A new, Democratic administration took office in Gwinnett County in January, and leaders haven’t wasted any time as they set to change government’s priorities in the most diverse county in the Southeast.
A Confederate statue, erected in 1993 in Lawrenceville Square, came down. The 1911 lynching of Charles Hale in the same Square was recognized for the first time by the county commission. And an inaugural event to celebrate Pride Month was held outside Gwinnett’s administration building.
A sustainability commission was formed. So was a police citizens advisory board, something that was first discussed under Republican chairman Charlotte Nash’s administration.
In addition, commissioners have earmarked more money for homelessness and are looking to bring social services in-house. They changed the appointment process for government-related boards, making it an open application for all positions in a bid to get more diverse participants involved.
Nearly a million people live in Gwinnett, according to Census data, and a quarter of them were born somewhere other than the United States. Gwinnett’s population is 54% white, 30% Black and 12.5% Asian, while more than 20% of residents are Hispanic or Latino.
Every member of the board of commissioners is a person of color, a first for the county. The first Black person wasn’t elected to county government in Gwinnett until 2018, shortly before the county’s bicentennial.
Democrats held two seats on the five-person county commission before last year and won three more in November. They hold a majority on the board for the first time since the 1980s. Democrats won every other elected office on the November ballot as well, save one seat on the school board, including elections for sheriff, District Attorney and tax commissioner.
Leaders see the victories as a sign of the community’s desires for more diversity and inclusion, and their actions reflect the mandate.
Commissioners are working on the creation of a nondiscrimination ordinance, on translating voting materials into Asian languages to increase resident access and on a performance audit of county government. They’ve expanded the scope of a housing study that was already in the works. They added transportation workers to the list of county employees eligible for hazard pay and enacted (then later rescinded) a mask mandate in county buildings. They’re encouraging coronavirus vaccinations, with one commissioner even going door-to-door to implore residents to get inoculated.
Commission Chairwoman Nicole Love Hendrickson announced in May the creation of an equity action plan, a document meant to guide leaders in efforts to eliminate structural racism in county government. The proposal includes a plan for redeveloping Gwinnett Place Mall through an equity lens. And that lens stretches to the county’s new mission statement, its vision and its values, which now mention equity and inclusivity for the first time.
Her administration, Hendrickson said, is “taking steps to ensure that everyone truly means everyone.”
“It’s going beyond virtue signaling,” she said. “We are doing the work.”
The efforts are being noticed.
Nick Masino, president and CEO of the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce, called the early accomplishments “awesome.” The new leadership, he said, is focusing on what they campaigned on — and delivering.
“I just see high-level, authentic concern for Gwinnett County today and in the future,” Masino said. “We’re adapting, we’re evolving.”
In a short time, commissioners have taken “impressive” action to represent the people who put them in office, said Penny Poole, the Gwinnett NAACP president. Poole said she was pleasantly surprised by the work that’s been done so far.
“That’s making a statement,” she said. “It’s more than I expected.”
Rep. Sam Park, D-Lawrenceville, said he, too, is happy with the board’s priorities. So is Jerry Gonzalez, the CEO of GALEO, who said he was pleased to see the board had stepped up to reflect and embrace Gwinnett’s diversity.
Even Edward Muldrow, the immediate past chair of the Gwinnett County Republican Party, said he thinks Hendrickson is “doing a pretty good job.” If she succeeds, he said, the county as a whole will be better.
Government’s actions reflect the community’s values, Hendrickson said, and she said she hopes residents see that leaders are being “very intentional” as they make changes.
“I do see the benefit of the work we’re doing,” said County Commissioner Kirkland Carden. “If you look at our first six months, we’ve accomplished a lot.”
Carden said the goal is for change to be positive — and sometimes incremental — but not disruptive.
County Commissioner Jasper Watkins said that can be accomplished in part by working as a team and not competitively. He also said he comes to the job with an eye toward bipartisanship. Even if the other county commissioners share his political affiliation, Watkins knows he represents a wide constituency.
County Commissioner Ben Ku, who was elected in 2018, said previous leaders were often cautious in their approach to government — perhaps because they were elected in the aftermath of a bribery scandal. A level of risk aversion sometimes kept them from innovating, he said.
“The feeling I got was the old board was kind of stuck in the mud,” he said. “It was a very homogenous mindset. We have much more balanced diversity of thought.”
This board in 2021 has accomplished more than the previous board he was a member of did in his first two years in office, Ku said.
Wayne Ellison, president of the Rotary Club of Gwinnett, said he’s glad that government leaders reflect the makeup of the county more than they had in the past. These elected officials seem to be open and receptive, he said, and he’s pleased to see how quickly leaders seemed to put their heads down and go to work.
“We really want this to be done right,” Hendrickson said of the board’s efforts. “This is really going to change the trajectory of our county for many, many years to come.”
About the Author
