Mayor Jonathan McCollar welcomed more than two dozen attendees to a town hall meeting at 10am on Saturday Feb. 3, 2024.
Mayor MCollar presented a number of clarifications and updates to the attendees, saying as he is going into the seventh year in his position, certain questions keep coming up.
City Structure
“We work for you,” said Mayor McCollar. “We need to hear from you exactly what direction you want to see this city go.”
He clarified that the city clerk, city manager, city attorney and municipal court answer to the Mayor. The director of human resources, director of finance, police chief, fire chief, and public information officer are overseen by the assistant city manager and assistant to the city manager, who fall under the city manager.
The assistant city manager also oversees the director of central services, director of public utilities, director of public works and engineering and the director of planning and development.
He said the current structure has been reorganized in this way and it has proven to work well.
Mayor McCollar reminds us that while they work collaboratively together, the Bulloch County Sheriff's Department is not operated by the city of Statesboro, however the city does oversee the Statesboro Police Department.
The city does not run the school system, and the only court under the city is municipal court. Additionally the city does not run non-profits.
Citizens are duly represented, with a district representative for their neighborhood, as well as the mayor.
Growth
In 2021 Statesboro was the 37th largest city in Georgia, and in 2023 it was the 28th largest. “We are growing,” said McCollar. “We are seeing more and more better paying jobs.”
The mayor said that Statesboro must keep growing and bringing in jobs because, “A city that is not growing is dying.”
Statesboro is continuing to annex more land into the city to support population growth, which helps alleviate some tax pressures on residents.
There are about 23,000 new jobs in this region, with 2,000 new jobs in Bulloch county alone, many of which provide higher pay. The mayor says this is a game changer for the people here and encourages residents to attain their degrees and certificates so they can work these jobs and increase their income to help support their families' futures.
Mayor McCollar says that Statesboro is attracting new people for many reasons: we are 45 minutes away from an international airport, an hour from the beach, we are close to Florida, and we have higher education and resources in our community.
He said that creating One Boro commission was controversial but, “We understood the economic impact of diversity,” that is coming with our growth, and in this way we’ve been preparing for foreign investors like Hyundai for years.
There are currently close to 4,000 homes in development. Statesboro needs low income and working class homes as well as more expensive homes. The mayor says that the unified development code will be an asset. Investing in older neighborhoods while laying out pathways of newer neighborhoods will be key, and he thanked the community and staff for helping to figure out what this development will look like for Statesboro.
Not only do we need to invest in the revitalization of old homes themselves, but the infrastructure in the neighborhoods as well. He also believes it is important for the physical and mental health of the city that citizens have access to clean, healthy parks. Statesboro recently rebuilt two major parks and added a community garden and is now working with the Whitesville neighborhood to build a park.
The mayor said we have to have the right infrastructure so when developers come, we are not the barrier.
Safety and Community
The mayor added that the police department is recruiting quality candidates who can receive a $2,500 signing bonus and $50,000 salary. They are reducing vacancies with training being their biggest focus. “We go well beyond the minimum requirements, and this means something,” said the mayor.
An attendee asked if the police numbers would increase as the population increased, and Mayor McCollar said that while there is a limit, the Chief of Police has great authority and can work with the city to make increases where needed.
Community member and business owner of Land2Sow, Yolanda Tremble, expressed concerns about the agricultural sectors relating to growth. McCollar said the county better takes care of agricultural, but the city leans more into higher education.
The mayor said one of the biggest things he gets calls about is homelessness. He says that while many of us are experiencing a lot of good, there are folks experiencing tough times so we need security nets and improvements in our non-profit sector. Buses are helping the community, like elders getting to the grocery store and doctors office
These changes are not going to happen overnight. We are looking way down the line, he said, and the people that we are going to benefit many are not even born yet.
He also said we have to vastly improve our social infrastructures when it comes to youth in this community, stating that not only the Board of Education and Boys and Girls Club have to take care of the kids, we all do. He said every civic organization needs a youth mentor/initiative in the community.
He exemplified Village Builders bringing resources to kids and families and the youth city council teaching leadership to junior members. “This is important because the issues we are facing in our community are behavioral oriented,” he said about the youth.
Yolanda Holloway Asberry, who moved to Statesboro from Fort Lauderdale, says she loves the growth and asks if more retail and grocery stores are coming.
McCollar says economically, Statesboro is hot.
“Yes there’s a lot of chicken places coming. We are in the south,” said McCollar. ”What you are seeing is the beginning of those other things coming,” mentioning the Five Guys and Texas Roadhouse restaurants opening coming to the city soon.
He speculated that around the end of January 2025, when construction at the Hyundai plant finishes, there will be more expendable income and that retail growth will expand.
Another community member mentioned how important it was to support older businesses.
McCollar said we have local businesses now that need to be supported. The stronger the local market is, the more attractive it will be to other businesses. “We need to be very intentional about purchasing from local individuals,” said McCollar.
Tremble says that there are all different kinds of people coming, and the agricultural sector should play a role in the restaurant side of things. McCollar agreed, saying we will have different kinds of people moving to Statesboro with different entertainment and food needs.
Blake Robinson, Georgia Southern’s Student Government Association president, mentioned that Georgia Southern is attempting to become a research institution and asked if Statesboro would be ready to accommodate the growth that will come with that.
McCollar said three years ago, he would have said no, but today he says yes. "We have greater infrastructure and public transportation that students can use," he said, and added that the city collaborates closely with Georgia Southern’s president, stating how important the university has been to the growth of the city
Community member Amy Prince asked if anyone is in charge of the entertainment sector, mentioning many empty buildings in town.
McCollar said we have to cater to the large, younger population and said there should be a venue for events like the Cole Swindell concert coming to town. People talk about Statesboro as a retirement community, but there’s a lot of young people. As we work through development, this side of things could become more of a reality.
The mayor recognized the commission for the outdoor concert series downtown, which helps bring business to the downtown area. It was announced that there are going to be eight concerts between April and September in 2024.
One attendee said he moved from New York and came to Statesboro for the positive growth that McCollar had talked about. He said he appreciated that Statesboro had a mosque and that he hopes the mayor's plans materialize.
Other discussion
- One Boro is going to announce the dates of the Longest Table event soon.
- McCollar warned against misinformation and said that emotional decisions are being avoided and that we have to take advantage of the accurate information we have.
- Prince asked how alcohol permitting at venues worked outside of what is described in the city ordinance after being denied a permit with her credentials for a private event.
- Charles Penny says in Statesboro and Georgia, alcohol is dealt with by local authority, stating we have to protect individuals and telling her to reach out to the city.
- McCollar tells community members to reach out with any questions.