Charting The Course: Parker, Mock Talk About Region's Future
Tuesday, September 20th, 2022
"We’re all working together, I think, now more than ever between the city and the county and all of the local stakeholders ... to build Georgia’s premiere city to live, work, and play," Andrew Parker told the Dalton Rotary Club Tuesday. "That’s what we go to work every day to try to achieve."
The Dalton city administrator's remarks came as part of his update on projects that the City of Dalton is working to complete as part of an overall vision on the part of city leaders to make one of north Georgia's brightest communities shine even more brightly. Parker spoke to the Rotary Club along with Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Jason Mock. Both leaders had optimistic outlooks on the future of the community.
Caption: City administrator Andrew Parker speaks at the meeting of the Dalton Rotary Club on Tuesday afternoon
"Last week, we hosted Leadership Georgia. We had young folks from all over the state come here and learn about our community. When I asked if it was their first time in Dalton, most of them raised their hands," Mock told the Rotary Club. "At the end of the day when they left on Saturday, most of them said I’m coming back and I’m bringing a friend. They were amazed at what we have to offer and the work that we’re doing in our non-profits, in our school system, all across the board. These folks from across Georgia were just blown away by the hospitality that Dalton has to offer."
Parker updated the Rotary Club about the various goals that the City staff has been working towards in 2022, including updating the City charter, blight abatement, supporting the community during the pandemic, and executing the capital projects list which includes nearly $52 million in projects.
"We know that 60 percent of the people who make more than $40,000 in our community choose to live elsewhere," Parker said. "So again, that’s why we’re making strategic investments in some of these capital projects to bring some of those people back.”
One of those capital projects is the new aquatic center project. Parker told the Rotary Club that plans now call for the new aquatic center to be built adjacent to the Dalton Convention Center property on Dug Gap Battle Road. With Dalton already boasting a large community of competitive youth swimmers, the project is expected to be an attraction for the community and Parker explained the various ways that the facility will be used from morning through the evening with exercise classes, recreational swimming, and more.
Caption: The recently completed Northeast Community Soccer Complex at Heritage Point is ready to host games
Other projects that Parker is overseeing include the coming renovations to the John Davis Recreation Center on Civic Drive, the new Haig Mill Lake Greenway from Chattanooga Road to the Eagle Walk Trail, the Market Street streetscape improvements and new access road, the Cuyler Street streetscape improvements, and stormwater infrastructure improvements. Parker updated the audience on the latest developments in each project, and also showed off two recently completed projects: the demolition of the downtown parking deck at Burr Park and the completion of the Northeast Community Soccer Complex at Heritage Point Park. That facility has recently opened to the public, hosting its first games on September 11th.
Jason Mock returned to Georgia earlier this year after several years of working in Texas. Mock explained what he's been working on since taking over as president of Dalton's Chamber of Commerce. Mock explained that the Chamber's role is to be the advocate for Dalton's business community in the various halls of government and to make sure that the business community is represented well. The Chamber also has a role alongside local government in charting Dalton's course forward as a community, which is outlined in the Believe Greater Dalton strategic plan. The plan has six strategic priorities: housing, education, economic development, community pride and engagement, entrepreneurship, and the downtown district.
"When I was interviewing with the search, I asked what the most important is and they said it's really 1A and 1B, and that's housing and education," Mock said.
"Education and workforce has to go hand in hand. We used to have workforce under the chamber, we’re bringing that back in," Mock said. "We're building that program out to make sure that we’re connecting the dots between our business community and our education community, bringing our business leaders into the classroom and getting our classrooms into businesses. We really want to show students what the pathways here in Dalton are. You talk to a student and a lot of them say 'hey, I want to leave Dalton, there’s not an opportunity for me.' But there are plenty of opportunities. We know it, we see it every day. But we’ve got to make sure our students see it and that our teachers and counselors see it, and that they’re communicating that every day."
