Mike Underwood says he always tried to do right in his work, but he knew that a local government administrator must make decisions that are not always popular. That even included Jones County, his last position before retirement and his home still today.
Underwood was hired as Jones County Administrator in 2005 and retired in 2016. There was a period of time, starting in 2007, that his job was tough.
“For about two years, three years, things were tight,” Underwood said. “All the property values dropped. The amount that you are going to get in taxes went down. There was not enough money to get through the year. And somebody had to make some hard decisions.”
Underwood underscored it was his job to explain to five commissioners what had to happen.
“I put the figures on the board. I said, ‘Look, these are what you are going to anticipate that we’re going to have for this year, and this is how much y’all trying to spend, two to three million dollars more than we got coming in.’
“So my objective was just to make sure that the citizens of Jones County did not have an increase in their taxes that they paid and,” he stressed, “to make sure that employees within the county didn’t have to pay any more for health insurance and still get good quality health insurance. That was my objective, and I made a lot of enemies doing it.”
Early years, moving from private to public
Underwood, 79, grew up in Milledgeville, graduated from GMC Prep School and went to a couple of other schools before settling on Georgia College, earning his B.A. degree in 1973. He did not start out in the government arena, working at first in the auto parts business.
It was while working there that Underwood met his wife, Priscilla. She needed a job, and he hired her. That led to what is now 48 years together. They married August 18, 1978, and have three children between them. She has two daughters, and he has a son.
Underwood does not know the exact year his grandfather founded Underwood Auto Parts and Supplies.
“I was not born yet, but I believe he opened it around 1938,” he calculated, adding that his father and uncle joined his grandfather when they returned from World War II. Underwood and his older brother bought into the business in 1976.
When Wal-Mart came to town in 1987, Mike Underwood decided to make a change.
“The competition was too tough,” he acknowledged. “I said it’s time for me to go.”
Underwood went to work at the state and local-funded Oconee Regional Development Commission in 1987 at the age of 40 as the Economic Development Director.
“I spent that time learning a lot, going to school, and doing all I could do. I was working with economic development organizations in 13 counties.”
When that organization closed, Understood started his own business writing grants and providing appraisal services. He did that for two years before he was offered the county administrator position in Johnson County in 1995.
“We got a senior center, a literacy center, and health center as well as remodeling the courthouse down there,” Underwood stated. “It was a lot I was responsible for and made sure it was done. And then,” he added, “all of a sudden the politics changed, and I could feel the heat, as in every job I’ve taken.”
Heading to Florida
Meanwhile, Priscilla, who was from Panama City, Florida, had been driving down there periodically to visit her family.
“She had been talking about wanting to go back to Panama City. So,” Underwood reflected, “I walked in one day and said, ‘Look, the time’s right. Do you want to go to Panama City? You go down there, you get a job, you find a place to live, and I’ll follow up.
“She left the next morning.” Underwood ended up turning in his resignation and worked out a plan on the house he was leaving behind.
“I took off and went to Florida, got down there and didn’t know what I was going to do,” he acknowledged.
“The City of Graceville offered me the city manager position. So, I went to work with them and did the same thing I’d been doing — just managing all of the departments, and we ended up getting a new wastewater treatment plant system. Got an industrial park so they could build something on it. Which I think by the time I left or after I had left, they had put a prison on it.”
Underwood left there for Walton County and a better paying position as county administrator. However, after approximately three years, personality issues arose.
“Things didn’t turn out right,” he conceded. “They wanted me to leave, and I said no problem.” He was offered and accepted a two-year severance package to resign.
Underwood then went to work for a high-end private firm, St. Joe Development. “It’s one of the largest landowners in Florida,” he noted.
It was during his two years there that he was summoned to a meeting with U.S. Marshals. They confronted him with a hunting trip he and a Walton Commissioner had taken with members of an engineering firm. Accusations, based on politics in Underwood’s estimations, were made, but the matter was ultimately dropped.
“I just say it,” he opined, “there is a lot when you are in this business. There is a lot you deal with.”
Following that episode, Underwood had the opportunity to continue in the development business in Florida but chose to go another route. Priscilla’s granddaughter was in Jones County, and she had been making that long trip to visit.
Back to Georgia … for good
“I decided the best thing for us to do was get out,” he shared. “And so I put my house up for rent with the rental company, and we took off and went to Gray.”
Underwood recalled that Ashley Mackin (now county attorney Ashley Brodie) helped them find a house. She showed them various properties.
“Finally, we pulled down to this house that was under construction, and Priscilla says, ‘That’s it!’ I said, ‘Done deal.’ So we bought it right there and love it, really do love it.”
Meanwhile, once he decided to leave Florida, Underwood landed the position of Jones County administrator.
“I enjoyed my job,” he reflected. “I spent 11 years with them; that’s longer than I spent with any other organization. I do feel like there were things that were accomplished.” The county government did make it through those early years and, in Underwood’s estimation, had something to show for it when he retired. One significant project he pointed to is the recreation complex.
“We ended up getting the Department of Corrections to give us a group of inmates that literally moved in out there to do work. It took them a long time to get them to know what they were doing. But,” he added, “we continued working with them, and it paid off; saved Jones County a lot of money.”
Underwood cited concrete company owner Gus Pursley for his donation of land to build the new fire station in Haddock.
“I went to him and sat down with him,” the former administrator shared. “I said, ‘Look, this is what we want to do. And I want to know if you would be interested in providing a piece of land so that they can put a fire station there?’ He said, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it.’” Underwood mentioned other accomplishments, including the senior citizen center project and a park in the River North area before reiterating he had no regrets with his tenure in Jones County.
“Ihave enjoyed the work and the employees because I tried to make it a point to get along with all of the constitutional officers. It felt like I did a good job in that because I was friends with all of them.”
Underwood has gotten older, and his outlook has changed. He pointed out that when he was younger, the goal was to make it work where it’s affordable for everyone or a service that everybody wants and needs.
“Getting older and realizing that I am not in it anymore, all I can think of is, ‘How come they haven’t done something about the seniors in Jones County? I mean, people that are 70 years and older still paying the same taxes that they paid, that all these people that make big money pay. We’re all on fixed incomes.’
“I’m not saying don’t charge them taxes. I am saying show an appreciation for the length of time that they’ve been here and the investment that they’ve made.”
Underwood also shared that about the time of his retirement he was diagnosed with a blood disorder, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and has since seen an oncologist on a regular basis. He has also undergone an immunoglobulin infusion of blood to help raise white blood counts and fight the disease.
That started 11 years ago, and he looks on the bright side.
“I don’t know. I am still living and still playing golf twice a week.”
