Mayor's Monthly Minutes

Greetings citizens of Douglas! Spring is around the corner and let’s join together and do some spring cleaning around our homes and our public areas. We are looking for volunteers to start up a Keep America Beautiful affiliate here in Douglas and Coffee County. We need cleanup in our parks, our downtown corners, and streets – let’s all TEAM UP TO CLEAN UP!

I am happy to welcome our new police chief, Mr. Shane Edmisten. Mr. Edmisten comes to Douglas from the Suwanee Police Department. He has years over 23 years of experience and will bring his knowledge to our community beginning March 4, 2019. He exhibited great leadership skills during the interview process and has fresh ideas regarding community policing. I am looking forward to working with Mr. Edmisten.

City departments have submitted their 2020 fiscal year budgets to the Finance Department. We have to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars, so the thorough budget process begins with city departments submitting budgets to our finance department in February. The next step is for the City Manager and Finance office to review each department budget and requested line item. We are in good financial shape within our city departments and I want our financial status to remain in good standing.

We are preparing to begin projects with our CMAR partners. By the end of March, the City Manager’s office, Human Resource office, Community Development will be housed at the Ashley Slater House (211 S. Madison Avenue). All other business offices will be moved to the old Suntrust Bank located on South Madison next to Save A Lot. We will begin to hold our City Commission meetings at the C.E. Weir Center. Please be patient as we begin to transition into temporary offices. Public notices will go out once our government offices begin to move.

I love our youth! It is heart wrenching to read and hear about young people who are depressed or victims of bullying - too many of our young people are facing these issues. City employees are joining forces with mental health agencies in our area to offer a Mental Health Fair in May. This community event will provide information about mental health issues facing our society and how to effectively handle situations when dealing with mental illness or depression. I urge anyone dealing with mental health issues or bullying to call a help hotline (1-800-273-TALK (8255) or talk with an adult/counselor. Please pay attention to our children and let’s take a stand to stop bullying in our schools and cyber-bullying.

Know any teens who have a bright future ahead? If so, then we need them to step onboard the Mayor’s Youth Council. We still need youth volunteers for the 2019-2020 term. This youth group builds leadership skills in our community youth. The Youth Council fosters leadership skills and allows students to be an advisory council to the mayor and commission. Members of the council have monthly meetings which will include discussion of city issues and brainstorming for new ideas for the Mayor and government leaders; volunteerism, participation in retreats, training, and travel experiences.

I want to hear from citizens about youth in our community that are doing exceptional things with