By Joseph M. Morgan

joseph@southerntorch.com

RAINSVILLE, Ala.—Mayor Nick Jones will be delivering the 2016 Rainsville State of the City address next week, a Rainsville event that Jones, along with the Rainsville Chamber of Commerce began during his first year in office in 2012 and has made an annual event each of the four years during his first term as Rainsville’s mayor. Jones will deliver this year’s address next Thursday, April 21, at the DeKalb County Schools Coliseum at6 p.m.

Jones said that he made a commitment during his campaign for mayor to provide the citizens of Rainsville with a yearly report about the overall state of the city and its finances.  He said he was looking forward to presenting an honest assessment of the performance of Rainsville’s city government as a whole.

“It’s one of those commitments that I made early on not realizing at the time what a significant, positive impact it would have on our city in terms of operating with transparency and engaging our citizens,” Jones said. “It has also been an invaluable tool for me as mayor because it forces me to take a closer look at the entire picture, to reflect on the positive things we have accomplished, but also to take a look at the undesirable things that I wish had gone differently, or that we as elected officials had handled better. The obligation to get in front of the city and to provide the complete truth is something I take very seriously.  We all make mistakes, but I believe acknowledging those mistakes and being honest about them has allowed me to learn from them and become a better mayor and a stronger person.”

Jones said his address this year will again aim to offer an honest, accurate assessment of the current state of the city of Rainsville, and a detailed report of current city finances.  Jones, a community banker by trade, said his experience in the financial sector has proven to be an asset in terms of understanding the importance of managing city finances wisely, protecting taxpayer dollars and opposing efforts and at least attempting to prevent efforts at taking out what he sees as unnecessary loans that obligate the taxpayers and future taxpayers to significant long term debt.

The address will be followed by a town hall meeting between the mayor, the city council, and the citizens.  Citizens are encouraged to come armed with questions pertaining to the city.  The open forum will be a question and answer session that gives the citizens of Rainsville with an opportunity to ask questions they may have regarding issues related to or affecting the city of Rainsville and its governance and any matters that might be important to the people of the city.