George McGruther gave an interview on his back porch on August 29th, telling about several issues that concern him as a mayoral candidate.
“So far, the houses, they are getting the market value, maybe a little more. I believe if we can get some things cleaned out and straightened up in the main areas, that would help us a lot on our resale value of houses.”
He also talked about how he planned to bring more tourists to Andersonville by focusing on events in the Spring and Fall.
“I’d like to bring in a jazz band [and] some food trucks. Generate a little more money, get more people coming here just to see Andersonville and what it does represent and learn the truth about it and not just speculation of what it was or what it could be.”
Mr. McGruther was asked if his campaign had any plans to address issues such as employment.
“Most people either work in Montezuma or Americus.”
“I don’t really see it being an industrial town.”
He mentioned did mention concerns about road safety.
“Some of our dump trucks and log trucks think they own the road. That’s something I will look into.”
“We do have a lot of people from out of county come through, and they just ride around and look, and we need to slow them down a little bit.”
Mr. McGruther talked about how Andersonville’s proximity to the Andersonville National Historic Site benefitted the city.
“Every year they throw the reenactment around October. Try to do it just before the fair comes. That’s something we will continue to do. When you say Andersonville, you pretty much think of the prison out there too. That’s another place that people could be educated on, the prison. We could probably raise the bar a little bit from what we’ve been doing, we could add a little more too it, I don’t think it would upset the budget that much.”
He talked about the specifics.
“Most of the venues that come are yearly and they’re pretty good. Just add a little more too it. That way every year, people will say ‘What they got this year?’”
Mr. McGruther also gave concerns about business.
“I’d like to see some of the shops filling back up. And maybe we can do something to help stay around, year around.”
He mentioned focusing on educational aspects as well.
“A lot of people just like to walk and look. But there’s not really a lot of signs up that explain a lot of details.”
He also plans to have a monthly meeting where residents can bring him their concerns.
“I want to listen to the residents, then we’ll bring it to the town hall.”
“I want to hear the people. I don’t want to hear what the council’s got to say until after they have spoken.”
He gave a final statement summing up his campaign.
“Main thing is we’re for the town and the people, not for the individual person, not for myself or a neighbor or a friend, we’re here for the people.”