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
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HEALTH
DEMONSTRATIONS,
AND INFORMATION
FOR ALL AGES.
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Aquatic Center
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Gainesville, GA
30501
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