Students get up-close look at local politics

ALBANY — As Tuesday’s Albany City Commission meeting dragged well into its third hour Tuesday morning, many of the dozens of high school students who attended the meeting started fidgeting in their seats. Others whipped out their ever-present cellphones.

“One young man said before the meeting he wanted to go into politics in the future,” City Manager Sharon Subadan said as the meeting finally wound down. “Well, this is politics. This is the business of the city.”

The students, all members of the four local high schools’ student government associations, were invited to attend the meeting as part of the city’s celebration of Georgia Cities Week. Mayor Dorothy Hubbard read a proclamation recognizing the week in the city at the end of the meeting, then the students were invited to come by and meet their commissioners.

Downtown Manager Latoya Cutts gave each of the students a backpack bearing the city’s new logo.

During the meeting, Ward I Commissioner Jon Howard engaged the students during a discussion of the city’s population statistics. He asked how many planned to leave Albany to attend college, and most raised their hands. He then asked how many planned to leave Albany when they finished school, and almost all of them raised their hands, eliciting a laugh from the audience.

Ward III Commissioner B.J. Fletcher did not find the response funny.

“I guess everyone’s nervous and decided to laugh at that response, but I don’t believe it’s a laughing matter,” Fletcher said. “I do encourage our young people to go out and see as much of the world as you can, to experience all that you can. But you are a vital part of our future — you are the generation that will take care of us when we get older — so I ask you young people to be a part of your community’s future, to help us turn this community around.

“Albany is always going to be a part of you, it will always be home. And we encourage you to join us in making it a better place.”