By Sarrah Peters, News Editor
The Leadership Etowah class visited several government officials on Tuesday, March 14 for its Government Day.
Leadership Etowah is a program run by the Gadsden/Etowah Chamber. The Chamber partners with Huntingdon College, The University of Alabama Gadsden Center, Gadsden State Community College, Jacksonville State University, Honda Manufacturing of Alabama and Alabama Power to provide seminars to promising leaders.
Only 10 participants are selected each year. To qualify, participants must show leadership potential through a willingness to help the community and take on leadership roles.
To set the potential leaders up for success, the program features 10 seminars on a variety of topics and career fields that require strong leaders, including government, law enforcement, non-profit organizations, education and more.
According to Ralph Burke, Associate Director of Jacksonville State University’s Corporate, Foundation and Community Relations Department, the seminars are designed to “engage potential community leaders to learn more about the community so they have the tools they need when they take leadership roles.”
On March 14, the participants spent the morning at the courthouse meeting with various elected officials, including Etowah County Revenue Commissioner Linda Barrett-Vaughan and District Attorney Jody Willoughby. The group then stopped at U.S. Congressman Robert Aderholt’s office before taking a trip to speak with City of Attalla Mayor Larry Means.
Means talked to the group about how he got his start in politics. Means found out that the area of Attalla he lived in had no sewer. Despite Means believing the situation was a health hazard and addressing the city council, the health department and city government refused to fix the problem. So Means ran himself.
Means went on to talk about the projects Attalla has been working on recently, including paving and redesigning the 4th Street School.
For more information about Leadership Etowah, visit www.etowahchamber.org/