West Point City Council is planning its first retreat in at least two mayoral administrations and wants to hold joint meetings with most of the city’s volunteer boards.

Mayor Drew Ferguson IV wants council to meet for a day in August to discuss the city’s 2010 budget and hear reports from city department heads.

West Point adopts its budget on a calendar-year schedule. A vote on the 2009 spending plan came down to the wire in December when council could not agree on a number of budget issues, including proposed raises for its more than 80 employees. A representative from University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government is expected to facilitate the retreat.

Ferguson also is hoping to hold joint meetings with the city’s volunteer boards by October, including the development authority, downtown development authority, planning board, West Point 2100 and housing authority, to discuss short- and long-term plans. Most of the city’s boards have new leadership, and a new downtown development authority director took over in August.

“Things are going to be moving quickly in the next five to 10 years,” Ferguson said. “This will be valuable information going forward.”

Jennifer Shrader can be reached at jshrader@lagrangenews.com or (706) 884-7311, Ext. 236.