Georgia County Government - September 2008 - (Page 16)

COBB COUNTY continued from page 15 Within his jurisdiction, Olens serves on the Board of the Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority, the Cobb-Marietta Coliseum and Exhibit Hall Authority, the Cobb & Douglas Public Health, and actively participates in meetings of the Cobb Municipal Association. He also serves on the Cobb County Community Services Board, the downtown Marietta Development Authority, the Metro Atlanta Arts and Culture Coalition, the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce Advisory Board, and the board of the United Way of Metro Atlanta. Olens garnered an especially distinguished honor in 2007, the Excellence in Public Service Award in the countyelected official category bestowed by the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government, and has been included among Georgia Trend Magazine’s 100 Most Influential Georgians for the past four years. His numerous awards for outstanding community service and leadership cover areas including promotion of the arts, environmental education, minority youth, senior citizens, higher learning and history. A lawyer by profession, he graduated from Emory University School of Law and is a registered mediator/arbitrator with the Georgia Office of Dispute Resolution and has been a principal of Ezor & Olens, P.C. since 1983. Chairman Olens’s colleagues on the Cobb County Board of Commissioners are similarly community-involved and include District 1 Commissioner Helen Goreham, a former upstate New Yorker and president of People Looking After Neighborhoods (PLAN) and a founding member of the Kolb Farm Coalition; District 2 Commissioner Joe L. Thompson, a former state senator and bank vice president now active in real estate management; District 3 Commissioner Tim Lee, current chair of ACCG’s General County Government Committee, is a graduate of the Chamber of Commerce’s 2004 Leadership Cobb Class and Honorary Commanders Program, and of the ARC’s Regional Leadership Institute; and District 4 Commissioner Annette Kesting of Powder Springs is an active community volunteer belonging to numerous civic organizations. Cobb commissioners serve staggered four-year terms and are elected by a combination of at-large and district voters. The electorate chooses a full-time chairman who, in turn, appoints a vice-chair. The county operates under the county manager form of government, with Hankerson, county manager of 16 years, heading daily operations, budget, capital planning and projects, departments and staff. The Burke County native and sought-after facilitator and speaker as well as teacher at the biannual ACCG Newly-Elected Commissioners’ Conference, is over all county department heads and serves as the intermediary between county operations and the Cobb Board of Commissioners. Recognized as one of the most knowledgeable county managers in the United States, Hankerson is known to seek innovations to bring home to Cobb – and, by his own admission, is voraciously interested in learning. Hankerson was awarded the 2006 Georgia Trend/ACCG Public Servant of the Year Award. County Clerk Carol D. Granger, with the Tyler Technologies Software & Services Working for Your Community We can tell you about Tyler’s latest Forbes ratings (most trustworthy, fastest s growing, the best in our class). Or we can brag abo our best-of-breed out products. We can even tell you about our 98% clie retention rate. ent But don’t you just need to know our solutions work? We do it all, from development to c support—and we do it for local government. Period. tylerworks for Georgia communitie es www.tylertech.com • info@tylertech.com 16 390125_TylerTech.indd 1 GEORGIA COUNTY GOVERNMENT 8/5/08 7:09:05 PM http://www.tylertech.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Georgia County Government - September 2008

Georgia County Government - September 2008 Contents President’s Message County Matters Cobb County: Quality of Life is Job No. 1 Innovative Transportation Financing in Georgia Drive Your Fleet into the Next Generation of Efficiency, Profits Spotlight: Georgia Technology Authority Media Productions GEMA News: Hurricane Season Could Cause Natural Gas Spike GDEcD News: Communities Receive Funds to Develop Tourism Assets Georgia’s Grand Old Courthouses: Upson County Extension News: Radon: Georgia’s Silent Danger Research Corner: Conserving Fuel Costs in Your County Staff News County Parade Index of Advertisers

Georgia County Government - September 2008

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