Tuesday workshop series to replace single retreat
Forget the annual retreat held by the Peachtree City Council. The council will hold a series of workshops on a variety of topics over the next few months in lieu of having one day-long meeting.
The annual Peachtree City Council retreat customarily held in the beginning of the year is being replaced with several council workshops designed to enhance citizen participation.
The change in venue was the idea of City Manager Jon Rorie. He said a series of evening workshops would provide better opportunity for citizens to participate in the process and allow the council to focus on issues and challenges faced by the community.
“We want input from our citizens on who we are as a community, and what we want to be in the next 20 years. This is more than a one-day event, so we need to take the time to gather the input for proper planning,” said Rorie.
The first of the workshops was scheduled to be held on Feb. 9 (after press deadline) at City Hall and included a review of the goals and objectives set by the council in 2015.
A number of other Tuesday workshops in the council chambers at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall will follow. Those include:
• March 1 — Statistics and trends: Are we the same community as 20 years ago? What type of community will we be 20 years from now? Housing stock, retail vacancy rates and industrial locations will be discussed. The meeting will also include demographics and growth rates of surrounding cities and counties.
• April 5 — Citizen engagement/citizen surveys review, assessment and city services expo. Discussions will include the One PTC-Community Assessment and comprehensive plan, a services assessment and a 2016 Citizen Satisfaction Survey to see what citizens think about their community life and city government.
• May 3 — What service levels are adequate to focus on the basics of the Peachtree City “brand.” the workshop will examine code enforcement public safety and recreation.
• June 7 — This workshop will examine City Council goals and objectives.
• June 27 (Monday) — City Council budget workshop.
• July 5 — City Council budget workshop.
