crossings?

I have always said that what we need in Gwinnett County are more crossings going east to west across the Chattahoochee River.

We could rebuild the bridge at Settles Bridge and Rogers Bridge roads, and then we would have six crossings instead of the four that we have now. That would ease the traffic backups on Peachtree Industrial [Boulevard] where it crosses the current crossroads like McGinnis Ferry and Abbots Bridge, etc.

Right now in the morning, the traffic backs up on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard past Rogers Bridge from the Abbots Bridge road crossing. It takes almost 15 minutes sometimes to get through that traffic light. Help us!

MARGIE GARNER, Sugar Hill

Will you add impact fee?

1. Do you believe that illegal immigration has a measurable, negative impact on our local economy? Will you support, as an exercise of your federally granted authority, requiring employers to verify worker eligibility before receiving or renewing a business license?

2. Do you believe that public facilities should be funded, where possible, by the residents who create the need for, and will most likely use, that infrastructure? Will you vote to enact, within one year of taking office, an impact fee ordinance to fund infrastructure in as many fee categories as allowed by law?

3. Do you favor honesty in property taxation? Will you support an ordinance that requires you to adopt a mathematically correct millage rate each year? Will you vote to adopt a similar ordinance that requires the school board to recommend a mathematically correct millage rate each year?

BOB GRIGGS, Loganville

Will you manage growth?

Exactly when will you have the courage to stop the overdevelopment of this county where schools and communities have suffered for lack of common-sense planned land management? In other words, what will you do to control and stop county growth and create a planned land management?

GENA FORD, Lawrenceville

What about immigrants?

What are you going to do to stop the illegal aliens that continue to live 10-20 to a house that was meant for two to four people? It affects the environment with the septic system, it is destroying our schools and taking tax dollars away from the people who pay school taxes, and it is just plain illegal.

JAYE GRUHN, Lilburn

Will you guard tax dollars?

My twofold question would concern the stewardship of Gwinnett's tax dollars:

What steps will the commission take to avoid ... a budget shortfall (like the one the city of Atlanta is facing), and what steps will the commission take to make the budgeting/spending process more transparent to the public so that county residents are not "surprised" by projects such as the AAA Braves stadium, which has already resulted in one new (car rental) tax, or by other "secret deals," such as land purchases?

LEIGH POWELL, Lawrenceville

Will you halt growth?

Given the opportunity prior to the election, I would ask the following question: Would you consider a greater builder's impact fee for construction in our county? Because of the possibility that Lake Lanier may not ... provide sufficient drinking water for the general population of our county, we simply do not have the infrastructure for all the building that has been going on in Gwinnett County.

A moratorium should be imposed on building in our county until the infrastructure is established to provide for such activity, not to mention the quick dwindling of green areas. I have tired of seeing dead deer on the side of the road and peregrine falcons with nowhere to go.

THELMA HEYWOOD, Duluth

Will you speed project?

Why can't Gwinnett County carry through with an environmental impact statement so that work to widen the Ga. 20 bridge over the Chattahoochee River can commence? There are thousands of us (and we vote!) mired in traffic between the river and I-985, and I understand that the "sticking point" on this project is the bridge and EPA clearance for it.

MARGARET AURAND, Sugar Hill

Why developer donations?

I'm quite interested in how a candidate who has raised nearly a million dollars for a County Commission race would explain the massive influx of cash from the development community.

Aside from that, my personal choices for District 1 and the chairman slots are quite clear. They and their respective opponents have already answered all of my questions via their clear public records.

PAUL ALLEN, Norcross

How will conservation be handled?

I would like to know the candidates' thoughts on public schools becoming charter schools.

I would also like to know what leadership each would take on water conservation during the drought and a plan to serve the county's water needs for the next five to 10 years.

DIANE KOONTZ, Norcross

Voice of Gwinnett is an online panel of readers who volunteer to answer questions from the AJC on local issues. Although it reflects the opinions of many in Gwinnett, Voice of Gwinnett is not considered scientific because the sample is not random. Surveys are instituted and analyzed by Marketing Workshop Inc. in Norcross. To sign up for Voice of Gwinnett/Voice of Atlanta, register as a user of ajc.com and go to the "Member Center" on ajc.com's home page. Check the box beside "Voice of Atlanta, " which is listed under "Other Editions."