The Ledger

By Becky Holland

COCHRAN, Ga. — More than 40 business owners, residents and community representatives gathered Monday night with a message that grew increasingly clear as the evening unfolded: they want Cochran City Council to reopen its search for a permanent city manager.

The Sept. 28 Business Owners Forum, hosted and moderated by Mickey Harbin, owner of Treasures on Second, brought together people who described problems ranging from poor communication and unanswered calls to lengthy delays, zoning and permitting difficulties, billing concerns and uncertainty over who inside city government is responsible for making decisions.

As one person after another spoke, what began as separate experiences increasingly sounded like a pattern.

Business owners from different parts of the community described many of the same frustrations. Some said they could not get calls returned. Others described waiting weeks or months for answers. Participants questioned why decisions affecting businesses and property owners were allowed to remain unresolved and why it was sometimes difficult to determine who had authority to resolve them.

One matter discussed Monday night had reportedly remained unresolved for more than 80 days.

The discussion was candid and, at times, tense.

Mayor Carla Coley and Councilman Shane Savant attended and listened through most of the forum. Neither participated in the bulk of the discussion. Savant spoke briefly near the end of the meeting, but The Ledger was unable to hear his remarks clearly enough to report them accurately.

Out of respect for the ground rules established for those attending, The Ledger conducted no interviews during the forum and made no audio or video recordings. This report is based on observations and written notes taken as the discussion unfolded.

Redding a major part of discussion

Interim City Manager Angela Redding was unmistakably a large part of Monday night’s conversation.

Participants did not suggest that every problem at Cochran City Hall began when Redding arrived. In fact, several acknowledged that issues involving communication, responsiveness and city operations existed before her tenure.

But many of those who spoke said that, based on their own experiences, those problems have not improved under Redding.

They said they have deepened.

More than one attendee specifically named Redding while describing difficulties obtaining answers, getting decisions made or receiving follow-up from City Hall.

The distinction was important.

The criticism was not simply that Redding inherited an imperfect system. Several people in the room said they believe the city needed stronger communication, clearer management and greater accountability when she arrived — and that their experiences since then have shown them the opposite.

Questions surfaced repeatedly.

Who makes the decision?

Who returns the call?

Who moves a zoning or permitting matter forward when it stalls?

And when weeks pass without an answer, who is accountable?

Those questions were not coming from one person or one business.

They came from throughout the room.

Separate complaints become a common story

One of the most striking developments of the evening was the realization among those attending that many of them were describing similar problems.

People who had apparently encountered the city under different circumstances began hearing their own frustrations repeated by others.

Communication was raised again and again.

So was accountability.

Participants described what they said were unanswered telephone calls, inconsistent information, delayed decisions and difficulty determining exactly where responsibility rested when something went wrong.

For a business owner, those are not minor inconveniences.

When a person is trying to open a business, expand an existing operation, develop property or invest money in Cochran, a delay can have consequences.

Days become weeks.

Weeks become months.

Projects wait. Money remains tied up. Plans stall.

And Monday night, business owners made clear they do not believe that should be accepted as normal.

One participant pointed out that city government itself operates in many ways like a business — providing services, collecting revenue and dealing every day with the public.

The implication from the discussion was straightforward: businesses are expected to answer customers, explain delays and resolve problems. Those gathered questioned why residents and businesses should expect less from City Hall.

Residency becomes part of the issue

The discussion also turned to whether Cochran’s permanent city manager should actually live in the community.

Participants questioned Redding’s apparent lack of interest in relocating to Cochran and argued that the person entrusted with managing the city should have a direct stake in the community beyond the hours spent at City Hall.

The Ledger has not independently verified Redding’s personal plans regarding relocation.

But by the end of Monday night’s meeting, residency was no longer a side issue.

Those gathered want it addressed as part of the criteria for the next permanent city manager.

Their position was that the person managing Cochran should live in Cochran and become part of the community he or she is responsible for serving.

The discussion turns toward action

As frustrations mounted, Harbin repeatedly worked to move the conversation away from simply recounting problems and toward deciding what should happen next.

By the end of the meeting, the direction was clear.

Those gathered want City Council to reopen the search for a permanent city manager rather than simply move forward with the current interim arrangement.

They also want the city to establish firmer expectations for the position, including a residency requirement or clear expectation that the person selected relocate to Cochran.

The concerns raised during Monday night’s forum are expected to be compiled into a letter to City Council, along with the group’s request that the city reconsider how it selects its next manager and what standards that person will be expected to meet.

The meeting did not produce answers to every complaint raised.

It did something else.

It put more than 40 people in the same room, many describing problems they had previously encountered separately, and allowed them to discover that their experiences were not necessarily isolated.

The complaints were broader than one person.

But Redding was unmistakably a large part of the conversation, and many of those who spoke said the problems they encountered with city government have become worse during her tenure rather than better.

Monday night’s forum ended with more than frustration.

It ended with a clear demand for change in direction.

Those gathered want Cochran City Council to reopen the city manager search, establish stronger expectations for whoever holds the job and take seriously what business owners say they have been experiencing at City Hall.

They are no longer simply asking to be heard.

They want action.