Leadership

The Mayor's job is to lead. It is your job to determine who Dacula's leader will be for the next four critical years. In order to lead, my job is to ask you to vote for me.

I have led Dacula for the past 8 years, and I have proven that I have the ability, the vision, the passion and the time to be Mayor. My opponent has not.

Leadership has been defined as a process by which one person enlists the help of others in accomplishing tasks. My opponent sees the task of Mayor as leading the City Council and finding harmonious relationships. It is much more than that. The Mayor has to be a leader in all aspects of the community. To be successful, the Mayor has to reach out to seek the help of City employees, churches and other religious organizations, civic organizations, businesses, non-profits and others. He must seek the help and advice of the county, school board, state representatives and even our national elected officials. I have done this and we as a community are the better off for it.

I have mentored students, business, civic organizations. I have served as a member of your volunteer fire department back when we didn't have any county fire services. I served as the President of the Gwinnett Municipal Association. I served on your Planning and Zoning Board. I served as your Mayor when one of the only paved streets in Dacula was U.S. 29 (Winder Highway). I brought you the Dacula Business Association. I've run a small business in Dacula and know you can't spend out more than you bring in. I have worked with and served state and national officials. I have served all Georgia in emergency management--in the trenches--helping you and Georgians recover from disaster. I started the Dacula Business Association as an outreach to people who are willing to invest in our community to make it a better and more convenient place. I brought you the Dacula Centennial Commission and helped facilitate our historic "Down Yonder in Dacula" DVD and History of Dacula. I serve you through my church. I coordinated with several service clubs such as Kiwanis and the Lions Clubs to bring those organizations to the Dacula area. My door is always open to members of the community.

The best measure of success for a leader is the success of the organization he leads. I leave that judgment to you. Our City is a safer, more convenient, family-friendly small town that really works because of the effort I and others have made for Dacula over the last 8 years. It is a great place to raise a family, and I want to continue to lead it into a place where there will be more work places, affordable places to live, and places to play and enjoy.

Being Mayor of Dacula is a "part-time" job that I spend an average 30-40 hours per week performing. It is a job that requires late night and early morning meetings and sometimes long discussions over what might at first appear to be trivial matters--but which are really important to the success we are achieving here in Dacula. It is not a job for the faint of heart nor of simply presiding over 12 Council Meeting per year--though that is a part of it. You need a person as Mayor who has demonstrated experience and success in leading an $347,000,000 dollar business. That's what Dacula is. That's how much your assets are valued at for tax purposes. When I helped Southwest Georgia recover from a $3 billion disaster, I saved Georgians $450,000,000 by asking for and providing information to reduce the portion of disaster funds provided by Georgia citizens from 25% to 10%. So I know how to deal with big dollar items. You need a Mayor who is a fiscal conservative to manage your assets and to protect those assets.

I have a passion for Dacula. It's my home. I am native born, and I pledge to continue to do my best as your Mayor. Dare I say I love my home town.

Please vote for and support Jimmy Wilbanks as Mayor. The election is at the Dacula City Hall during the rest of this week and on Election Day, November 3, 2009.