CITY OF HIAWASSEE COUNCIL RETREAT
Saturday, March 7th, 2020
Union County Community Center
129 Union County Recreation Rd. Blairsville, GA 30512
AGENDA
Saturday, March 7th
8:30 AM Arrive and Breakfast
9:00 AM Welcome, Overview and Introductions
9:30 PM 3 Year Review and 2019 Accomplishments
Achievements Towards the Strategic Plan
10:30 AM Council Issues Discussion and Action
11:00 AM Council Issues Discussion and Action
12:00 PM Working Lunch (in the meeting room)
DDA
12:45 PM DDA and Council Expectations; how we can assist each other
2:00 PM Council Issues Discussion and Action
3:30 PM Closing Comments, Wrap up ad Evaluation
4:00 PM Adjourn
In The Summary below there is an error saying Friday, March 7. The retreat was Saturday, March 7.
City Council Planning Retreat Summary
March 7, 2020
Union County Community Center, Blairsville, GA Facilitator: Gordon Maner
City Council Planning Retreat
March 7, 2020
AGENDA
Saturday, March 7th
8:30 AM Arrive and Breakfast
9:00 AM Welcome, Overview and Introductions
9:30 PM 3 Year Review and 2019 Accomplishments
Achievements towards the Strategic Plan
10:30 AM Council Issues Discussion and Action
11:00 AM Council Issues Discussion and Action
12:00 PM Working Lunch (in the meeting room)
DDA
12:45 PM DDA and Council Expectations; how we can assist each other
2:00 PM Council Issues Discussion and Action
3:30 PM Closing Comments, Wrap up and Evaluation
4:00 PM Adjourn
Introductions
- What positive changes have you noticed in the city over the last 2 years?
- Better Communications
- Better teamwork
- New businesses opening, new sense of pride
- People in the city are excited and proud to be there
- City council working better together
- Miss Bonnie is so responsive, more open than in the past
- Community involvement
- Total transparency
- What do you see as the city council’s biggest challenge over the next 12 months?
- Ironing out the Water Authority sewer issues
- Working with the DDA and the JDA
- How do we get the word out on permitting, sewer etc. signs on doors of vacant building
- Social Media – the few negative drama people
- What is one thing you wish the city could do differently?
- Better city hall location and setup; updated/new
- Get heads up on what’s happening and what’s going on
- Get more business participation in city projects
- Solicit retired engineers/management type volunteers to assist in projects
2020 Council Issues for Discussion
Carry-Over Action Items from 2019
- Have Denise organize a field trip to Clayton downtown to see and hear the story on how they got to where they are today
- Proceed with addressing charter inconsistencies and outdated language. Have updates and changes approved in time for the 2021 legislative session. May want to involve Ted Baggett at the Vinson Institute to review changes. (Anne)
- Council members shadow the Mayor for a day to appreciate the work being done
- Council make suggestions to Anne about items of interest for her to write regular short articles about city happenings. “Hiawassee; did you know?” or something catchy. Post quarterly. i.e. Mayor’s Memo from Bluffton
2020 Discussion Items and Action Items
Trust, teamwork, delegation – trust council enough to take on part of the load
- Mayor’s request; if you take on a project do it correctly, totally and timely with follow through.
- Use some of our council member’s connections to help the city i.e. Nancy’s cousin at TVA
- Anne and Amy meet regularly with the Movers and Shakers group
- Mayor delegate meeting attendance to council members
Allow council involvement in making financial decisions and input on potential SPLOST projects
- Mayor will engage council as the time comes to identify projects under the SPLOST priority list
- Need to develop a 5 to 10 year strategy on water distribution infrastructure
Water and Sewer Authority issues with city sewer collections
- Mayor and Junior leading city’s efforts in negotiating with the Water Authority to insure future of the relationship serves the city and the Water Authority’s needs
City streets and sidewalks – details for work schedule of priority and improvements
- Big Sky Drive needs traffic calming to reduce speeding – add to list
- If council members see sidewalk or road improvement needs report to Mayor to get on the list of priorities
Police officer salary competitiveness
- Is it time for a CVIOG wage and compensation study (conduct in 2022)?
- Discussion only
Liquor Store ordinance
- Form a council committee (Amy and Patsy explore and bring back draft ordinance which looks at options and ordinances and draft an ordinance which addresses the following:
- Number of stores
- License fee
- Local restrictions
- Who gets licenses
- Distance between stores
- Look at several other local ordinances
Training Budget for attending conferences
- $1,000 per council member allowed – get with Bonnie to process and claim
Properties whose taxes are in arrears – city will actively collect!
Consensus to move forward with collecting
Fluoridated water – petition satisfied, put on the ballot
Discussion and clarification
Meeting with Council and DDA Board
What the City Council needs/expects from the DDA:
- Keep us informed and if you need help ask. Send minutes and agendas to the council.
- Second Monday at 3:00 PM city hall – city council welcome to attend
- Set aside $20,000 to give the board as seed money (Consider)
- Progress towards downtown development
- Progress on medians
- Communication with us and with the community
- A great deal of creativity and innovative ideas
- Development – new businesses and let the city know if the city can give incentives
- Let the DDA manage their functions without interference
- Consistency in design and beautification
- Access façade grants for downtown business owners
What the DDA needs/expect from the city:
- We look to the city to tell us what you need
- Communication back to the DDA both ways
- Our joint visions should drive activities
- Jointly work to solicit external funds from local benefactors
- Find a way to provide annual seed money to the DDA for startups
- Share ideas with us
- DDA Staff will provide the city their work-plan for input
- We need to know the city council supports our efforts
- Need the city to support beautification
- Hold a yearly joint retreat to develop an annual work-plan
- Be aware when citizens come to you
- know the boundaries of where the DDA ends and the city begins – we don’t want to get into competition with each other
- The city needs to have a bulked up code enforcement to ensure consistency and to eliminate unsightly problems
- Share the comprehensive plan with DDA board members
- We need to celebrate our successes jointly
Mayor develop an IGA between city and DDA laying out the $20,000 seed money for the DDA for the next city council meeting
DDA apply for 501 C3 status
Next Steps
- Schedule March 6, 2021 Retreat – hold in Clayton or at Union County Community Center
include DDA for part of the retreat (in process of confirming)
ABOUT YOUR FACILITATOR
GORDON MANER
Senior Public Service Associate
Carl Vinson Institute of Government
Mr. Maner has a distinguished career in the local and state government training and development arena, and he currently serves as a facilitator, presenter, and special projects manager for the Institute. Mr. Maner is a recipient of the University of Georgia’s Public Service and Outreach Walter B. Hill Award for Distinguished Achievement in Public Service and he is the recipient of the Georgia City-County Management Association’s Pillar of Excellence Award for services to Georgia’s cities and counties. In addition to his work in Georgia, he provides training, facilitation, and consulting regionally, nationally, and internationally.
Prior to joining the Institute, Mr. Maner spent more than 20 years in various management roles in Georgia local governments. He holds graduate degrees in psychology and in public administration from West Georgia University, and he is a skilled facilitator and presenter. His areas of expertise include facilitation (strategic planning, problem-solving, relationship building), performance measurement, process improvement, management and leadership development, organization development, learning needs assessment and developing learning interventions.
Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 706.831.7917
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