Statesboro Mayor Jonathan McCollar is planning to deliver his 2022 State of the City address in a venue larger than any room at City Hall – the 1,200-seat Statesboro High School auditorium off Coach Lee Hill Boulevard – at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 22.
That date should not be confused with this Tuesday, Feb. 15, when there will be a mayor and council work session starting at 3 p.m., following by a regular City Council meeting, both in the City Hall Council chambers.
A year ago, McCollar gave his 2021 State of the City remarks from a lectern set up in the council chamber facing cameras for livestreaming, and full social distancing was enforced with a reduced number of sparsely placed chairs for the in-person audience.
Although the most recent surge has been waning, COVID-19 still has not disappeared, so social distancing remained a thought in this year’s planning, according to the mayor.
“We definitely want to see a larger turnout, but the main focus is putting it in an space that, if individuals wanted to come, it was large enough for them to be able to socially distance,” McCollar said Thursday. “So that was one thing that we were thinking about, and we thought that Statesboro High School kind of captures the direction that I wanted to have in my State of the City address.”
That was a hint that youth programming and the future are topics he plans to talk about.
“Absolutely. I will be addressing youth, not just for the city of Statesboro but for the greater Bulloch County area,” McCollar said.
In last year’s speech he recapped the previous year, 2020, in which the pandemic was an overriding concern, and described community initiatives and continuing city projects. For the upcoming speech, some of those projects remain the same, but since McCollar won re-election to a second term in November, he intends to recap his first term and talk about the next four years instead of just 2022, he said.
“One thing that we want to do is outline the progress that we have made over the past four years, and then I want to outline a vision of the city for the upcoming four years, the direction that we want to head in and the areas that we really want to be able to address,” McCollar said.
The event is open to the public. It will feature a flag presentation by members of the Statesboro High School JROTC and a performance of the National Anthem by members of the Statesboro High School Chorus. The Rev. Taylor Lewis Guthrie Hartman, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Statesboro, is scheduled to give the invocation.
A reception with light refreshments will be held in the lobby after the mayor’s speech.
Direct invitations sent to city employees, journalists and other individuals request that those planning to attend RSVP to an email address. The responses will help with the reception planning, but members of the public can attend with no invitation or RSVP required, said city Public Information Officer Layne Phillips.
The event will be broadcast live on the City of Statesboro Facebook page and uploaded to the city’s YouTube channel the following day.