City of Albany invites residents to discuss development of city’s resiliency plan

ALBANY, Ga. – The City of Albany invite residents to discuss the ongoing development of the city’s resiliency plan.

Following a series of discussions, the City of Albany and Dougherty county held the third and final public meeting to review the proposed recommendations for the joint resiliency plan.

This plan is designed to equip the local community to withstand and recover from disruptive events like tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, and other potential challenges.

“This particular plan was specifically to develop a plan of action. Now, we have to put that plan of action into work by getting resources, putting together teams, and having summits for information purposes. So, when we transition from this to the next steps, what my hope is, is that for actual people like myself who are trusted leaders in the community who are from here, to be very involved in the communication and outreach aspect so that we can get this plan fully implemented and improve the city the way the plan is supposed to,” said Clinton Vicks, CDC council member, entrepreneur & community leader.

The resiliency plan process involves data collection and analysis, targeting key areas such as physical infrastructure, local health service policies, emergency response, housing and shelter, and preparedness strategies.

Clinton Vicks, a CDC council member and entrepreneur actively involved in the Albany community, shares his observations on the changes he’s noticed after attending consecutive meetings.

“I attended the second and now third, which is today’s final meeting. The change that I noticed, which was great, was a change in location. We requested that the meeting be held on either the east or the south side of town to expand the people that could actually attend who might not be able to drive. And, as we actually agreed and had it on the south side of town. So, that is a positive. Some of the plans that we see there presenting allows for more collaboration, hopefully between city agencies as well as nonprofit agencies and local citizens. So, this is a move toward the collaboration and innovation that our city and state are working toward,” said Vicks.

Community involvement is essential to ensuring thorough and equitable approach to resilience strategies.

“I’m thankful that our city is trying to be proactive as opposed to reactive. We’ve had a lot of disasters that have impacted our city, population wise workforce as well. So, getting ahead of the problem is definitely a plus and a positive as we try to rebuild this city and reestablish and empower our citizens,” said Vicks.

De’Andra Jacobs reporting.

Copyright 2024 CBS 44 South Georgia. All rights reserved.