By Jaedon Mason, contributor 

Stone Mountain, GA — During the Stone Mountain City Council’s May 2 meeting, the council approved a contract with PivotPath to handle city communications.

The company will work on internal and external communications for the city.

Founder and President of PivotPath Elizabeth Oke and her team made a presentation during the meeting.

Hiring a communications firm is an allotted budget item. While rebranding is not a deliverable in the initial contract running through December 31st of 2023, the team presented some ideas on rebranding to show how they would approach working with the city.

Oke talked about not shying away from the city’s history.

“We don’t want to diminish the story or change anything but enhance what’s already there…It’s not our role to narrate the story. It’s the story of the residents,” Oke said.

PivotPath shared examples of past projects with similar-sized cities and presented a few mockups for a Stone Mountain-specific campaign.

City Manager Darnetta Tyus reiterated that the firm’s role would be less focused on rebranding in this initial stage and more on communications and messaging. Designing flyers, capturing stories, and generally pushing out the good work the city is doing to the public.

The council voted unanimously to approve the contract. Decaturish asked the city for clarification about the contract cost and will update this story when the city responds.

In other news:

— The council approved temporarily closing Main Street to be blocked for the City Beautification Initiative on May 13 from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. City staff are liaising with police and public works to ensure the safety of the volunteers and an uninterrupted traffic flow. Councilmember Teresa Crowe asks anyone who is coming out to volunteer for the City Beautification Initiative to bring tools and gloves.

— This coming Saturday, May 6, will be the much anticipated Citywide Clean-up. The day of community service fun will culminate with a Family style community cookout at *Leila Mason Park* (changed from the Baptist Lawn).

— City Manager Darnetta Tyus reported what crews surveying a sinkhole on Rockborough Road found. The upper layers of the pipe are intact, but there are a bunch of assorted objects and debris in the hole, so the next step is getting the hole cleaned out before moving on to getting it refilled.

— City Manager Tyus also reported that the next round of SPLOST funding will begin in 2024 and projected about $6.6 million in funds to be available for city projects, with fewer restrictions on what the funds can be used for. The city is beginning to reach out to make sure to understand the citizens’ perspectives on which street improvements are the most pressing.

— The city council voted unanimously to approve KABOOM! Playground and Playspace Grant. The playground will probably be built in Leila Mason Park on October 18th, 19th and 20th. Anyone looking to be on the planning committee should email [email protected].

— The council postponed a vote on appointing Carl Wright to the Planning Commission. Wright introduced himself and was endorsed by Councilmember Crowe, as he was instrumental in planning the city beautification initiative. The vote was postponed so the council could take more time to review his qualifications.

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