Newspaper Page Text
Page 2C
June 20, 2018
■B
Exporter
COALITION
Continued from Front
the corridor.
“We look at 1-75 as the
artery?’ said Gary Wheat,
president of Macon-Bibb
Convention & Visitors Bu
reau. “There’s a lot of blood
in the artery”
The program for the
meeting focused on tour
ism, with Gilda Stanbery,
executive director of For
syth Convention & Visitors
Bureau, and Wheat speak
ing. Stanbery told about the
start of the Forsyth CVB
in 2015 with funds from
the city’s hotel/motel tax.
There are 14 hotels/motels
and one KOA campground
inside Forsyth’s city limits,
between exits 185 and 188.
The hotels generate about
$32.2 million in busi
ness per year. The hotel/
motel tax produces about
$300,000 yearly with 40
percent going to the CVB
and the rest going to the
city and Main Street. She
said the tax saves property
owners in Monroe County
about $300/year each. As
well as promoting tourism,
the CVB runs the Forsyth
Welcome Center.
“Forsyth is a sweet spot
between Atlanta and
Macon, the middle of
everywhere,” said Stanbery.
“One of the biggest assets
is Juliette, where about
100,000 per year have
lunch at Whistle Stop Cafe.”
She talked of how the
CVB, city, county, histori
cal society and other public
and private entities are
working together to attract
tourists to the area with
activities, food, public art,
outdoor recreational op
portunities, shopping and
events.
Wheat said that Macon-
Bibb has had its Conven
tion & Visitors Bureau for
19 years. It has 75 hotels,
and they generate $30,000
per day. The Macon-Bibb
CVB has two visitor centers
downtown and one at the
I-475/I-75 intersection.
“It’s all about the partner
ships, relationships,” said
Wheat. “It’s that first touch.”
After a hard push into
Atlanta with advertising in
January 2017, Friday-Satur-
day night stays were up 15
percent. They tracked 1,000
people coming because of
the advertising. They are
Discussions of how to promote all the communities and assets along 1-75 south of Atlanta
to Houston County continued after the official meeting ended. Those present were encour
aged to get together for lunch in Forsyth. (Photo/Diane Glidewell)
offering new apps, like the
My City Bike app, and new
tours from Amerson City
Park, including music, his
tory and ghost tours. They
promote tourist attractions
to conventions in town,
tailoring some of the offer
ings to the interests of the
conventioneers.
Sports tournaments
bring people to town.
The Ocmulgee National
Monument is an attractor,
and the Cherry Blossom
Festival always generates
interest. Sometimes it’s a
matter of becoming aware
of what is bringing people
to town, like when a Macon
businessman put up a dis
play of lights in December
that sent tourism numbers
soaring. Wheat said that
people want a road map
to chase themes and love
trails created for them, like
a Heart of Georgia Food
Trail. He said the 1-75
Central Corridor needs to
present a unified message.
“You can never get your
message out too much,”
said Stanbery’
Reichert said there are
good ideas from other
regions to be borrowed. He
asked all members of the
Coalition to help create an
inventory of assets to add
to the website.
“We are beginning to
build a website that will
knock your eyes out,” said
Reichert.
“Visitors don’t care about
city limits and county
lines,” said Wheat.
There followed discussion
of music and film-themed
attractions. The next meet
ing of the 1-75 Central Cor
ridor Coalition is planned
for July 19 in Barnesville,
with the topic possibly
including candidates for
Governor. After that will
be a Sept. 20 meeting in
Griffin, with the possible
program being a panel of
Development Authority
directors.
By Diane Glidewell
news@mymcr. net
Michael Bittick, who has
announced his candidacy
for Monroe County sheriff,
was the guest speaker at
the High Falls Civic Club
monthly meeting on May
31. He told the group he
believes he has more expe
rience that will contribute
to the Sheriff 1 s Office
than anyone else who has
announced an intention to
seek the office.
Bittick began his law
enforcement career with
the Monroe County
Sheriff s Office but soon
moved to the Macon Police
Department and Bibb
County Sheriff s Office,
which combined when the
county and city govern
ments consolidated two
years ago. Bittck, who
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is now a captain in the
Macon-Bibb County
office, said he has worked
in almost every division,
including serving on the
SWAT team for many
years as well as working
in criminal investigations,
forensics and internal
affairs.
“In Macon I have seen it
all,” said Bittick.
He said his experience
working with budgets,
including a $1 million
crime lab budget in Macon,
would be especially ben
eficial as Monroe County
Sheriff. After consolidation,
he took a look at the crime
lab budget and found that
the $20,000 contract for
DNA lab work was not
giving the local office any
thing it wasn’t getting from
the state. He also had to
deal with the many retire
ments prompted by con
solidation.
Bittick said that as
Monroe County Sheriff
he would come in and do
a full audit first thing and
find out where all money
is going. In response to a
question about the Sheriff s
substation in High Falls, he
said that he is not sure it
would be worthwhile since
it wouldn’t be manned.
He said that most officers
write their reports on lap
tops in their vehicles now
and would not even be
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MAKING SENSE OF INVESTING
W. m i m
■L. aJ&L- -
Michael Bittick, right, visits with residents of High Falls after speaking to the High Falls Civic Club. (Photo/Diane Glide-
well)
going to the substation to
write reports. Although it
sounds like a substation
would bring more of a law
enforcement presence to
High Falls, Bittick said that
would most likely not be
the case and money for a
substation could probably
be spent better elsewhere.
He said that coming
from a bigger department
he believes he can take a
fresh look at what is work
ing in the Monroe County
Sheriff s Office and what
is not. He plans to talk
to people throughout the
county both before and
after the election, being
aware that issues of con
cern are different in differ
ent parts of the county.
“I want to fish with a
spear, not a net,” said
Bittick. “I’m big on tech
nology, but it costs and it
can’t replace human con
tact.”
Asked if it is true that
there are only two depu
ties on patrol in Monroe
County at night, Bittick
said that the Sheriffs
Office can always call more
deputies in as needed,
But it is a long haul from
Bolingbroke to High Falls.
He said his stepson, who
works for Monroe County
Sheriff s Office, works a
lot of overtime, which is
something built into the
Sheriff s Office budget.
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“There are formulas for
using the number of calls
to see if there is a need
for more deputies,” said
Bittick. “I know about bud
gets, probably some money
can be moved around.
You put your trust in the
sheriff.”
While he has worked
in Bibb County, Bittick,
who lives in Smarr, has
remained active in Monroe
County, serving on the
Forsyth-Monroe County
Chamber of Commerce
Board of Directors, being
active in Kiwanis and
other community groups,
and graduating from the
2016 Monroe Leadership
Class that completed the
Special Needs Playground
project at Monroe County
Recreation Department.
He said his position as
senior Vice President of
the Police Benevolent
Association has given him
a knowledge of legislative
issues.
Asked about his position
on asset forfeiture, Bittick
said that he generally has
no problem with it but
does feel that each case
must be reviewed indi
vidually. He said federal
cases are different from
local cases, and there must
always be a criminal case to
justify asset forfeiture.
When he was asked
about policy that Monroe
County employees must
resign their jobs to run for
office, Bittice said that in
Bibb County the policy is
that employees can’t run
for office in their jurisdic
tion without an approved
leave of absence. Although
his running for office in
Monroe County does not
impact his employment
with Bibb County, even
though the two offices do
frequently work together,
Bittick plans to take a
leave of absence in August
“because I believe it’s the
best thing to do.” He said
that if he is elected, he will
lose over 1,000 hours of
sick leave when he resigns.
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