Brookhaven’s mayor will fly to Honolulu, Hawaii next weekend to appear on two panels at a conference attended by hundreds of other American mayors.
At the annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Mayor John Ernst will speak about Brookhaven’s environmental sustainability initiatives and local control of small-cell technology installations, according to a statement from the city.
About 250 mayors in cities with more than 30,000 residents — including several from Georgia — attend the conference every year.
Credit: City of Brookhaven
Credit: City of Brookhaven
Ernst will first speak during an energy committee panel about Brookhaven’s sustainability efforts, including electric car-charging stations and LEED-certified building practices. The Brookhaven Police Department also recently bought an electric Tesla to possibly use as a police cruiser.
On the second panel, Ernst is set to speak about efforts to take away local control of property in the city’s right-of-way. Ernst will offer insight into Brookhaven’s ordinance putting restrictions on the size of small-cell “nodes” that are attached to telephone poles, the city said. On that panel, Ernst will appear with the mayors of San Jose, California, Plano, Texas, Santa Ana, California and Eugene, Oregon.
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Since Ernst is representing all DeKalb County cities on the second panel, the DeKalb Municipal Authority is paying $2,000 toward his travel expenses.
“My overreaching goal at this conference is to see and hear what innovative approaches other cities are doing to improve the quality of life of their residents efficiently and bring those lessons back to Brookhaven,” Ernst said in a statement. “I’m most interested in sessions covering infrastructure, affordable housing, cybersecurity, and community-based zoning.”
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