Mayor: Lobbyist Invaluable to Woodstock
Cherokee Ledger News – June 21, 2011
The new downtown streetscapes, Rope Mill interchange and Interstate 575 annexation into city limits would not have been possible without Woodstock’s lobbyist, the mayor made a point of saying last week, as the City Council agreed to extend the representative’s contract for another year.
“I’ve been very pleased with the work he’s done,” Mayor Donnie Henriques said at the June 13 meeting.
He said Brian Hudson of Atlanta-based The Hudson Group LLC, who lends his public affairs representation and lobbying services to the city, helped the city in both “tangible and intangible” ways.
Having Hudson on board keeps local elected officials from having to travel to Atlanta for various meetings, Henriques said.
“(Interstate) 575 was such a moving target,” he said. “If we hadn’t had him, then it wouldn’t have passed … It would have been ugly.”
The city received notice in April that their request to annex a portion of I-575 from the city’s southernmost boundary at the Cherokee-Cobb County line to its northernmost city limits at Holly Springs had been signed by the governor. The city had for the past two years been lobbying for the annexation so that it can possess police jurisdiction and provide better emergency response. The city’s bid last year was rejected, and Woodstock renewed its request in January by sending a resolution to the local Cherokee County legislative delegation—known now as HB 590.