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SNELLVILLE – City officials are proud to announce City Clerk Melisa Arnold has completed the Georgia Clerks Education Institute Certificate Program.

The program for city and county clerks, is designed to establish minimum standards and professional goals for municipal clerks. The Georgia Clerks Education Institute Certificate Program is jointly sponsored by the Georgia County Clerks Association and the Georgia Municipal Clerks and Finance Officers Association.

"I am very proud to have achieved this certification and look forward to continuing to dedicate what I have learned to the betterment of the City," Arnold said.

Arnold, was originally hired in July of 1991 at the Snellville Police Department, later transferred into the city's Administration Department. She became City Clerk in 2009.

"Melisa is very deserving of this recognition," City Manager Butch Sanders said. "She does a great job in her clerk duties, but she also has many more administrative responsibilities so you know she is very organized to accomplish everything so well. We are lucky to have her in Snellville."

The Georgia Clerks Education Institute Certificate Program:

•Introduces new methods and approaches to enable clerks and finance officers to become more efficient and effective in their jobs.

•Increases managerial competence of municipal and county clerks to meet new challenges and demands placed on local government.

•Creates the opportunity for clerks to further their professional development to gain the recognition they deserve.

State law requires anyone hired as of April 1, 1992, holding the title of "clerk" or performing the duties of a municipal/county clerk pursuant to the local charter, ordinance, or code shall attend a 15-hour mandated orientation training. The training consists of a basic overview of job duties and functions required of clerks. The 15-hour mandated training counts toward the 100 hours required for full certification.

SNELLVILLE – The City has approved its part an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) that will create a City Market and new public library on Wisteria Drive.

The IGA was announced Monday and marks the first development step in the city's Towne Center project which will create a vibrant, livable and walkable downtown.

"This is a major step in bringing the Towne Center vision to reality," said Mayor Tom Witts. "With the help of Gwinnett County, the new City Market and Library will be a centerpiece of our ambitious plan to create a new downtown Snellville, one that will spur commercial and residential growth and be a catalyst for development in the city for decades to come."

The City Market will house local merchants as well as restaurants. A state-of-the-art library is planned to be located on the first floor in the three-story building which opens onto Wisteria Drive with the City Market above.

"The parties agree it is in best interests of the staffs of both the City and County to jointly design this public asset and it is efficient and economical to combine these design projects to create an amenity that is in the best economic and cultural interests of their respective citizens," the agreement reads.

The facility will be jointly owned and operated by both the City and County, with approximately one-third of the space to be occupied by the County as the Snellville Branch of the Gwinnett County Public Library System and the remaining two-thirds to be used by the City as a public market, restaurants, retail shops and other public, civic or educational facilities.

Both parties will jointly contract for the design of the Library/Market with the City being responsible for providing funding for two-thirds of the design cost and the County providing funding for one-third of the design cost.

The costs associated with the facility and a construction timeline will be byproducts of the design process.

The facility will include an attached parking structure to be jointly owned and operated by the parties with the County bearing the costs of operation of the Library and the City being responsible for the costs of operating the Market.

The property on which the Library/Market is proposed to be constructed is currently owned by the City. City officials are currently in talks with potential private and public partners expected to lead to the building out of the planned Towne Center area.

The City will provide stormwater detention for the Library/Market in a regional stormwater effort and will be responsible for the designing, construction, operation and maintenance of the basin.

The City will design and build a parking structure to serve the Library (128 spaces) as well as other needs of the Towne Center.

The City and County will have 90 days to finalize their respective space requirements amongst themselves when the county adopts the agreement at its July 18 meeting. The County currently requires 22,000-square feet for the operation of a library. Within 60 days from the determination of the space requirements of both parties, the County and the City, will hire a qualified designer to design the Library/Market. The parties will cooperate with the designer to produce a design that will meet minimum LEED standards and is satisfactory to both parties before a separate agreement is developed for actual construction.

Notice of Property Tax Increase

The City of Snellville has tentatively adopted a 2017 millage rate which will require an increase in property taxes 4.68 percent.

All concerned citizens are invited to the public hearing on this tax increase to be held at Snellville City Hall, 2342 Oak Road, Snellville, GA 30078 on Friday, June 30, 2017 at 11:30 a.m.

Times and places of additional public hearings on this tax increase are at Snellville City Hall on Friday, June 30, 2017 at 6:00 p.m. and Tuesday, July 10, 2017 at 7:30 p.m.

This tentative increase will result in a millage rate of 4.588 mills, an increase of 0.205 mills over the rollback rate, but no actual millage rate increase from last year. Without this tentative tax increase, the millage rate would be no more than the rollback rate of 4.383 mills. The proposed tax increase for a home with fair market value of $200,000 is approximately $16.40 and the proposed tax increase for non-homestead property (Commercial) with a fair market value of $550,000 is approximately $45.10.

SNELLVILLE – The city will have a lighting ceremony of the new Welcome to Snellville Monument on Highway 78, July 10.

The ceremony will take place under the monument at 6 p.m. July 10 at 2992 Main St. (Highway 78).

There will be remarks by city officials. A work session of the Mayor and Council will take place as scheduled at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall. The regular meeting will take place at 7:30 p.m.

The monument is the final piece of the Downtown Development Authority's first phase of its Wayfinding Project which was completed two years ago. Signs added to the Towne Green and City Hall were also a part of this effort. The monument is a 30-foot structure which encompasses architectural attributes of City Hall, including a replica of the cupula on top of City Hall. The monument is meant to represent the Eternal Flame on the Veterans Memorial in front of City Hall.

The DDA's efforts are now turning toward extending the Wayfinding Project to South Snellville on Lenora Church Road and Scenic Highway.

The public is welcome to attend.

Upcoming Senior Center Events

Upcoming Parks and Recreation Events

Making sure walking and biking opportunities for residents are safe and plentiful, the city is taking part in new initiatives to accomplish that goal.

City officials and residents were proud to take part in the Atlanta Regional Commission Workshop for Walk and Bike Friendly Communities in April.

The workshop was part of the ARC's effort to make Atlanta-area cities more walkable and bike friendly.

While Snellville has more work to do to better walking and biking conditions, the Livable Centers Initiative sidewalk project downtown was cited as a major achievement toward reaching that goal.

The city will now take recommendations collected from the workshop and begin to implement them.

Also "Share the Road" signage has been set up at various points in the city and bike racks have been put in place on the Towne Green and in front of City Hall.

SNELLVILLE – City officials are proud to announce the hire of new City Planner Austin Shelton.

Shelton has bachelor's degree in Sociology from Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Ga. and a master's degree in City and Regional Planning (MCRP) from Georgia Tech.

For the past year he's been a GIS and research analyst at the Atlanta Community Food Bank. Before graduating from Georgia Tech, he worked in real estate and marketing for a real estate team in Chattanooga, Tenn.

"I've always been fascinated with history and architecture, and I loved looking at buildings and towns and learning about who built them and how places got started and grew up," Shelton said. "I first got into planning after working with affordable housing and LEED construction developers and being involved in some historic preservation projects in my neighborhood while working in Chattanooga. I started wondering how people got jobs working on cool projects that help shape cities."

Shelton was born in Columbus, Ga. and lived in Cataula, just outside Columbus, until he moved to Chattanooga for college.

"Like the rest of Gwinnett, Snellville is growing and changing," Shelton said. "My goal is to help guide the city's growth by helping it better connect to the rest of the metro area and stand out as a welcoming and exciting place for individuals and families to live and work."

SNELLVILLE – City officials are proud to unveil a promotional video highlighting the vision of the Towne Center @Snellville.

The video, created by Blue Rose Media Solutions and city staff, gives just a taste of what is to come to Snellville in the near future as part of the city's downtown redevelopment project.

"We are excited to release this new video that highlights the vision of Snellville's future Towne Center," said Mayor Tom Witts. "We are working every day to move this plan forward to create the place to make Snellville proud. The future is exciting and we hope you will check out the video and continue to engage in the process as we move our Towne Center Plan forward."

The Towne Center will be a destination Snellville leaders envision as a place where residents and visitors alike can shop, enjoy entertainment, live and work. The project will be located around the area of City Hall and several plans are in the works which will turn this concept into reality in the near future.

Go online to watch learn more about the Towne Center and this exciting promotional video now at http://www.snellville.org/the-towne-center-snellville.