The first of four town halls will be held Thursday night at Hollis Hand Elementary School. LaGrange Mayor Jim Thornton will take questions and discuss the current state of our city, where it’s been and the progress it’s making toward the future.

The town halls are a great way to hear directly from the mayor about LaGrange. There’s plenty to talk about too.

Although city council meetings are a great way to find out what’s going on, not everyone is able to attend every meeting. Plus, town halls are in a different format and allow Thornton to hear concerns from the public.

As members of the media, it’s a chance for us to hear about questions the community has as well. Like Thornton, we attend every council meeting and every county commission meeting, so we’ve heard a lot about most of the hot button issues affecting Troup County. However, that doesn’t mean we haven’t overlooked something, or that we shouldn’t go back and revisit a topic so that the community has a better understanding.

We encourage everyone to find a way to be at one of the four town halls. It’s important to know what’s going on in your community, and this is a simple way to get any questions answered you might have.

The other town halls are scheduled for March 12 at Berta Weathersbee, March 15 at William Griggs Recreation Center and March 20 at the Division of Family and Children Services Building.

For anyone who can’t make any of the meetings, they will also be broadcast live on the city’s Facebook page.