Is Watkinsville Mayor Brian Brodrick the kind of Mayor Watkinsville needs?

Why did Watkinsville Mayor Brian Brodrick, as a Council member, allow millions of Watkinsville Splost Fund accounts be held in banks for years without ever earning interest for Watkinsville residents?

Brodrick has been a councilmember since around 2004. That means that between 2004 and 2019, 15 years, he has never once tried to move those funds into a money market fund or savings accounts. Only in 2019 did the funds start accumulating interest. Why such a long wait before paying interest? Because of him and his council minions, banks had a windfall for 15 years at the expense of Watkinsville residents.

In 2016, Brodrick became a Board member at the Oconee County Bank. Apparently he had a good resume for obtaining millions for the Oconee State Bank without paying out interest. Banks don’t allow money to set idly by without generating money. It sees to me that for him it’s about generating money for the bank, and not about generating money for Watkinsville residents. Again, why even after 2016 as a Councilmember/Board member did he continue no interest on those accounts for the next three years? What changed in 2019?

But the real ‘why’ is why did Brodrick in late 2020 push for creating an unelected City Manager position, then give the elected Watkinsville Mayor’s duties and responsibilities to that unelected position? Could the ‘why’ be that the Business Manager moved all the splost funds accounts, without first getting approval, from other banks into the Oconee County Bank. Now in 2019, the bank paid a small fraction of interest compared to what those millions generated since 2004. Was this a sham to make it look as if everything was above board?

Brodrick has proven for 15 years that he has put the interest of the bank ahead of the interest of Watkinsville residents. As a bank board member he is about money. As a city councilmember he was about power. Mix both together what do you get?

As a council members, Brodrick was not good for Watkinsville. As a mayor, Brodrick is not good for Watkinsville. So what does it say about those councilmembers that since 2004 rubber stamped those splost fund accounts for years, and then create an unelected City Manager Czar that is beholding to those that hired her, the City Council.