Mayor Attends Convention for City Leaders, Announces Grand Opening of New Maintenance Facility

This post was written by Dacula Mayor Jimmy Wilbanks

I am one of some 2,000 officials attending the Annual Convention of the Georgia Municipal Association (GMA) in Savannah from June 22-25.

The Convention includes two day of training, along with two days of policy committee meetings, election of new officers, and numerous sessions on topics affecting municipal government. I am attending Municipal Training Institute class on Managing Meetings/Parliamentary Procedures. As most know who attend our Dacula City Council meetings, I move the meetings along pretty well. But if you learn something new each day, life is so much richer. I’m sure the parliamentary procedures information will help lessen thefaux pas we sometimes make. I am only taking one course this Convention because I also serve on the Legislative Policy Council. The LPC will be involved in several meeting and sessions dealing with municipal policy for Georgia cities.

The attendees, including three of our Council members, spend a lot of time in the training sessions. The Convention helps us learn of new and innovative programs other cities have implemented, and, of course, it allows me to network with other mayors and council members from all across Georgia. Sometimes there are field trips such as a tour of the Port of Savannah. I think such a tour reinforces understanding the economic importance of the Port to everyone in Georgia and the Southeast, including the City of Dacula.

Topics, of importance such as the economy, revised open meeting/open records law, city revenues, and creating strong downtowns, are discussed during the Convention. The information we bring home from the Convention is invaluable in helping the City provide services at the least cost while at the same time creating a high quality of life.

GMA is the legislative advocacy group for its 519 members. It is located in Atlanta and also provides other educational, employee benefits, and technical services to its voluntary membership.

Not to forget items closer to home, the City has advertisements out for proposals for two street programs, the Eastside Drive project and Whisper Woods streets. These projects are funded by Dacula SPLOST dollars. Bids are expected to be opened in early July for each project.

The City is holding a Grand Opening of the new Maintenance Facility on July 5, 2013 between the hours of 9:30 a. m. – 11:00 a. m. The Maintenance Facility is located at 2600 West Drowning Creek Road, Dacula, GA 30019. Opening this new facility allowed the City to move from our Winder Highway location and is part of our effort to streamline the look of that corridor. Members of the public, whose pennies paid for the Facility through the Dacula SPLOST program, are invited to attend and see the Facility. It will give you an opportunity to see SPLOST dollars at work in our own local community.