LULA – A number of Georgia cities have Main Street programs and the City of Lula may be the next.
City Manager Dennis Bergin discussed that possibility during Monday night’s city council work session.
“We’re pretty excited about it,” Bergin said. “It gives us a way to utilize our efforts in the new business association that’s started up in Lula, as well as the development authority, as well as the community-driven event coordinator for the depot and the grounds over there.”
In the current budget, Lula officials allocated $30,000 for community-driven events and coordination, planning to use at least some of that amount for an events coordinator.
Representatives of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs encouraged the city to pursue a Main Street Program, Bergin said. A Main Street director could expand the responsibilities of an event coordinator to serve the city in a variety of ways.
“We think this is an opportunity for that position to continue to grow and the rehabilitation of the downtown and work with even the historical committee as well,” Bergin said. “It’s a natural fit. We’ll just have to see where this goes.”
No one has been hired for the position yet, and the change from event coordinator to Main Street director remains in committee as of Monday, Bergin said.
“We budgeted this year already an amount for that position,” Bergin said. “The question will be for the council do they want to isolate any of those dollars to community-driven events, which is one of the charges they’ve made, or do they want to allocate additional funds.”
Bergin said the Main Street director, if approved by the council, would start out with no benefits and work a limited schedule initially.
“I’m pretty comfortable this will be a part-time position to begin with and I’m pretty comfortable where we are today, so my recommendation would be let’s take advantage of the dollars we’ve already put out there,” Bergin said. “We can probably get the most bang for our buck.”
Still, Bergin said the recent completion of Phase 1 of the depot project and the upcoming completion of Phase 2 will create more community-based events, while ongoing renovations to the downtown area will provide opportunities for a Main Street director to work with merchants to grow the city’s downtown core.
“Clearly, what we’re doing here would allow this to grow into a full-time position,” Bergin said.
Bergin said he anticipates a vote coming soon on the issue, but said he is not sure it will occur at next Monday’s city council meeting.
“Some of the council heard it tonight for the first time,” Bergin said.
