Mayor on Duty: Pennies for Preservation

We went to St. Simons Island this past weekend. When I visit other communities, I’m always looking for new ideas and how other towns address common municipal problems. As I have mused in the […]

The Town’s Planning & Development Director is implementing the provisions of the newly adopted Short-Term Rental Ordinance. The Town Board approved the ordinance on September 15, 2022. Since then, several questions have arisen about the […]

Part 1 – The Local Government Process: I am not the Kim Jong-il of Highlands. Nor am I “Boss Hogg” directing town employees and the police to follow my commands. I sometimes suspect a few […]

After difficult events, it’s wise to review and reflect. Case in point, “the big freeze,” just before Christmas. Highlands hasn’t had extreme below-0 temperatures in over a decade. Visitors are now in Highlands year-round. The […]

It’s back, snow that is, and we all need to be prepared. The official winter season is just around the corner with next Wednesday being the first official day. Last year we dodged a bullet […]

It’s a shame that Highlands… I’m ashamed that Highlands… I get emails with these kinds of salutations on a routine basis. Just this past week I received an email with the “shame” opening remark. Although I could […]

As I recently drove down Cullasaja Drive and by Mirror Lake I realized the Monkey Face tree was still there. Regretfully, the monkey face image that was a natural part of that tree is long […]

I rediscovered the community core and future of Highlands this past Monday. I encountered it at the annual Halloween Main Street Celebration. This annual event had a tremendous turnout where folks were able to just have […]

The town was spared the remnants of Tropical Storm Ian this past weekend. Earlier in the week town staff and I had worried that we might have very heavy rains and high winds in the […]

The staff and I meet with various groups that support and supply the town on a routine basis, and this past week Josh, Lamar Nix met with folks from Duke Energy. It was a good meeting. […]

At the board meeting last week, I did a rather long mayor’s report concerning initiatives I want the board address in future meetings. Let me briefly review several of these items. First, the master sidewalk […]

We got it, you got it too! What? We have all recently received our Macon County 2022 Property Tax Notice, aka tax bill. The bills go out every August and are due by January 5. […]

I have complied with the Save Highlands attorney’s public document request. All my emails concerning STRs have been sent to Derek Allen. There may be a few I have overlooked or missed, but I have made […]

Last week Sallie and I took our grandchildren on our annual trek to Jekyll Island. A goal was to include some educational experiences on the vacation schedule. So, we took a dolphin tour and did […]

My call for stakeholders to propose compromises concerning STRs underscores the community stalemate on this combative issue. I asked stakeholders to publicly put forth any proposed compromise. I wanted the community to see if there […]