MACON, Ga. — Macon-Bibb County's 2022 State of the Community address is Thursday. While Mayor Lester Miller is keeping some of the new stuff under wraps, he says several programs are set to continue into 2023.
"I'd really like to hold that off until we have the meeting there, let people know at the same time," he said.
The mayor is not giving much away, but he says rest assured, he's getting ready for his big address Thursday.
"We're very excited about that day, we're gonna have a great crowd," Miller said.
The mayor expects about 475 people at Luther Williams Field to hear his plans for the next year.
"We're going to take a brief look back on all our wonderful accomplishments this year, all the wonderful initiatives that our community comes together to support," he said.
Some of those initiatives include the county's fight to bust blight. They just knocked down the 154th house in that initiative Tuesday.
"We're gonna continue our blight program, Mental Health Matters and our MVP Program are certainly gonna be in focus throughout the year," Miller explained, "And economic development so we're very excited about what we're doing."
This year, the county says Mental Health Matters served hundreds with pop-up gyms, counseling and other mental health services. The mayor says to look out for another announcement, too.
"We have our national park we're gonna be making some comments about. So we're very excited about the things looking forward in Macon-Bibb County," Miller said.
Miller says he's looking forward to spreading positivity about Team Macon-Bibb.
As the mayor looks forward to that Bibb County Sheriff's deputies are looking forward to riding in style with some upgraded patrol cars. The Macon-Bibb commission Tuesday approved almost $172,000 to install police equipment in seven new patrol cars. That includes everything from computers to sirens to lights and even cameras.
Spokesperson Sean DeFoe says they're in the process of retiring some older cars they've had for a while.
Also passing the Macon-Bibb Commission Tuesday was $315,000 for the fire department. That money will go to repairing station 12, where a car crashed into the wall earlier this year. It'll also repair station 7's roof.
Commissioners also approved the addition of solar panels to four recreation centers across the county. They also OK'd $100,000 in American Rescue Plan money for Macon Mental Health Matters.