I want every citizen to feel heard and included in decision making.
I have been elected chair of Gwinnett's Internal Audit Committee and have worked to keep ourselves accountable. We've also clarified the charger and performance evaluations for the internal auditor (that had never been done before).
I have helped form the Mountain Park Civic Association and have fought to keep new billboards out of District 2. I also helped keep the Heritage Golf Course from becoming a dense multi-family development.
I made changes to our ethics ordinance to ensure that citizen voices are heard and create a clear line between what we require of commissioners and our aspirational goals.
I have continued my monthly newsletters throughout my term and have had regular opportunities for engagement, from town halls to open office hours to virtual meetings and engagement on social media. It has never been easier to engage with your commissioner.
I insisted that we have citizen input and oversight of our police force to ensure accountability but also highlight the challenges and many successes we've had, from above-and-beyond training to mental health and accountability.
I worked to update our non-discrimination policies to be consistent and clear. We had similar language in 6 different places, but each place had different criteria and did odd things like consider pregnancy and sexual orientation under the umbrella term "sex" which isn't clear.
With all the various recognitions the county has done, it wasn't until I joined the board that Pride Month was officially recognized and even celebrated. I have continued to champion for gender equity and inclusion so that Gwinnett can truly be a place where everyone thrives.
While previous commissioners picked friends and donors to serve on boards and authorities, I created an open application process that is now used by all the commissioners to appoint a diverse and motivated group of appointees.
I successfully lobbied to remove the public prayer from the beginning of our meetings to create better separation between church and state. I want people to feel welcome at our meetings regardless of their faith. As a nice alternative, we now have rotating faiths provide an invocation for the board as a separate meeting and a moment of silence at the beginning of our meetings.
I worked with my fellow commissioners to take public input to create a fair and balanced map. Unfortunately the legislators threw that out and created their own map, but at least we stopped the effort to increase the commission size which would have significantly reduced each person's representation.
I have worked to bring new ideas and a new vision of modern government to the county.
While previous commissioners cared little about having a clear direction for the county, I was instrumental in insisting that we re-create the county's Vision, Mission, and Values to better align the county's priorities.
I helped create the first IT Digital Strategy plan for the county and created it's vision to create "the most satisfying government experience."
Brought to my attention by one of my appointees, the community cat program is a trap, neuter, release (TNR) program to reduce euthanasia of animals.
I purchased and gifted the tinyurl gcga.us to the county to make it easier for people to type into their phones. I also made it so that gcga.us and GwinnettCounty.com are now interchangeable for a better more accessible and flexible experience.
I created the ability to form special assessment districts to allow us to address the issue of absentee landlords when trying to get street humps or street lights in neighborhoods.
I worked with Waste Pro to initiate proactive call notifications when there are trash delays and have worked to turn them from the poorest performing waste partner to one of the best. As a result, Waste Pro never had to suspend service due to labor shortages.
I worked with staff to ensure that each agenda item has an associated web page to make it easier to get access to information without having to search through a 300MB agenda package file. I even added our board recommendations to relevant agenda items for even more transparency. I'm also working on projects that will improve the experience at public hearing even more.
I set up a sustainability commission, the county has set up an internal sustainability committee, and I've almost eliminated all paper from my office. Compare that to the thousands of pages a month that were normally printed for the District 2 office…
While I haven't been able to get curbside glass recycling back, I have launched a pilot project for multiple sites to recycle glass in unincorporated Gwinnett!
We created a resource for small businesses in Gwinnett to provide assistance which is particularly important during these challenging times.
I've been working on a siri tool that allows you to report issues without ever having to take your hands off the wheel. I call it next-level engagement and is the type of experience we should expect from our government.
Since the state laws are very restrictive when it comes to fireworks due to the fireworks lobby, we found ways of addressing the problem under an enhanced noise ordinance.
When infrastructure is done right, you don't think about it. But it's critical to our daily lives.
Gwinnett County's bond rating is an important rating for the stability and confidence of the county. I'm thrilled that Gwinnett has maintained the highest AAA/Aaa bond rating throughout my tenure in office.
We opened two new libraries to serve the community with innovative new models and resources, from maker spaces to podcast studios to gaming centers.
While we weren't able to get a referendum passed, I worked hard to ensure that the submitted plan included projects that could be worked on should the referendum fail. Had I not, there would have been no new transit projects for years. I've been working with transportation to prepare for a better transit plan and I posited my own vision for transit.
The county created a mass-vaccination site and has managed millions of dollars of federal funding to weather the ongoing COVID pandemic.
During my tenure, the county has launched the Water Tower innovation center, the Rowen project, purchased Gwinnett Place Mall, and managed our investment in our OFS and Tennis Center properties.
I was instrumental in spinning our Communications division off into a full department that can better serve the needs of the entire county.
Open source software and governement just makes sense. We need to be investing in our technology infrastructure, not overpaying for proprietary software rentals.
We've implemented warming shelters at county facilities since the faith-based-only options were not sufficient to serve our community.
