John Midkiff sees a lot of untapped potential in Cherokee County. The Republican candidate for commissioner believes that with more vision and planning, the county can experience positive growth without losing its identity.
“We currently have a bi-monthly plan,” Midkiff said. “Whatever happens at the (commissioners’) meeting, that’s our plan.”
Midkiff is running for the District 4 commissioner’s seat occupied by Dr. Dan Eichenbaum. Originally from Mobile, Ala., Midkiff came to live full time in Cherokee County two years ago, bringing with him decades of business management experience.
He also believes his lack of deep-rooted connections in the county can be an asset as an elected official.
“I don’t have ties to anybody that’s going to create problems,” Midkiff said. “I come in with a clean slate, just retired and ready to work. If we get myself and some good people that are running in the other races, and we get them on this council, we can begin to make a difference.”
While he does not have longstanding ties locally, Midkiff said he has quickly become part of the community. The connections he has made fueled his desire to improve Cherokee County.
“I’ve met a lot of people, and I love this county,” he said. “The more you open yourself up and talk to people, the more they’re willing to talk to you and the more you can get done.”
Midkiff and his wife have two grown children, as well as a 10-year-old in Cherokee County Schools. He sees the absence of recreation as one aspect of local life that needs to be improved.
“My 10-year-old, I could take him hunting, I could take him to the creek, but there’s no real recreation,” Midkiff said.
Midkiff also would like to see more of a focus on recruiting businesses to the area and taking advantage of tourism. He believes towns like Blue Ridge, Ga., have done a good job of growing while preserving their charm and downtown areas.
“I’m not saying we go all in for tourism, but I’m saying we take advantage of what’s coming our way,” Midkiff said. “You just have to look at different ways to have them help us pay some of these lawsuits (against the county) and different bills that we have, and not put everything back on our residents. Have you ever seen (property taxes) come back down after they’ve gone up? It doesn’t happen much.”
When it comes to the hot-button issue of noise from unenclosed crypto mining operations, Midkiff thinks a business license procedure would help prevent such problems in the future.
“We need some type of business license that people need to apply for before you can actually build and do whatever you want to do,” he said. “I know that it was brought up about a planning commission, but I think it needs to go through some kind of approval situation.
“Once someone is there and started, it’s hard to stop them.”
Midkiff is opposed to the approved high school consolidation plan and prefers the idea of new K-12 schools being built for Andrews, Hiwassee Dam and Murphy.
“A lot of (kids) would just like to be closer to home and the family, and grow up in an area they know,” he said.
Midkiff believes Cherokee County needs leaders with the kind of vision who can follow the improvement of an area like Clay County.
“They’re a Tier 2, they’re no longer a Tier 1, because somebody, 10 years ago or whatever, had a vision to say here’s where we can go and here’s what we can do,” Midkiff said. “We haven’t had that vision.
“(Cherokee) has just got so much potential and we’ve been letting it slide by and we can’t do that anymore. It’s time to fire some people, and the only people who can do that are the voters.”