If you live in Marion County, Georgia, and have a problem with strays, drop-offs, or other animal woes, you know that we do not have an animal control to help us. We don’t have a sheriff that will help us, and the only help I have found thus far has been Linda Rabon Phillips. I call her the Angel of Marion County for Animals. We haven’t always agreed on things and she hasn’t been the kindest to me, but I cannot turn a blind eye to the good she does in this county.

That being said, it takes money to run things like she has. The animals need food, sometimes a vet visit, a spaying here, a neutering there, toys, a fence, leashes, etc. It takes her time and her own money at times, but she does it without complaint, and yet I’m sure she knows that she still needs help, and so do all of the citizens in the county.

This is not to say that there may not be other organizations, efforts, or individuals, but she is the most prominent one from my perspective, and she has helped me, my family, my friends, and my neighbors the most.

To my surprise, when I performed an Open Records Request for the meeting minutes for the commissioners’ meetings this year, I saw that the commissioners discussed bringing animal control to Marion.

They discussed possibly hiring 3 techs, charging for surrenders, a 60-90 day approval for adoption and a charge for that adoption, getting a truck for the worker(s) for animal control, and getting a proposal submitted by March 1st, 2026. The notes said that Long County might could help.

I do not know the current standing, as I did not see anything mentioned on March’s Meeting Minutes, and I wouldn’t have even seen it mentioned on February’s minutes because it was only on Heather Wright’s notes for the meeting, shown above, and not on the meeting minutes themself.

I will say that I am concerned that the commissioners are discussing things in meetings that are not on the meeting minutes and we know that it wasn’t discussed in an executive session because the affidavit below, signed by George Neal indicated the executives session was to discuss personnel, But even if it was discussed in the executive session, my question is “Why is this not something that they would want the citizens to know or have input regarding?”

This is also why I say, the commissioners are making choices for us in one meeting only – that’s all they need – to affect what does or doesn’t happen in this county for you, your property, your business, your money, your children, and your animals, so we need to start showing up to these meetings, even if we need to take off a little early one day a month. Keep in mind that all the candidates for commissioner this term have stated that they would be in favor of changing the meetings to begin at 6:00 or 6:30 pm instead of 5:15 PM, but for now, if we want our county back, we need to make sure we are present and hold our commissioners accountable in that ONE meeting.

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