Andi Henson Juliette and Nicole Stewart made final public pleas to voters last week asking for support in Tuesday's runoff election for Dawson County Tax Commissioner.

"I just have a desire to serve the area that I grew up in," said Juliette, a retail manager at the local outlet mall for the last six years. "I think that I do have a unique skill set that I could bring to the office."

A graduate of North Georgia College with a degree in political science, she spent four years as a project analyst for the Department of Defense and FBI where her responsibilities included managing budgets totaling more than $50 million.

Also a North Georgia graduate who is currently pursuing a master's degree in public administration, Stewart has spent the last 10 years as a banker in Dawson County.

"I'm a firm believer of serving the county that you live in and that you love, and I love Dawson County," she said. "I've always worked in Dawson County. I'm a big server of the community. I just really think it is another way that I can serve Dawson County."

She's also active in the community, which she sees as an asset to the office of tax commissioner.

While both touted bookkeeping and management experience, Juliette claims she is the only candidate with the skills needed to qualify her to be tax commissioner.

"You're, in many ways, the face of the county for new residents when they come into the office," she said. "That's one of the first places they come when they move into Dawson County, so I think you have to have the balance between being able to manage the funds and manage the budgeting process, and then also the customer service aspect."

Stewart highlighted her community involvement, which includes the Rotary Club, Bowen Center for the Arts and Relay for Life.

"They're all things I do now, and I do them outside of work. When I go to work during the day, I work my 40 hours at the bank. That's what I'm there for, and then my free time is when I get off work and I do these civic organizations," she said.
"I think it's a great way to get out and see what the county's thinking, needs that the county has and different things going on.

"You want to be involved, especially if you want to be in a job like this. You want to know what's going on in the county and be involved as much as you can."

Juliette said her free time is spent taking care of her three children.

"I have small children and I think one of the things that plagues us as a society right now is that people don't spend enough time with their families, so to be honest with you, I don't do a lot of volunteer work," she said. "I go to work and I spend time with my family because they are very young and they're only going to be young a short time.

"There's a lot of opportunities to serve and there will be opportunities once my children are a little bit older. Right now my time is pretty equally split between my work and my family and that would carry on if I were elected."

Polls are open for early voting from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Friday at the Dawson County Board of Elections Office and from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Election Day, at the county's three precincts.