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Health & Fitness

Winder Town Hall Meeting

Below are the notes I took from the Winder Town Hall Meeting last week!  Please remember to check out my Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/TobiasWinderCityCouncil) to check out updates on Winder and Barrow County happenings.  

The WINDER TOWN HALL meeting had an incredible turn out, with around 80 people in attendance. Below are my notes from the evening:

Winder Town Hall Meeting
(The Mayor, all of the Department Heads, many of the City Councilmen spoke, Donald Toms did not speak during this event)

COMMUNICATION
-Facebook (The City of Winder), Twitter (CityofWinder), Instagram, Google Plus accounts up and running
-sign of events
-bill inserts
-newspaper ads
-email blasts

CULTURAL ARTS CENTER & COMMUNITY CENTER
-been in operation for 7 years
-entrance is on the side of the building
-212 seat performance state-of-the-art theater
-Winder Barrow Community Theater
-Barrow County schools and home school groups use it for performances

Community Center
-houses weddings, receptions, parties, City Council meetings, etc.
-affordable event in Winder

WINDER TELEVISION STATION
-Comcast Channels 21 and 24
-City Council meetings, Talk of the Town, City Council Work Sessions, Barrow County Commission meetings
-videos posted on Facebook and live stream on the City's website
-Christmas parade and other annual specials
-want to film the upcoming Shakespeare Play
-schedule for programming is on the City's website (Winder Television, Weekly Schedule) Usually updated every Friday.
-Sandra Dixson spoke in support of the television station, in favor of increasing the number of staff (currently only Chris right now), and in favor of completing a television special about veterans. 

EVENTS AND RECREATION
Chimney's Golf Course
-current director has been since 2005
-9 employees (5 full time, 4 part time)
-27-28,000 rounds per year
-wants to increase the number of customers from Winder and Barrow County--most business comes from Forsyth, Gwinnett, Clark county, etc. 
-provide practice and play facilities for the local high schools
-renovating and repairing sand bunkers
-addressing safety concerns with dead/dying trees
-want to expand parking lot and fix gold cart paths
-Profitable year to year
-round of golf weekday $35-$37 in peak season, weekends $45-$47 
-discount for senior citizens (60 and above)
-considering discounts for residents of Winder and Barrow County to increase their participation

Downtown Development Authority
-went over 2014 activity calendar

PLANNING, UTILITIES, PUBLIC WORKS, and PUBLIC SAFETY
Planning
-all zoning, permits, etc issued here
-at 23 N. Jackson St.
-working on an overpass of 81 over 316 (but it's years until that will happen)

Utilities
-natural gas is half as expensive as propane
-working to provide water and natural gas to every customer as you deserve and without incident

Public Works
-road paving, cleaning in the city, leaf clean-up
-14 people in the department
-interact the most often with every other department in the City
-Complaint from an attendee about the sides of the roads full of trash 
-the City does not use prisoners or people who are completing community service 

Fire Department
-21 full time firefighters, 4 administrators
-ISO Class 3 rating (this saves citizens money)
-rescue calls 1598
-41 fire calls
-334 other calls
-avg. response time is 3,43 minutes
-300-400 people come to fire prevention day
-stocking drive delivered toys to 532 children
-hoping to get a new fire engine this year, construction of a 3rd fire station, renovations to the public safety building
-working to get all firefighters EMT certified

Police Department
-52 personnel, 47 sworn personnel
-4 shifts of patrol officers, criminal investigative division, code enforcement, crime scene specialist, traffic officer, crime suppression unit, training coordinator, crime prevention officer
-they are open to give tours of their new facility
-applications are being accepted until Monday, February 3 for the Chief position and the search process will move forward from there. 
-considering Nixle and Everbridge as systems to notify residents of emergencies (could cost the city just over $8,000)

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