Mayor Holmes Is ‘Influential’

Monticello Mayor Susan Holmes has been named to the list of “The 100 Most Influential Georgians” compiled annually by Georgia Trend magazine.

The prestigious list, headlined as “The Power Players,” includes Georgians from many fields—corporate chief executives, college presidents, elected officials and some with “personal dedication to a cause…so overwhelming that it becomes both a calling and a career.”

The featured vignette on Mayor Holmes cites her efforts as president of the Georgia Municipal Association and vice-chairman of the Georgia Rural Development Council. “But wherever she goes,” the sketch says, “the effusive Holmes always takes her beloved Monticello with her.”
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“[Mayor] Holmes has guided downtown Monticello as it linked economic growth with historic preservation,” it continues. “Under her leadership, the city emerged as a splendid example of smart growth in a small city.

“In the past six years the city of 2,400 has seen almost $15 million invested in its Mayberry-esque downtown area, which has become a working model for visiting municipal officials and a source of new local revenue.”

The city’s tax base has increased 60 percent in four years, the article notes.