City Government

My name is Ralph Owens, Mayor of Lavonia since 1990. It has indeed been an honor and a privilege to have served this great community for the past nineteen years. The City of Lavonia has promoted and positioned itself during the past twenty years as a major industrial and commercial player in Northeast Georgia. Located at the intersection of Interstate 85 and Georgia Highway 17, we are home to 27 of the 58 industries located in Franklin County.

Most recently, Lavonia was chosen as the site for a new Ty Cobb Regional Medical Center, a $63 million dollar investment in our community. This new medical center will help re-shape the future of the Lavonia community for many years to come and provide a level of specialized medical services for our residents not available in the past. Situated on 39 acres with an additional 150+ acres available for medical related business development, this planned medical community will help provide stable high paying jobs for our regional work force and create a tax revenue base that should help offset future property tax rate increases.

One of the many challenges that local government face every day is to carefully balance the continuing growth patterns of the community with city services while preserving and protecting the quality of life we enjoy and the historic and natural resources that our forefathers have entrusted to us. The City Countil and I understand this most important charge and strive to constantly update and implement code and ordinance changes to keep pace with our ever-changing community needs and demands. We also closely monitor and advise our city boards and commissions to insure that they work in concert with Council objectives and work within the guidelines of our future comprehensive and land-use plans.

This City Government section will introduce you to the elected officials, administrative staff and department heads that have the charge of seeing that our city operates in the most efficient and cost-saving manner possible while delivering the level of service expected by our residents and visitors to our city.

If you have any questions or need additional information, there is contact information provided for your convenience. It is indeed a pleasure to serve you and I hope that you will consider coming to our community to visit, reside, work or play with us.

Regards,

Ralph Owens, Mayor