Commissioner Heiskell held no public meeting Thursday. There hasn’t been one since the second Thursday of October (18th), and next week is Thanksgiving – but she vowed on UCTV Wednesday night to have one on November 29th. They legally have to meet at least once a month; presumably that meant once in a four-week period but in Bebe’s Walker County the first Thursday of October and the last Thursday of November is “once a month.”
She said they aren’t doing a meeting because nobody ever comes to them. While they might not be standing-room only, there are citizens who try to attend every meeting. The problem is, some of them have started asking questions and taking notes.
If the meetings ARE poorly attended (which most of them probably are) it’s likely because she has them at 10 AM on a weekday when most people are working or in school, because she cancels them at the last minute more than half the time so those who CAN attend usually are inconvenienced, and because she doesn’t listen to her constituents anyway, so most people figure why waste the time?
WQCH Radio, 11/15/12: “LAFAYETTE’S NEW MAIN STREET MANAGER AND DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR, MATTHEW WILLIAMS, WAS INTRODUCED AT THIS WEEK’S COUNCIL MEETING.
“A NATIVE OF CUMMING, GEORGIA… MATTHEW HAS DEGREES IN POLITICAL SCIENCE AND HISTORY FROM NORTH GEORGIA COLLEGE, AND A MASTERS IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND POLICY, FROM AUBURN. HE MOST RECENTLY WORKED AN INTERNSHIP WITH THE CITY OF CUMMING, WHERE HE HELPED WITH HISTORIC PRESERVATION AND CITY PROMOTION. HE SAW THE OPENING IN LAFAYETTE IN AN ON-LINE AD.
“AS THE MAIN STREET PROGRAM MANAGER, MATTHEW WILL BE WORKING ON THE DOWNTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT, AND WELL AS SEEKING NEW BUSINESSES TO KEEP THE AREA ‘ALIVE AND THRIVING’. HE WILL ALSO WORK WITH THE DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION BOARDS. HIS OFFICE IS LOCATED IN HISTORIC CHATTOOGA ACADEMY.”
Another outside hire. Apparently Northwest Georgia has completely run out of anybody qualified to do anything, or the locals who might be able to do these jobs know enough about LaFayette that they won’t touch it..
Mr. Williams replaces Catherine Edgemon, who was fired back in September. No doubt he’ll do a better job than she did; it wouldn’t take much.
However, development and preservation are not the same thing. It’s understand all this is funded through multiple grants glommed together to make a single position, but LaFayette needs someone to do historic preservation in the downtown area, and a separate city-wide development authority.
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