Local & State Headlines

Citizen listening session tonight

• Residents in the community have an opportunity to meet with several county officials.

Carlton Fletcher

ALBANY — In his continuing effort to put the “faces of government” with their familiar names, District 2 Dougherty County Commissioner John Hayes will host the second of his citizen listening sessions at Eureka Baptist Church tonight.

Hayes and several county officials will meet with residents in the area to discuss issues important to the community.

“Usually when there are major problems in my district, my constituents call me,” Hayes said. “And I feel certain that is the case with other commissioners as well. We certainly don’t have a problem with getting those calls, but we want our citizens to know that there are others they can call when the commissioners might not be available.

“We feel these listening sessions are vital because the people who are involved in public service do a much better job when there is community engagement.”

Other officials scheduled to attend the 6 p.m. meeting are District 5 County Commissioner Art Searles, Dougherty School Board member Milton Griffin, County Administrator Richard Crowdis, Assistant County Administrator Thomas Thomas, County Attorney Spencer Lee, Dougherty Police Chief Don Cheek, Public Works Director Larry Cook and Albany-Dougherty Code Enforcement Director Mike Tilson.

“Our initial listening session (in Putney) was very successful, and my hope is that we will continue to put faces to the names of government officials that our citizens might have heard of but never met,” Hayes said. “The concept behind this program is proactively linking our county’s government with its citizens.”

Tonight’s meeting is scheduled to run from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Eureka Baptist, which is located at 1201 Lily Pond Road. For additional information, call (229) 435-8991.

More Headlines>>