Economic Development Features

In these still hard-to-predict economic times, most Georgia forecasters are more hopeful than positive that better days are ahead. Becca Hardin has no doubts.

For one day last April, Dalton surrendered its title as Carpet Capital of the World and became the Cycling Capital of the World. The city didn't mind one bit.

There's economic activity throughout Georgia's central region, with new jobs, new initiatives and a renewed determination.

Even though many communities in East Central Georgia are small, that doesn't keep them from thinking big.

Ask Vernon Martin what's going on in Southeast Georgia and he sums it up in one word: Growth. Martin, executive director of the Coastal Georgia Regional Development Center, has worked in his Brunswick office and lived on St. Simons Island since 1969.

Georgia is the 24th biggest state in the union but it has the second highest number of counties. That's 159 local governments crammed into a tight space, all of them scrambling to provide services for their citizens, accentuating their limited capacities for revenue generation, competing with one another for business, or joining forces to maximize their collective resources.

Seven counties joined forces in a precedent-setting effort to create the Middle Flint Regional E911 Authority. Schley, Dooly, Macon, Marion, Sumter, Taylor and Webster counties formed the authority in late 2001 to provide 911 service for all their residents.

For the seventh year Georgia Trend and the Georgia Municipal Association (GMA) are continuing a partnership to recognize municipalities that have taken unusual steps to get the maximum from their budgets and widen citizens' participation in local government.