It was a packed house on Monday night, for Steens” community meeting.
And more than updates from their supervisor, chancery clerk, sheriff and other officials, residents appreciated the opportunity to pick their brains and share concerns.
“This is a real good meeting,” said Charles Chambry, 65. “It”s real informative.”
Chambry, a lifelong Steens resident calls the meeting “a place for solutions.”
“It also gives you an opportunity to air your differences,” he added.
Lowndes County Supervisor Harry Sanders has hosted the quarterly meetings, rotating them in communities throughout District 1, for the past 12 years.
“If he doesn”t have the answer, he”ll get it for you,” Buddy Hays said of Sanders. Hays, 78, also grew up in Steens.
“This is to tell them what we”ve done in the last three months and what we”re doing the next three,” Sanders said of the meetings.
“I think the community really appreciates them,” said Mary Hudson, who stayed after the meeting to talk with Sanders and others.
Hudson, 50, has lived in Steens for 22 years.
“I appreciate these meetings … They are very informative and appreciated by his constituents in the Steens community,” she later added. “It gives you the opportunity to meet face to face with your county government officials — from chancery clerk to Sheriff; and the economic development update by Joe Higgins is always uplifting.”
Higgins, CEO of the Columbus-Economic Development Link, said the agency is working prospects worth $2 billion to $3 billion in capital investment and 3,000-4,000 jobs in the economic development game of “survival and advance.”
“We can be a winner just as well as we can be a loser and visa versa,” Higgins said.
County Administrator Ralph Billingsley also noted the county has several major projects recently completed and currently under way:
- The new Lowndes County Health Department on Lehmberg Road, a $2.4 million project, opened in August 2010.
- The newly renovated county administrative and tax offices on Main Street, a $1.5 million project, opened in July 2010.
- Courthouse renovations, a $1.1 million project, is ongoing.
- A new justice court complex, a $2.15 million project, is under construction on Martin Luther King Drive, adjacent to the county jail.
- Renovation of several neighborhood parks and addition of neighborhood community centers, a $1.7 million project funded evenly by the city of Columbus and Lowndes County, is about halfway complete.
- A downtown Columbus soccer park, a $4.5 million project, is under construction and should be ready for soccer season next year.
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