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WILLIAMSON - Ranchland Estates and the road across the dam at Watering Hole Pass has been a hot topic for the past month with the Pike County Board of Commissioners. A resident spoke on the record at the May 26, 2026 meeting, and another spoke prior to the June 10, 2026 meeting about the placement of a fence across the road to block traffic. And now, a police report has been filed because of damage to that fence.

Several of the residents of Ranchland Estates attended the May 26, 2026 meeting with one resident speaking on their behalf. A letter was read to the commissioners about the access road at Watering Hole Pass being closed.

These residents said that closure was ordered by County Manager/Attorney Rob Morton without public notice, without Board approval, and without following procedures required by State law.

They also made the accusation that the closure of the access road is to benefit private interests and filed an ethics complaint against Morton.

County Commission Meeting May 26, 2026

Residents protested that the barricades are blocking a public road that has been used for many years and that OCGA 32-7-2 only allows the Board of Commissioners – and not the County Manager -- to close or abandon a public road after holding a public hearing with a published notice and then finding that the road is no longer necessary to the public and recording a public vote.

A resident of Ranchland Estates, Adam Rainey, read a detailed complaint to commissioners that began with a statement that Morton did not follow his own legal advice from April 26, 2022 when he advised the Board that anything having to do with a county road system would need to be approved by a policy or an approval of the action by the Board.

An accusation was also made that there was an overlapping set of private and public roles with Morton as the County Manger, County Attorney, and registered agent for the Bridle Lake Ownership, LLC and Mark Whitley as the owner of Bridle Lake Ownership LLC and a consultant for the county with Whitley Engineering.

It was pointed out the County’s GIS mapping extends across the dam and is shown as a continuous road in the County’s official database with the consequences of this road closure affecting 911 Dispatch and emergency response to accidents as well as disruption of the delivery of mail and an accident that occurred on the other side of the fence that forced emergency response to turn around, leave the neighborhood, drive through the City of Williamson, pass through a different subdivision, and re-enter Ranchland Estates from the opposite side of the road.

And it was stated that residents have used this road for decades making this a prescriptive right of way that cannot be taken away by an administrative order without a public notification and vote by the Pike County Board of Commissioners.

Pike County Times has included detailed documentation regarding Ranchland Estates and Watering Hole Pass from the May 26, 2026 meeting at: pikecountytimes.com/secondary/BOC5.26.26.html

County Commission Meeting June 10, 2026

During the Town Hall Meeting held prior to the June 10, 2026 meeting, Natasha Duggan spoke to commissioners saying that it had been 15 days since this process began, and there had been no public action since then. She also mentioned a private meeting that was held about this property between land owners and two of the commissioners.

She said that prescriptive easement has been ignored with the closing of this road and stressed that the Board is responsible for what has been done without their approval. She asked for due process and requested an ethics investigation against Morton for his involvement in this matter as the attorney for the property owner and as a representative for the county.

This information was given during the Town Hall Meeting and was not part of the official record.

Morton spoke on the record in the meeting during his County Manager report. He said that there was a June 4, 2026 meeting requested by the County with Commissioners James Jenkins, Chairman Briar Johnson, and owners Mark Whitley and Steve Reeves to try to find a solution to the situation.

He also said that work is being done to find an amicable solution to this situation and that it was unfortunate that accusations have been made against him personally. He said that the county would walk through the process as necessary but wanted to be sure that the public was aware that the accusations were being taken seriously.

Pike County Times requested a copy of the ethics complaint/s from the county but was advised that this was under investigation and cannot be released at this time.

After the June 10, 2026 County Commission meeting, Duggan filed an amendment to the original ethics complaint. She said that the matter was not personal and that the ethics complaint was based on county documents, emails, minutes, and statutory requirements and said that ethics laws are designed to ensure that public officials are accountable and conflicts of interest are addressed in the open so the public can trust that government decisions are made lawfully and that officials don’t use their positions to protect themselves.

Duggan wrote that by framing the ethics complaint as “personal,” Morton had attempted to minimize a legitimate concern and “cast it as private disagreement.” She also said that by making public comments in his official capacity while being the subject of the ethics complaint, he violated county policy in Section 36.22 with a prohibition on conflicts of interest such as speaking to protect his own interest, Section 36.30 with a Code of Ethics section that prevents presenting the complaint as “personal” to misrepresent that nature of the filing and undermine the integrity of the ethics process, and Section 36.43 with Morton’s comments being an internal county matter in which the subject of the complaint should not be commenting publicly.

She also made the accusation that if Morton was a part of the deliberations or discussions, he was interfering with the ethics process and that his comments might have influenced the Board before executive session. She pointed out that that there is a conflict of interest if the County Manager/County Attorney attempted to advise commissioners on this matter because he cannot ethically advise the Board or speak on the matter publicly as a representative of the Board on a matter that he is involved in.

The Fence

So the fence was placed on Watering Hole Pass by county personnel last month. Since that time, some have driven around the fence, and at least one Amazon delivery van had to be rescued after getting stuck when trying to drive around the new fence.

But on June 14, 2026 at around 2:14 p.m. the Sheriff’s Office received information about possible government property damage on Watering Hole Pass in Williamson. Pike County Times could only obtain part of the information on this incident because it is currently under investigation.

The public portion of the incident report advised that approximately 25 feet of fencing and a post were damaged. The offense is listed as interference with government property and destruction/damage/vandalism.

Pike County Times was advised by a reader that doors were knocked on around that area after the initial incident was discovered to try to obtain information about the identity of the person who damaged the fence.

It is not known whether the damage to the fence was deliberate or not -- though brake marks can be seen in the picture above that was submitted by a reader.

Yellow caution tape has been wrapped around the area at this time.

The Pike County Sheriff’s Office advised that the matter is under investigation and that a statement would be released at a later date.

Closing

While this part of the investigation is wrapping up, the Pike County Board of Commissioners is working through the ethics investigation and attempting to help find a resolution to the issue of closing off this short cut road to residents on the other side of the lake.

Will the commissioners hire an outside attorney to advise them on the matter of ethics complaint/s?

Who is going to pay for replacement of the fence that has been damaged?

The next meeting of the Pike County Board of Commissioners will be on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. in the upstairs courtroom of the Pike County Courthouse. Town Hall will be held at 6:15 p.m. The public is invited to attend.

For those who cannot attend in person on that date, the meeting will be streamed live on the Pike County Board of Commissioners’ YouTube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/@pikecoga/videos.

Thank you to the Pike County Board of Commissioners for live streaming their meetings and keeping them on a permanent basis for the public to view at its leisure since October 28, 2025.

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