Long Time Register of Deeds Jeff McMillen to Retire from Office After His Term Expires in 2022

June 25, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

Ready to retire!

Jeff McMillen is preparing to embark on the next chapter of his life.

McMillen, the longest serving DeKalb County public official in history, has announced that he will not be seeking re-election in 2022 bringing to an end his nine-term 36-year tenure as Register of Deeds.

“I have considered it for some time, but I think it’s time for me to retire and to pass the torch on to someone else. I am very humbled to have been able to stay here for 36 years and will be thankful until the day I die to the people of DeKalb County for what they have allowed me to do. The people have been wonderful to me. Folks from both sides of the aisle,” said McMillen in an interview with WJLE Wednesday.

Born and raised in DeKalb County, McMillen had never given much thought to public office as a career as a young man fresh out of high school until circumstances in his life changed. Initially because of his disability, McMillen found it hard getting work, but later with help from friends, he landed a job at the Hartsville Nuclear Power Plant where he was employed until it closed.

As McMillen began job hunting again in 1986, he was encouraged by family, friends, and some influential attorneys in town to make a run for public office, either for Trustee or Register of Deeds. McMillen knew that the Incumbents of both offices at that time would not be in the hunt for re-election. Eventually McMillen settled on a race for Register of Deeds.

“Some of the local attorneys, one in particular, contacted me and said Bill Young, the incumbent Register of Deeds, was going to retire and that we needed a new Register of Deeds. I told him I wasn’t looking for a political position. I was looking for a job. We sat down and talked about it, and I thought I could do that, and it just went from there. I got in the race, and it was awesome. I had fun. I went to every community center and my cousin helped get me around. My family and friends got out and worked for me and here I am today 36 years later,” said McMillen.

After taking office, McMillen made it a priority to always keep the office up to date especially technology wise at the least possible cost.

“I remember on one occasion attorney Sue Puckett Jernigan fixed lunch at her house for all the attorneys in town and she invited me because the lawyers wanted to share some ideas about ways to improve services in the office. I think attorney Frank Buck broke the backs out of two kitchen table chairs leaning back in them that day, “McMillen laughing recalled.

“One of the things they talked about was computerization. Later I got to checking and found there were only one or two Register of Deeds offices in the state which had computerized records at that time. One of those places was Montgomery County so I went there and looked at their system which seemed to be as big as the room it was in. I asked them what it cost and discovered it was not something DeKalb County could afford. I came back and talked to the County Mayor at that time, Keith Garrett and members of the county commission including two in particular, Joe Johnson and Robert Rowe. They asked if I would accept a system if they could find someone to write a program for it. I agreed and we contacted Mike Fairchild who was running the airport. He wrote us a system that ran on the old Apple iMac and we started computerizing and indexing although there were no images. It worked so well I hired a couple of high school girls to come in and index after school and we got quite a bit of our records on there. Later an attorney from Gallatin approached me about buying the system. He learned about it through his mother who was doing his title work for him. I told him we could not sell the system because it belonged to the county and was set up by Mr. Fairchild who owned the program. He then offered to buy our office all new equipment if we and Fairchild would let him use the program too for his title company and that is the deal we made and operated under for several years. We later ended up doing business with a company in Smyrna called PROGRESS, which was putting in new systems at offices across the state and we still use it. I try not to spend any money that is not necessary and save back as much as I can for any needed updates. I have been fortunate to stay within budget and still have the technology to better provide the services. Unlike when I started, we take credit cards and do e-filings and things like that now. In fact, these days we don’t see a lot of the public or attorneys in the office like we once did because so much is done on-line,” said McMillen.

Another big change came a few years ago when the Offices of the Register of Deeds, County Clerk, Trustee, and Assessor of Property relocated from the courthouse to the County Complex.

McMillen, who supported the move at the time, still thinks it was a good idea.

“One of the reasons we moved was because of room. We just didn’t have enough space. Today we have plenty of room and the service is better. Although we don’t print books anymore, we still can if someone has a need, and we have scanners with which we can do plats. From 1837 to today everything, including all the indexes and images, are on computer at the touch of your fingers. It is much easier now to do genealogy work, find out if there is an easement across your property, and so much more. Having that technology and added space has made everything more efficient so this building has been good for us,” he said.

After he leaves office almost fourteen months from now, McMillen said he still plans to remain active in the community with a couple of sideline business interests he has had for some 30 years and his continued involvement as a member of the DeKalb County Fair Board where he serves as fair manager, and with the Alexandria Lions Club.

“I joined the Lion’s Club around 1987. It is a great organization. We do a lot of community things most people probably don’t know about including the funding of a high school scholarship and providing eyeglasses and food baskets for people. In 1990 we built a ballpark in Alexandria and although there is no organized league that plays on it the field is available for people to use. The Lion’s Club does everything with volunteers and through fundraisers,” said McMillen.

“I have been part of the DeKalb County Fair Association since it was organized in 1994 after the City of Alexandria bought the fairgrounds and I have been the fair manager for the last eight or ten years. We have made a lot of improvements over the years including the addition of a new agriculture center. We built it two years ago although it is still not finished. We had to stop last year due to COVID, but we have applied for more grants hoping to have it up and fully functional by 2022. Our goal is for it to be a community building for use year-round by agriculture related organizations like 4-H, FFA, Century Farms and others in addition to the fair,” he said.

McMillen is most thankful for the support of his wife Shelia and son Sam who have stood by him over the years. Shelia has taught school for many years at DeKalb West School and Sam, a gifted baseball player, has made his mark at the collegiate level.

He is also grateful to his employees for the work they have done for him and the people of DeKalb County. “I owe a lot of credit to my employees past and present for their work in getting all our records re-indexed and images scanned in and doing the daily work asked of them. I will always be grateful to them”.

“It’s been awesome,” said McMillen when asked how much he has enjoyed serving as Register of Deeds for such a long time. “It will be hard going away from something I have done every day of my life for 36 years. It’s been great and I could never say thank you enough to the people of this county”.

Lastly, McMillen has a word of advice to whoever is elected as his successor.

“I hope the next person who comes in here provides the service we have tried to provide and be a community person because this is a service job. It’s not about politics”.

June 25, 2021
By:

The DCHS football and basketball cheerleaders attended NCA camp together at the Great Wolf Lodge in Lagrange, Georgia June 14th-17th. While at camp, they won the Top Team Cheer Trophy for exemplifying the best cheerleading technique, skill incorporation and performance ability. To win this award, they performed a spirited entrance with running and standing tumbling, a cheer they learned at camp and incorporated a pyramid. By winning this competition, each member will have the opportunity to attend one of the Varsity Special Events.

In addition to this, they also received superior ribbons for strong technique and leading the crowd well. They received technical excellence certificates for jumps and stunts and earned the spirit stick each day for showing sincere spirit and enthusiasm.

Fifteen members of the teams were nominated for the NCA All-American team. They are Kyleigh Hill, Evie Day, Addison Puckett, Addison Roller, Sadie West, Keirstine Robinson, Bella France, Reese Williams, Kortnee Skeen, Carlee West, Morgan Walker, Ally Fuller, Elaina Turner, Macy Anderson, and Annabella Dakas. These individuals are selected by NCA instructors for displaying superior cheerleading techniques in jumps, tumbling, stunting, motion technique, leadership and dance.

Seven cheerleaders made the All-American Team. They are Addison Puckett, Addison Roller, Keirstine Robinson, Sadie West, Carlee West, Elaina Turner and Annabella Dakas. This is earned by individuals that exhibit outstanding cheerleading skills during the All-American Team tryout. These skills include 3 advanced jumps, a spirited entrance and a perfected camp cheer. Sadie West received the NCA Top All-American medal for earning the highest score in the All-American tryout.

Three of the senior cheerleaders were given applications to join the NCA staff. They are Addison Puckett, Addison Roller and Keirstine Robinson.

The teams are coached by Amanda Fuller, Taylor Chapman and Kelly Agee.

June 25, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

Two people escaped unharmed from a burning mobile home early this morning (Friday).

County Firefighters were summoned to the residence of Diane Roller at 843 Old West Point Road at 12:52 a.m. and found the front porch ablaze. The fire had also penetrated to the inside of the trailer. They quickly knocked down the flames with moderate damage to the home although it is currently not livable.

According to Fire Captain Brian Williams, Roller heard a noise and awoke Gavin McDaniel who opened the front door and discovered the fire. Both Roller and McDaniel escaped through the rear door without injury. The fire did claim their chinchilla .

Members of the Midway, Johnson’s Chapel, and Four Seasons Fire Stations responded along with the tanker truck. The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department was also on the scene.

Roller was renting the trailer from the owner Alton Cantrell. The cause of the fire is undetermined.

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