Features

The only uniforms you'll see at the Gainesville Citizens' Government Academy are those worn by local cops giving a lecture on crime prevention.

By encouraging everyone he works with to throw out ideas, Hinesville city manager Billy Edwards not only saved his town a lot of money, he also helped it capture the 2006 Trendsetter Award for cities of more than 25,000 in the Fiscal Fitness: Stretching the Public Dollar category.

Things are dirt cheap in Jesup, and that's just the way city officials want to keep it. In fact, Jesup lays claim to being the cheapest place in Georgia for purchasing municipal basics. By providing inexpensive services - and a little fun - to its citizens with a dash of small town eccentricity, Jesup charmed the judges into awarding it the top Trendsetter Cities prize in the Fiscal Fitness category for cities with populations of less than 10,000.

Suwanee mayor Nick Masino, whose city won a Trendsetter Award in the Hearing Voices category for small cities, says he is no politician. Yet he has been enjoying a political life that's the dream of most elected officials - running for office with no opposition.