Hogansville reflects on 2019, 2020
Published 1:39 pm Wednesday, January 1, 2020
The City of Hogansville saw a list of accomplishments made in 2019.
“We had a lot of change,” Hogansville Mayor Bill Stankiewicz said. “We had the sale of the Grand Hotel and other downtown buildings, which represent significate events. The city was designated a rural zone.”
The city was also chosen as a filming area for a second time for the hit television show “The Walking Dead.”
The year 2019 marked the first of a five-year plan to upgrade the electrical system.
Stankiewicz said that one of its major accomplishments was they are going into 2020 with a significant financial improvement.
“The city’s financial health has improved significantly,” Stankiewicz said. “Our most recent audit indicates that we just had a tremendous increase in the financial stability of the city.”
Hogansville completed multiple projects in 2019, including a historical marker to recognize the attempted assassination of Isaiah H. Lofton, who served as the community’s second African American Postmaster in the late 1800s, the renovation of a 1953 Ford F600/Pirsch pumper fire truck, a new roof installed for the Royal Theatre and the opening of lake Jimmy Jackson.
“We had a very successful year,” Stankiewicz said. “I give a lot of that credit to David Milliron and his city management skills, but it’s a team effort. It takes an administration that is willing to work for it, and it also takes a council, governing body to go along with those plans.”
Hogansville plans to ring in the new year with its bar set high and new goals ahead.
“We will start the first quarter renovating the PNC building and expect to move the new city hall there by June,” Stankiewicz said. “At that point, we will begin the renovation of the Royal Theatre … that is critical.”
Stankiewicz added that they expect to receive more grants and funding to improve the city’s infrastructure.
“Our goal is to continue the financial trajectory that city is on right now and continue to add to our reserve funds and continue with this city’s financial health,” Stankiewicz said. “That is critical to everything we want to do. Without that, a lot of this is impossible.”
Hogansville also plans on addressing replacing Milliron, who recently announced he is moving to Kentucky to be the city manager for the City of Danville.