Fourth Quarter Town Hall Meeting Scheduled for November 17

Stephens County Board of Commissioners Chair Michelle Ivester is gearning up for another Town Hall meeting.

The next Town Hall is set for Saturday, November 17th.

Ivester started the quarterly town hall meetings as a way for the public to meet with county commissioners to ask questions and express concerns about various issues.

The last town hall was held in August and afterwards, Ivester said she pleased with the turnout.

“I think this went really well today, we had a good many citizens come out, and we had some really valid points,” Ivester said. “We talked about making sure the website was updated on things that we do throughout the county, and that I give an update every time on what we’re doing, and so we can start updating our website with that. So, it went really well. I was pleased with the outcome.”

Some of the topics addressed at previous town halls included concerns about public transportation, expanding job opportunities and more help for senior citizens.

One of the issues brought up at the last town hall was public transit and how transportation is a contributing factor to the work force shortage throughout the county.

Ivester says she has begun working with local industries to provide transportation for employees who are without transportation.

“We also talked about industries and the employees, and if employees need a ride to work how they can go about getting that,” Ivester said. “So that will be something that we can definitely talk to the development authority about; and maybe get something going.”

Ivester announced the at the beginning of 2018 that she would hold the town hall meetings as an initiative for the county commissioners to receive additional input from the public.

Even though the turnout has not been as big as Ivester had hoped at previous town hall meetings, she said they will continue to be held one a quarter next year.