Mayor Harley Attends Mayors’ Day Conference

Special to the Journal

 

ATLANTA – Mayor John R. Harley was among nearly 800 city officials

to attend the Georgia Municipal Association’s annual Mayors’ Day Conference in

Atlanta Jan. 26-28. The annual conference provides city officials with an

opportunity to learn more about legislation under consideration at the Georgia

Capitol, attend training sessions and hear from state leaders.

 

A special pre-session conference on the role of city government in education

was held on Friday afternoon. State School Superintendent John Barge outlined

some of the opportunities and challenges facing schools and the state, and

participants engaged in breakout sessions to establish ways cities can help

schools before hearing from an panel of experts on the subject.

 

Training classes on Saturday, Jan. 26, provided city leaders with insight and

information on topics such as Municipal Finance, Council-Staff Relationships,

Human Resources, Ethics and Open Meetings/Open Records. He attended a full day of training on Open Meetings/Open Records where

he learned the current law on this ever changing environment.

During the conference officials had the choice of attending concurrent sessions

on becoming more globally competitive, engaging changing populations or learning

more about designing retirement plans for cities and upcoming changes to

accounting standards. They also participated in GMA’s six policy committees and

heard from the governor, lieutenant governor and speaker of the house on their

plans for the legislative session. In addition, U.S. Secretary of

Transportation Ray LaHood addressed transportation spending in Georgia and

projects the federal government is funding.

 

“Attending Mayors’ Day gives us an opportunity to hear about legislation

affecting our cities so we can then discuss these issues with our legislators,

and it also gives us a voice in shaping GMA’s legislative policies,” said Mayor Harley.

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