For city officials serving small communities, the Harold F. Holtz Municipal Training Institute has been a lifeline, helping them navigate their roles, despite limited staff and resources.
“We don’t have a city manager,” explained Jay Chastain, mayor of Hiawassee, which has a population of 981. “Without this training, I wouldn’t know which way to turn.”
The training institute, established in 1981, is operated in partnership between the Georgia Municipal Association (GMA) and the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government (CVIOG). The program features more than 80 classes, mostly three-to-six hours long, that cover city operations, economic development, community engagement, intergovernmental relations, leadership development, public safety, quality of life initiatives and municipal finance.
Chastain said meeting fellow city officials and instructors from around the state has helped him feel that the city is not alone.
“You are all a phone call away,” he said. “Training has helped me learn the right way to do things and kept me out of trouble.”
Leesburg (population 3,480) Councilmember Judy Powell credits the training institute classes with keeping her abreast of best practices.
“Training has helped me keep up with the times,” she said. “You can’t grow, unless you know the latest information.”
John Ramay, mayor of Hazlehurst (population 4,088) said Holtz training is invaluable.
“I bring back information and share it with my fellow city officials so we can put it into practice. The knowledge alone is useless if it is not applied,” he said.
Even veteran city officials see the benefit.
Culloden (population 200) Councilmember Margie Bryant, first elected more than 20 years ago, started attending training regularly last year. “Training saves time because when we go back to our cities, we know what to do,” she said.
Powell said that the networking opportunities are as important as the curriculum. “You meet so many people and often discover that others share the same concerns or challenges. You learn how they solved those issues,” she said. “Why reinvent the wheel if the solutions already exist?”
To learn more about the upcoming training opportunities, visit the Harold F. Holtz Municipal Training Institute page on GMA’s website.
