The City of Baldwin is set to decide whether or not they will continue their membership with Habersham’s economic development program, Partnership Habersham, at their regularly-scheduled meeting.
The council will further discuss their membership at the meeting, scheduled for Monday, March 14 at 6:00 p.m., and vote on how they plan to continue their relationship with the partnership. Some members of the council expressed that they aren’t sure that the annual $2,500 membership fee is worth allocating taxpayer dollars to.
“I understand that their job, in general, is to be a bridge between cities and jobs and growth and things like that, but I’m really trying to see where that particular value [is],” Councilwoman Alice Venter said at the city’s work session. “What is that they have done for us, where have they performed for us, and does that warrant us giving our taxpayers’ money to them?”
The council seems to be leaning towards terminating their membership with Partnership Habersham, but no official decision was made at the work session. The council will determine how they will move forward Monday.
“What we receive from those meetings is access to business owners, access to UGA Archway folks, but I don’t think that access can only come through Partnership Habersham,” Councilwoman Stephanie Almagno said. “I don’t see an immediate benefit for us.”
The council will also have discussions on potentially joining Banks County in receiving an energy excise tax on manufacturing in Banks, consider moving forward with city road improvements and vote on entering into an intergovernmental agreement with the City of Cornelia to rectify a water billing issue.
To see the full agenda, click here.
