Albany-Dougherty County delegation to meet this week with Washington leaders

ALBANY — A delegation of 10 Albany-Dougherty County leaders will meet this week with federal lawmakers and high-ranking military officials in Washington, D.C., to discuss matters that are important to the city and region.

“We have some very good meetings set up,” Barbara Rivera Holmes, president of the Albany Chamber of Commerce, said Saturday. “I’m excited about those.”

The group from Albany consists of officials with the city and county governments, the chamber and the Albany-Dougherty County Economic Development Commission. The delegation will be in D.C. Monday through Wednesday.

“It’s a dual-purpose trip, really,” Holmes said of the annual trip that is a chamber-led initiative. “We advocate for the community and make sure the congressional delegation knows where we are on a variety of issues, but it’s used also to update them on some things we are doing so they can be advocates. We also meet with the Pentagon about what affects the Marine base, what may be coming up and any critical needs so that we can deliver those directly to our congressional delegation.

“From a functional standpoint, there are messages that we deliver and updates that we make. It’s always important for our leaders to know that Albany is involved, has a voice and has leadership that’s concerned and thoughtful about the direction of the community and the region.”

Holmes said the group is scheduled to meet with Lt. Gen. Michael Dana, Marine Corps deputy commandant, installations and logistics; Maj. Gen. Craig Crenshaw, commanding general, Marine Corps Logistics Command, and Col. James Carroll, commanding officer of Marine Corps Logistics base Albany.

When the delegation goes to Capitol Hill, meetings are scheduled with U.S. Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., and U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Albany, as well as staff of U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., who is home recuperating from a second back surgery. The meetings will be followed by the Albany delegation hosting a reception for the military officials, lawmakers and staffers.

“It’s very much relationship building and relationship strengthening, and we’re lucky to have the relationship that we do with our Marine Corps leadership and our congressional delegation,” Holmes said.

One issue that will be brought up at the meetings will be the community’s recovery from devastating storms and tornadoes in January.

“One of the things we’ll be advocating for is continued federal assistance as the community rebuilds and recovers following the storms,” Holmes said. “We’ve had good assistance with the state and they’ve been critical to our recovery, but we also have federal partners that we’ll be reaching out to and looking for ways to find resources and funding sources for building stronger and better as we move forward.”

She said the trip is “exciting for a couple of reasons, but primarily because we have worked so long to establish and maintain strong relationships at the federal level with our congressional delegation and our Marine Corps leadership, and that facilitates progress for the community. I’m proud of the work we do, and I’m proud of the group we’ll be taking, the message that we’ll be delivering and the requests that we’ll be making.”