Albany Area Chamber of Commerce honors local legislators

ALBANY — Unity in support of the local community was the main theme as Albany and Dougherty County business leaders gathered Thursday at Merry Acres to show their appreciation for area state legislators at the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual Legislative Appreciation Luncheon.

As is the case at each year’s event, representatives and senators that represent portions of Dougherty County are not only praised for their hard work and their accomplishments during the previous legislative session, they are given an opportunity to address the audience.

Cynthia George, vice chair of chamber’s Legislative Affairs Committee, began the remarks by introducing members of the area delegation state Reps. Winfred Dukes, D-Albany; Darrel Ealum, D-Albany; Gerald Green, R-Cuthbert, and Ed Rynders, R-Leesburg, and state Sen. Freddie Powell Sims, D-Dawson.

“We’re here to say thank you,” George said. “We’re very fortunate in southwest Georgia to have the experience and to have the dedication of such a wonderful group of legislators. They all have done an amazing job in representing this area.”

Sims was the first to take the podium, thanking the chamber, the Albany-Dougherty Economic Development Commission and community as a whole for allowing her to serve.

“We cannot do what we do without your help, and without the help of the entire region,” Sims said. “It is an honor to serve you. That’s exactly how I feel and I’m deeply appreciative.”

Sims chose not to offer a recap of the recently finished legislative session, deciding instead to share some of her feelings about being an elected official. Sims said repeatedly that her charge is to carry the message of Southwest Georgia to Atlanta and make sure decisions are made in the best interest of the area.

“Some of us took some beatings this past session because of decisions we did make,” Sims said. “But I have to tell my colleagues in Atlanta all the time that you don’t understand the needs of southwest Georgians until you walk in those shoes and you visit with those people every day.

“So, decisions that we made we made based on what we see, what we hear and what we live every day. And if we had to make those decisions all over again we would do the exact same thing. I would, I know that.”

Next to address the crowd was Green, who also praised city and county business and community leaders, giving particular praise to the Albany Chamber.

“Nothing is more important to a community than a chamber,” said Green. “That is the glue that pulls all of the great things that we have in the community together. And believe me Albany and Dougherty County have a lot of great things going on.”

Green also took the time to address one of the legislative session’s chief victories for the area, giving praise to his fellow leaders for their hard work in getting nearly $20 million in funding for a new fine arts center at Albany State University added to the 2015-16 budget.

“That budget of $21.8 billion dollars, plus another $20 billion from the federal government, which is shrinking and shrinking, is something that is very important to our area,” said Green. “I must say to Sen Sims, thank you for what you did in the Senate to bring things across to make sure that Albany State was taken care of. That is off our bucket list now.”

Green also said that he was equally thrilled that the budget contained funding for Darton State College and he hinted that he hopes next year the delegation can put that same level of combined effort into helping Albany Technical College as well.

“And we’re so proud that Darton was able to get their funding,” said Green. “Now Dr. Parker has told me, it’s his turn and indeed it is. We want to do some things for Albany Tech.”

Following Green was Dukes, who again touched on the theme of working together, stressing that the spirit of togetherness exhibited by the legislators of the area went a long way toward making the recent session one of the best he’s been a part of.

“I can say unequivocally it was our best, and most effective legislative session since 2002,” Dukes said. “That’s because the people that we have here now, we’re working better as a team together. We’re at the point now that in our total delegation we have about 77 years of experience and it shows in what we’ve been able to accomplish.”

Dukes said that because the group worked so well together he believed the leadership in the area was second to none and that he believes the future of the area is very bright.

“This is our time,” Dukes said. “We are that generation of leaders that will ensure that our future is greater than our past.”

Rynders was next to the podium and while he also praised the unity of the delegation, he was adamant that local leadership, both city and government, the chamber and EDC leadership be commended, despite what some critics have said.

“We all have out critics,” said Rynders. “Some people call the Cavemen. You know what Cavemen stands for — critics against virtually everything. I read recently about the economic development and chambers of commerce and the role they play in government or don’t play.

“I want to be clear, I love this place. I love Southwest Georgia. I raise my children here. I think it’s wonderful, I truly do. I beg today for the chamber of commerce and the economic development authority to stay the course. I have faith, I have confidence that if we grow business, if we improve our educational facilities, that people will want to say, ‘southwest Georgia is where I want to live. I know y’all’ve got tough decisions to make but you have my 100 percent vote of confidence that the business community in Albany is going to be the leading economic engine that pulls southwest.”

The last member of the delegation to address the crowd was Ealum, who also is the newest member of the delegation. Ealum, took the opportunity to directly illustrate the spirit of unity showed by the delegation by offering his thanks to each member of the group.

“I am humbled and I mean that from the bottom of my heart,” said Ealum. “If I could say one thing that ran through this entire session it was togetherness and oneness. And I don’t only mean among us but in this community.”

Ealum cited direction from the chamber, the EDC, School Board and other groups as one of the main reasons the delegation was able to accomplish good things in the legislative session, especially helping to secure funding for ASU.

“You all gave us leadership from day one when you told us what you’re mission was for us,” said Ealum. “And you told us our number one mission was ASU and the fine arts building. And so that’s what we all did, every hour of every day. Anytime I was talking to anybody I was talking about ASU and the fine arts building. So that was your leadership and I thank you so much.”

When the legislators were done with their addresses chamber interim President Barbara Rivera Holmes took time to again thank the delegation and to present each member of the group a framed picture containing the slogans of the EDC’s “There’s Only One Albany” campaign.

“We thanked you all throughout this luncheon but hopefully you hear us thanking you throughout the year as well,” said Holmes. “The theme for today is There’s Only One Albany and you heard it through the comments of our legislators. Its always so encouraging to hear that. We know that on the local level we have embraced the Only One Albany theme. To hear that that is carried through to our state level is so encouraging We know that a unified voice for Albany and southwest Georgia is the only way that we will succeed. We have to have shared mission, shared vision and a shared voice.”