Community Unity

Meet and Greet with Local Officials

By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter

CROCKETT – It’s an idea a long time in the making and on Sunday, June 23, it came to fruition. It was an informal event (even though some were dressed to the nines) held at the Crockett Civic Center where area residents could come and meet local officials, ask questions and get a chance to get answers on a personal, one-on-one level.

Hosted by the Black Dress Society, officials from the city of Crocket, Houston County, various school districts, the Crockett Economic and Industrial Development Corporation (CEIDC) and the Houston County Hospital District were all in attendance for the event which kicked off at 2 pm.

Crockett Mayor Dr. Ianthia Fisher opened the event and said, “The purpose of today is just a meet and greet. Our theme is building bridges and this will be a chance for everyone – we will have an open mic in a little bit for all our officials to share a few things they would like to share.”

The first order of business was the invocation which was provided by Rev. Harry Fred Scott while the Pledge of Allegiance was led by Crockett Fire Chief Jason Frizzell.

Following the pledge, Crockett Police Chief Clayton Smith provided the welcome from the city.

He recognized former Police Chief Jimmy Fisher (the mayor’s husband) and said there were a lot of things he had learned under his tutelage “… but public speaking wasn’t one,” he chuckled.

“On behalf of the city of Crockett, I would like to welcome you and thank you for coming out. It is a great opportunity to meet everyone and I’m looking forward to it,” Smith said.

Next, CEIDC Executive Director James Gentry addressed the audience.

“I want to greet everyone and let you know we are happy to see everyone here. As the mayor mentioned, our theme is building bridges. We are a community of many facets and I want to greet all of our facets in terms of prosperity. We are here to promote prosperity for all that are here and all that are willing. I must personally thank all of you for your support of economic development in the voting that came out the other day (May 4 election). I want to thank you all for your support but realize it takes a village. It takes us all to sell our community, to grow our community, to bring about prosperity and to bring hope to the community. With the help of all of you we can accomplish that,” Gentry said.

Following the CEIDC director’s greeting, the various clergy members in the audience were introduced, along with the city officials and county officials.

The mayor also thanked the event sponsors, caterers and everyone else involved with the Sunday afternoon function before she opened the buffet to start the first of many future meet and greets with local officials.

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].