Area briefs for May 13

May 12, 2008 11:22 pm

— The Varnell City Council will have its regular monthly meeting tonight at 7 in the new city gym. The public is invited.
The gym is on Ruritan Drive.

---

A “listening session” on the creation of a Freight and Logistics Task Force by the state will be in the Goodroe Auditorium at Dalton State College on Monday from 8 a.m. to noon.
State officials say the task force is one of a series of 22 task forces that will examine the landscape and future of Georgia’s freight and logistics industry. They say the task force is focused on three primary objectives: capitalizing on Georgia’s position as “the Gateway to the East Coast,” acquiring knowledge of the economic opportunities linked to freight movement; and to gather data concerning freight movement, hubs and logistics centers.
“Savannah has outpaced nearly every U.S. port in growth in recent years,” said Gov. Sonny Perdue. “It is important that we examine opportunities to ensure Georgia’s infrastructure will continue to support this type of economic development statewide.”
The task force will host listening sessions around the state offering an opportunity for discussion concerning how the task force will achieve its objectives. Final recommendations will be completed by mid-June and they will be presented to the governor in mid-July.
“Logistics is without question one of Georgia’s strategic industries and this task force will continue to advance our state’s economic development efforts by collecting the ‘what and why’ perspective from a wide cross-section of industry stakeholders,” said Robert Fauls, CEO of Southern Freight Inc., who was selected by Perdue as task force chair.