About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 9, 2023)
LOCAL The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com Thursday, February 9, 2023 3A Georgia Mountains YMCA selects new president, CEO BY RACHEL ESTES restes@gainesvilletimes.com After a nationwide search for viable prospects, Georgia Mountains YMCA officially has a new leadership figure at its helm. The organization’s board of directors has named Lane Walberg its new president and CEO, a news release announced Wednesday. Formerly senior vice presi dent of operations of the YMCA of Memphis & the Mid South, Walberg and his wife, Mary Kate, have been in Gainesville for about five months. Walberg said he’s both excited and humbled to take on the new role. “To come alongside our dedi cated board of directors and the passionate employees of our Y is something that has energized me since I interviewed and moved to Gainesville,” Wal berg stated. “I firmly believe we stand on the shoulders of those that have come before us, and it is our responsibility to build on the impact and change lives in our community for generations.” Walberg’s 18-year career Photo courtesy Georgia Mountains YMCA Georgia Mountains YMCA has named Lane Walberg its new president and CEO. with the Y spans various capaci ties of leadership in YMCA asso ciations across the Southeast, including Memphis, Tennessee; Jackson, Mississippi; Charlotte, North Carolina; and St. Peters burg, Florida. According to Georgia Moun tains YMCA Board of Direc tors Chairman Ben Jarrard, the association’s CEO selection committee was tasked with the responsibility of “carefully and thoughtfully” choosing a new leader amongst a “diverse and impressive” candidate pool, and saw Walberg as “a leader with the experience to grow and advance our Y and continue to serve the ever-changing needs of our community in a relevant manner.” In terms of growth and advancement, Walberg said “there are many areas of ser vice to be excited for” as the association continues serving children, families and mem bers by the thousands, namely through its after-school pro gramming, early learning centers, the J.A. Walters Fam ily YMCA and water safety instruction. “With so many miles of waterfront in Hall County, I do think it’s important we continue to equip all of our youth with the life skill of water safety and swimming,” he said. For more information, visit gamountainsymca.org. VOTE ■ Continued from 1A (permits),” County Attorney Van Stephens said. An available legal avenue to block the annexation is that resolution process — based on an existing state statutory pro cedure that enables the county to “object to a city’s annexa tion,” Stephens explained. He indicated that commissioners will likely approve the item Thursday. “We’re following that (resolu tion process),” he said. Disputes over annexation aren’t uncommon in local government, as Hall County lobbied state lawmakers to amend annexation laws in 2021, describing the process as out dated. House Bill 1461, which “extends the period of a zoning freeze following arbitration and revises notices municipalities must provide counties regard ing annexation applications,” was signed into law in May of last year. Officials with the city of Buford could not be reached for comment. The resolution is expected to go before the board of commis sioners at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9, at the Hall County Govern ment Center. TRIP ■ Continued from 1A kind of like making gravy,” Miller said. “If you put too much flour in there, it just expands beyond the bounds.” Miller went on to say that he had gone to Europe for purposes of “eco nomic development,” specifically to “visit existing industries that have locations” in Germany and England that also do business in Georgia. “Economic development, taking care of your existing industries, is of paramount importance because when someone is considering mov ing to your area, the first thing they do is call existing industries and ask them how they’re treated by the community and so forth,” Miller said. Legislative staffers have refused to say how much the trip costs, because the General Assembly exempted itself from the Open Records Act that applies to other state agencies. The group made the trip from Nov. 12 to 19 to the German cities of Munich and Stuttgart and then Lon don as part of a Senate Study Com mittee on Economic Development and International Relations. The legislation creating the committee was filed and passed by the Georgia Senate at the end of the 2022 session, and the panel was chaired by Miller. “The recent AJC article about last fall’s study committee raises serious concerns about the use and purpose of Senate administrative funds in paying for travel expenses associated with this study commit tee,” Jones and Kennedy said in a statement Tuesday. “Recent devel opments have brought to light that proper protocol may not have been followed in the budget approval pro cess for this trip.” Jones and Kennedy, like Dun can and Miller, are Republicans. Duncan did not run for reelection, while Miller lost a Republican pri mary race for lieutenant governor to Jones. Kennedy, of Macon, was chair of the majority caucus under Miller. A spokesperson for Duncan said the trip helped to build on “our strong relationships with private sector companies across the world. ” “The bipartisan Senate delega tion trip helped maintain our state’s competitiveness and create more high quality jobs — two of the core accomplishments of Geoff Duncan’s tenure as lieutenant governor and head of the state Senate,” the state ment said. The newspaper reported that it reviewed 1,300 pages of emails from the state Department of Eco nomic Development relating to the trip. According to a report compiled by Duncan’s office and signed by Miller, the group met with govern ment and business officials, toured company headquarters, studios, training schools and other facilities, and attended receptions. The news paper found that transportation for the group alone probably cost tens of thousands of dollars. Among the 14 people listed as attending, according to emails, were Duncan, Miller, and state senators including Republican Clint Dixon of Buford, Democrat Emanuel Jones of Decatur, Democrat Sonya Halpern of Atlanta, Democrat Sheikh Rahman of Lawrenceville, two members of Duncan’s secu rity detail and Andrew Allison, the head of the Senate Press Office who left state government a little more than a month later for another job. Dixon, Jones, Halpern and Rahman remain senators. Rahman called the trip a “work ing visit” that offered no real time for tourism. For example, he said he learned about Germany’s appren ticeship system, which helps link trained young people to businesses. The General Assembly has a taxpayer-funded budget this year of roughly $53 million. Emanuel Jones said he sup ports releasing cost and other information. Times reporter Brian Wellmeier contributed to this article SECURITY ■ Continued from 1A signage, changing out doors and locks.” Casey Ramsey, who oversaw the report as the director of the county’s Emergency Management Agency, did not respond to multiple requests for com ment. He was promoted to assistant county adminis trator in November. “Security for our employees is always a top priority,” said District 4 Commissioner Jeff Stowe. “Darla (Eden) pointed out some things,” and Ramsey led a “very good assess ment of what potential weaknesses we may have at the building.” “I’m not positive they’ll all be addressed in what we’re doing with Electronic Sales,” Stowe said, “but I know this will enhance our security and access to dif ferent areas.” Eden also called in her letter for screening people who come into the build ing and checking their bags, though it is not clear whether that would be legal in a government building that is not a courthouse. County Attorney Van Ste phens could not be reached Tuesday afternoon. A bizarre encounter over the summer with an agitated taxpayer who touched the glass partition and asked the clerk if it was bulletproof heightened Eden’s concerns about security. This and a couple other incidents — which she declined to detail — were set against a back drop of a summer plagued by gun violence, including the elementary school mas sacre in Uvalde, Texas, that killed 19 children and two teachers. “There are thousands of visitors a day coming into that building — thousands,” she said in the summer. “It’s way past time with all the gun violence that’s hap pening in the United States that we look at securing that building and protect ing our employees and the public.” We love our community, and we know you do, too. So this February, though days can be rough and the news can be grim, we’re asking you to share something you love about Hall County. It could be a place, a special moment or certain characteristics of our community — whatever makes you smile when you think of Hall. Scan to Submit 300 words or less and we’ll publish a selection of the best on our Opinion page. Let’s put some good vibes back into our community! Z\xt Unties gainesvilletimes.com Honestly local. HALL March 9 9am-noon COME OUT AND JOIN US FOR HEALTH DEMONSTRATIONS, AND INFORMATION FOR ALL AGES. Frances Meadows Aquatic Center 1545 Community Way Gainesville, GA 30501 Sponsored by Northeast Georgia Health System Interested in a Booth at our Healthy Hall Event? Email: marketin3@3ainesvilletimes.com today for more information and to resen/e your space. All vendors are welcome. She Sftncs gainesvilletimes.com marketing@gainesvilletimes.com
