Council Members

Michael “Mike” L. Berg (Chair)
Ronald “Ron” C. Cross
Judge T. Christopher Hughes
Melvin G. Davis
Michael Edwards
Jeffrey Alan Rothman
Judge Willie Lockette
E. Lee Morris III
Donald Fredrick Oliver (Secretary)
Wycliffe Orr
William C Rumer
David E. Meadows
Tony M. Thaw
Stephen Elliott Tillman (Vice Chair)
Judge Arch McGarity

Council Member Background

Michael "Mike" L. Berg
County Commissioner Representative
176 Overlook Circle
Dawsonville, GA 30534
706-344-3501
mlberg@alltel.net

Michael “Mike” L. Berg is chairman of the Dawson County Board of Commissioners and chairman of First Citizens Financial Corporation. He is a member of Family Connection, Dawson County Board of Health, Dawson County Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club of Dawson County. He is a member of the Association County Commissioners of Georgia (ACCG) board of managers and executive committee. He is chairman of ACCG’s Annexation Committee, Public Defender Committee and Water Resource Committee. Berg earned a bachelor’s degree from Georgia State University. He and his wife, Jane, have two grown children and three grandchildren.

Ronald “Ron” C. Cross
County Commissioner Representative
908 Nerium Trail
Evans, GA 30809
706-868-3379
rcross@columbiacountyga.gov

Ronald “Ron” C. Cross is chairman of the Columbia County Board of Commissioners. He served on the Indigent Defense Committee and is a member of the St. John Towers Advisory Board. Cross is on the board of trustees for the Augusta District, United Methodist Church, where he also serves as a Lay Speaker. Cross earned a bachelor’s degree from Furman University. He and his wife, Jan, have one grown child and one grandchild.

Judge T. Christopher Hughes
Crisp County Superior Court
District 8
PO Box 5149
Fitzgerald, GA 31750

Melvin G. Davis
County Commissioner Representative
1772 Oliver Bridge Road
Watkinsville, GA 30677
706-769-5120
mdavis@oconee.ga.us

Melvin G. Davis was born and raised in Rome, Georgia, on a 150-acre farm. He attended Mercer University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Poultry Science and a Masters degree in Agriculture Extension Education from the University of Georgia. He also did postgraduate work at the University of Georgia and Louisiana State University. Davis worked as County Extension Agent in Elbert County. He spent 19 years as a District Agent, 4-H Programs, for 36 Georgia counties and subsequently, he became District Extension Director for 40 Georgia counties. Mr. Davis retired from the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service in 1993. Mr. Davis was elected as Chairman of the Oconee County Board of Commissioners in 2001 and currently serving in his 3rd term. Chairman Davis is past chairman of the Northeast Georgia Regional Development Center and is currently serving as Chairman of the Upper Oconee Basin Water Authority. He served as Chairman of the Madison, Athens-Clarke, Oconee Regional Transportation Authority (MACORTS). He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Managers for the Association County Commissioners of Georgia. Chairman Davis was appointed by Governor Sonny Perdue to serve on several state-wide boards, and he also has served the Oconee County community in various positions with local organizations. Mr. Davis and his wife Esther have resided in Oconee County for 45 years. They have three daughters and seven grandchildren.

Judge Willie Lockette
Judge, Dougherty County Superior Court
District 2
225 Pine Avenue, Dougherty County
Courthouse
Albany, Georgia 31702
229-431-2186
Fax Number: 229-431-2174
welockette@bellsouth.net

Judge Willie Earl Lockette received his B.A. in History and Political Science from Fort Valley State College in 1971 and his law degree from the University of Illinois College of Law in 1974. He was elected as Superior Court Judge of Dougherty County in 1996 and is serving his second term after his re-election in 2000. From 1991 to1996, Judge Lockette served as Chief and Associate Judge for the Magistrate Court of Dougherty County , and from 1993 to 1996, was an adjunct professor in Political Science and Public Administration at Albany State College University . From 1974 to 1993, he practiced as a managing and staff attorney at Georgia Legal Services Programs, Inc., in Albany . Judge Lockette has been a member of the State Bar since 1974 and is a member of the Dougherty Circuit Bar Association and C.B. King Bar Association. His other activities include serving as a Baptist Minister for New Oak Grove Baptist Church and member of the Georgia Commission on Family Violence and the Georgia Commission on Equality.

Michael Edwards
Circuit Public Defender, Eastern Judicial District
Public Defender Representative
Office of the Public Defender
540 East Oglethorpe Avenue
Savannah, GA 31401
912-447-4901
Fax 912-447-4909
medwards@gapublicdefender.org

Jeffrey Alan Rothman
District 10
320 E. Clayton Street
Suite 520
Athens, GA 30601
706-208-1169
Fax: 706-2088462
jrothman@danielsrothman.com

E. Lee Morris III
District 5
S&W Management, Inc
2500 Equitable Building
100 Peachtree Street, NW
Atlanta, GA 30303-6801
404-522-8888
Fax: 404-521-6204
elmorris@sw-sn.com

E. Lee Morris III was born in Greenville, Alabama on April 16, 1949 and grew up in a military family moving often.  He attended Duke University and after graduating in just three years in 1970, he practiced as a Certified Public Accountant in Raleigh, North Carolina.  He then enrolled in Emory University School of Law, where he served as Managing Editor of the Emory Law Journal.  After receiving his J.D. in 1976, Morris practiced tax, corporate and pension law in Atlanta for nine years.  For the past 22 years, he has served as General Counsel and Chief Financial Officer for Stevens & Wilkinson, an Atlanta-based architectural-engineering firm.  In 1993 Morris was elected to the District 7 seat on the Atlanta City Council where he served two terms and was an outspoken critic of corruption and waste in government, a proponent of stronger environmental policy, new urbanism, alternatives to automobile-oriented policies and campaign finance reform.  He served on the Board of the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA) from August 2002 to February 2006.  Morris has been deeply involved in community affairs since coming to Atlanta in 1973.  He has coached youth sports, taken an active and leading role in numerous neighborhood, business and community associations and has been active for 28 years in his church, St. Dunstan’s Episcopal.  He currently serves on the boards of the Regional Atlanta Civic League, Midtown Alliance, the Atlanta Urban League, and PEDS (Pedestrians Educating Drivers on Safety, Inc.).  Morris and his wife, Gilda, have been married 29 years and have three children.

Donald Fredrick Oliver
Walker County Attorney
District 7
P. O. Box 445
LaFayette, GA 30728-0445
706-638-1437
Fax: 706-638-1453
d.oliver@walkerga.us

Donald F. Oliver is the County Attorney for Walker County.  Oliver received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Georgia in 1980.  Before becoming the County Attorney for Walker County, Oliver was in private practice and briefly served as the City Judge for Chickamauga.  Oliver also served two terms in the Georgia House of Representatives as the representative from the 1st District.  Oliver is the Immediate Past President of the County Attorney section of the Association  County Commissioners of Georgia and will serve as the Standards Council liaison with the Association.  Oliver is married to the former Helen Wyatt of Paris, Tennessee.  They have two children: Wyatt, age 19; and Savannah, age 16.  Oliver and his family presently live on a farm in southern Walker County, where they raise hay, horses, longhorn cattle, and buffalo.

Wycliffe Orr
Orr & Orr
District 9
641 Sprint Street, NE
Gainesville, Georgia 30501
770-534-1980
Fax: 770-536-5910
eworr@orrlawfirm.com

E. Wycliffe Orr, Sr. graduated from Auburn in 1968 with a degree in Accounting and went on to finish first in his law school class at the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1970. After law school, Orr enlisted in the army where he was a Captain in the Judge Advocate General's Corps before ultimately serving as the Chief Prosecutor for the 8th Infantry Division jurisdictional area. From the army, Orr went into the private sector, where he has been very successful. He presently works in his own practice with his daughter Kris at Orr & Orr. In 1989, he was elected as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives, where he held office until 1993. While a member of the House, he was an advocate for education, children's welfare and the environment. Civic involvement has been a hallmark of Orr's career. He is a past Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Georgia Indigent Defense Council, past President and Chairman of the Board of the Hall County Unit of the American Cancer Society, and Co-Founder and President of the Lanier Educational Foundation. Orr presently serves as president of the Gainesville-Northeastern Circuit Bar Association.

Mr. William C. Rumer
Grogan, Rumer & Gunby
District 3
944 Second Avenue
P. O. Box 1846
Columbus, GA 31902
706-323-1846
Fax: 706-327-3958
williamrumer@bellsouth.net

David E. Meadows
King & Spalding, LLP
District 4
1180 Peachtree Street, NE
Atlanta, GA 30309-3521
404-572-2726
Fax: 404-404-572-5139
demeadows@kslaw.com

David E. Meadows is an attorney at King & Spalding LLP and previously practiced at Powell Goldstein LLP. He is a former member of the Board of Directors at Oakhurst Cooperative Preschool. Meadows earned a bachelor's degree from Lycoming College and a law degree from the Vanderbilt University School of Law. He and his wife, Maureen, have two children.

Tony M. Thaw
County Commissioner Representative
222 Hampton Pointe Drive
St. Simons Island, GA 31522
912-638-9797
thawselectric@bellsouth.net

Tony M. Thaw is president of Thaw’s Electric Service, Inc. and serves on the Glynn County Board of Commissioners. He is chairman of the Glynn County Finance Committee and is a member of the Brunswick-Glynn County Joint Water and Sewer Commission. Thaw is on the board of directors for Two Way Sport Fishing Club and the Golden Isles Career Academy. He is past president of the St. Simons Exchange Club and the Frederica Club. He is a University of Georgia Certified County Commissioner. He and his wife, Kim, have two children.

Stephen Elliott Tillman, Esq.(Vice-chair)
District 1
Attorney at Law
4 South Lee Street
Baxley, GA 31513
912-367-2500
Fax: 912-367-2562
setlaw@bellsouth.net

Judge Arch McGarity
Flint Circuit Superior Court
District 6
Henry County Courthouse
One Courthouse Square
McDonough, GA  30253
770-288-7907
Fax: 770-288-7920
awm8439@yahoo.com