When I was elected to my first term as chairman, all commission meetings were required to be held in the Pembroke, which was designated as the seat of county government in our charter. The meetings were held on the first Tuesday of each month at 1:30 in the afternoon.
We, as a commission, petitioned the Georgia Legislature to pass a bill to allow us to have official meetings in the south end of the county where two-thirds of our citizens live. We also changed the meeting time to 5:30 in the afternoon to accommodate citizen involvement in our meetings.
We now meet in Pembroke on the second Tuesday of odd numbered months and in South Bryan on even numbered months. This was accomplished over the past few years, again, to encourage citizen involvement.
We have now taken another step to provide access for citizens to participate in these meetings. Our meetings are now streamed live over the Internet. Our website is www.bryancountyga.org. Go to the site and click on “watch commissioners meetings live online.” We are also working to archive these meetings, as well, so that if you miss it live you can access it in the archives.
We encourage you to look at the many items that are available on the website, as well.
Your commissioners appreciate input from citizens with their concerns and all have an email address that can be accessed from the website. There is also a map of the commission districts.
Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your chairman of the county commission.
Burnsed is the Bryan County Board of Commissioners chairman. He can be reached at jimmyburnsed@bryan-county.org.