Government
(Lawrenceville, Ga., March 30, 2010) - The volunteers who serve on Engage Gwinnett will hold their 13th full meeting on Wednesday, March 31 from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Gwinnett Center, 6400 Sugarloaf Parkway in Duluth. The six-month long initiative aims to involve and engage the community in county budget decision-making.
Meetings of the 42-member citizens committee on the future of Gwinnett County, which have been held every two weeks since October, are open to the public. Committee members hear from elected officials, County staff and local residents and participate in group discussions. On Wednesday the full committee will meet as a group to hear work group presentations on draft recommendations for the five-year budget as projected and potential scenarios for how to fill the gap if the tax digest drops by 10 percent. Work teams will then meet to finalize their recommendations for the Board of Commissioners on desired services, service levels and revenues for the next five years. Two additional meetings of the committee will be held, on Tuesday, April 13 and on Friday, April 23. Both of these meetings will be held from 8 a.m. until 10 a.m., also at the Gwinnett Center.
A community meeting will be held on Saturday, April 17 before the committee presents its findings to the Board of Commissioners. A report on the committee's recommendations will be complete by the end of April.
Engage Gwinnett is a partnership between Gwinnett County government and the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce. Mike Levengood of McKenna Long & Aldridge and Bill McCargo with the Atlanta Education Fund are volunteer leaders who co-chair the committee. Engage Gwinnett seeks common ground, workable solutions and compromises as necessary for the greater good of the community to help guide the County government through the recession and its aftermath.
Video coverage, meeting materials and more information are available online at www.engagegwinnett.com and at www.gwinnettcounty.com and on TVgwinnett, cable channel 23. Engage Gwinnett also has Facebook and Twitter links.