Carter Looks Back at 2015

Toccoa Mayor Terry Carter says the city accomplished a lot in 2015.

Carter, whose term as mayor comes to a close on December 31, recapped some of the city’s accomplishments over the last year at Monday’s final Toccoa City Commission meeting of 2015.

He said one of the biggest accomplishments for the city this past year was re-opening the city’s nine-hole golf course off of Black Mountain Road after months of repairs and renovations to the property.

“One of the major accomplishments was the re-opening of the golf course with new Tiff Eagle grass, a new irrigation system, and re-surfacing of the cart paths and parking lots,” said Carter. “We renovated the historic World War II Camp Toccoa building to have a new pro shop, meeting space, dressing rooms, and patio.”

Carter said another major accomplishment was the inspection of the city’s hotels and motels by city and health department officials.

“It resulted in the closure of four of those and the complete renovation of the Country Hearth Inn,” said Carter. “They have done an amazing job.”

Carter also complemented the continued operation of the Toccoa Inn and the beginning of demolition of the Host Inn on Big A Road, where plans are calling for a Holiday Inn Express.

Other accomplishments included moving forward on construction of a sidewalk on Big A Road from Fernside Drive to Memorial Drive, beginning the dredging of Davidson Lake, converting financial software, providing body cameras for all Toccoa Police uniform officers, continuing renovation of the city’s Schaefer Center, and receiving a Class 3 ISO rating for the Toccoa Fire Department.

Carter said all of this and much more was all accomplished while maintaining the city’s strong financial position.

“We received another clean audit this year,” said Carter. “With all these accomplishments we have done, we have been able to maintain a reserve account of over $2 million. In addition to that, we have continued to fund the Renewal and Extension accounts.”

Carter said all of these and other accomplishments could also not have been accomplished without the hard work of the staff of the city of Toccoa.

“When you have an opportunity to serve as Mayor, you have a great opportunity to work even closer with the staff and it has been a pleasure,” said Carter. “We have accomplished a lot.”

Carter also thanked the commission for its work this year and other commissioners thanked Carter for his service as Mayor in 2015.