On January 30, 2024, the Sandy Springs City Council held its annual retreat.
The annual retreat allows city staff to update our mayor and city council members on the progress made toward achieving the goals and objectives that were identified during the previous year. This is also a time for local leaders to make decisions about the city’s priorities for the current and upcoming year.
During this meeting, representatives from our city’s departments reported to and worked with our city officials to discuss the top priorities for Sandy Springs in 2024 and beyond in the areas of:
- Customer Service
- Public Safety/Fire Preparedness
- Transportation and Multi-Modal Accessibility
- Community Appearance Standards
- Economic Development
- Recreation and Cultural Enrichment
- Sustainable Growth and Environmental Stewardship
- Water Reliability
To help ensure these priorities are addressed, city staff members presented the council with a list of recommended initiatives for 2024.
As illustrated in the graphic below, these initiatives are heavily focused upon improving the city’s presence on social media, increasing the number of customer satisfaction surveys residents receive and finding ways to improve our services through the use of artificial intelligence.
An important note to remember: the “Strengthen Neighborhood Engagement” initiative refers ONLY to Homeowners’ Associations; it does not refer to renters.
Along with determining Sandy Springs’ priorities for 2024, city staff and leadership recognized successful initiatives in 2023, including:
- Launching a bilingual newsletter for residents
- Hiring an interpreter to attend the Crossroads Small Area Plan public meetings
- Holding a social event specifically for Hispanic Sandy Springs residents in the Crossroads area
This report is filled with information that can be useful to ALL Sandy Springs residents. From creating more charging stations for electric vehicles to discussing strategies that other cities are implementing to incentivize economic development, we encourage you to take some time to listen to the discussions about the plans our local leadership has for our city.