Mayor Gary E. Jones

If a person is lucky enough to have been elected to a public office, they should always be transparent, honest, flexible, compassionate, accessible and always return calls. I feel that I’ve been very responsive in these areas. I’ll admit between my full time job and the Mayor’s job, on rare occasions, I may fail to return a call.......but I never have to avoid a constituent or worry about what I told someone, because I tell the truth. When you tell the truth, no matter what it pertains to, the story will never change. I also believe in keeping our citizens updated regularly by way of our Weekly Significant Acts, via Facebook, our Mayor’s Corner Newsletter, our regular posts from our Public Information Officer, live-streaming all meetings and so forth. Too often people get elected and insulate themselves and require that citizens go through hoops to speak to them or arrange a meeting. Others start out with the right intentions and overtime feel that their time is too valuable to help others. This is why I believe in and support term limits. I will make the time to talk with, meet with or whatever else is required to help others. That’s what holding a public office is all about. It’s not about power, arrogance or screening calls. My second term (8 yrs) will expire on December 31, 2023. Because I strongly believe in term limits and have other political aspirations, I fully intend to leave the City of Grovetown in excellent financial shape with a strong team of Directors, supervisors, leads and employees. We are almost there now. It has taken my administration nearly 6 years to make right the wrongs that the City was involved in. I’m very proud of OUR achievements and I’m excited about Grovetown’s continued success and positive image that’s now noticeable to all in the CSRA. Are we perfect? Absolutely not.....but we are willing to listen and make improvements along the way. We will not hide anything. Whatever I decide to do in 2024, I will approach in the same fashion. The Lord has blessed me with small things and bigger things are yet to come.

The work force in the Columbia County region is becoming much more competitive daily. Columbia County and Amazon both have a minimum wage established at $15.00 per hour. I recently appointed two council members, Deborah Fisher and Sylvia Martin, to conduct a salary study, with the goal of getting the city of Grovetown in line with the two aforementioned larger employers. As a result of this study, we as elected officials, realize that to retain and recruit quality employees, we must be competitive. The city has found a means to do so without having to raise taxes. We cannot afford to lose qualified, long tenured employees to other employers. We must continue to value our employees, which directly equates to more effective and efficient delivery of services for you. More to come on this at our next City Council Meeting on Monday July 12th during our Work Session beginning at 6 pm. As always, the public is invited to attend or you may choose to view the meeting via live stream on our page. Thank you.

Please see below regarding the City's 2016-2026 Comprehensive Plan. Tomorrow, you're invited to view the drafted plan and give your input. Thank you.

(Posted on behalf of Mayor Jones by Public Information Officer Ashley Campbell)

REMINDER:

The City of Grovetown is in the process of updating its 2016-2026 Comprehensive Plan.

The first opportunity for the public to view and make remarks about the drafted plan will be tomorrow, May 20th, at 5 p.m. in the Grovetown City Hall Council Chambers.

In order to update this plan, it is vitally important to receive input from the citizens of Grovetown.

Click the link below to see a draft version of our new Comprehensive Plan Update.

For more information, call the Department of Planning and Community Development at 706-860-5094 or email at [email protected].

Thank you.

http://www.cityofgrovetown.com/DocumentCenter/View/1770/Grovetown-Comprehensive-Plan-Draft-latest-521?fbclid=IwAR33IFCHMC5dNuQaSzvfHpJLfJf5aLj2JNnYTRNos0Ks8Zgf4nBxOGlN8Y0

I’m proud to report again that the City of Grovetown’s Financial Audit Report was completed with zero findings, also referred to as a clean audit. This is a great accomplishment, seeing how just 5 short years ago, our audits had numerous findings and substantial losses. Additionally, due to the huge embezzlement case, the FBI had possession of many documents, thus preventing the city from receiving any grants. Our financial state is very strong, with six months of Operating capital in reserves. Great job to our Finance Director and staff!