Thomas Lynn | The Valdosta Daily TimesValdosta High School student Kayla Waters shows City Manager Mark Barber a zoning map at a mock city council meeting Friday as part of 2019 Georgia Cities Week.

VALDOSTA — When the city manager asked 15-year-old Kayla Waters if a zoning case would affect traffic flow, the Valdosta High School student quickly presented him with a map that indicated it would not.

Pleased with her team’s findings that the zone change to a building on Bemiss Road from residential to business would not affect traffic, Mark Barber and fellow Valdosta city staff members approved the request.

Except the request was three years old and being held at a mock council meeting inside the city annex building and not at city hall.

Nonetheless, Waters and her classmate, Sincere Colbert, 16, impressed city officials with their knowledge of city processes, preparedness and speaking ability.

The mock council meeting, held Friday, was part of the 2019 Georgia Cities Week. The meeting took place after the job shadow day, when about 30 city high school students followed city department heads to learn what they do on the job every day.

Students, such as Waters and Colbert, followed Matt Martin, planning and zoning director, but other students followed the police chief, the head of engineering, the fire chief and others.

Waters said she had a great experience learning about how the planning and zoning department works. She said she didn’t realize how much went into the decisions city staff make on a daily basis.

When Barber asked them about traffic flow issues, the two were prepared for the question with maps showing there were businesses similar to the one proposed already existing in the area. This meant the impact to traffic would have been minimal.

“I had to show him the map so he could better understand what I was saying,” Waters said. “I was pretty nervous.”

Participating students not only had to convince city staff but also Mayor John Gayle, who was impressed with the students at the mock council meeting.

He said there were students who performed professionally and showed real skill in public speaking.

“They made me believe they knew what they were talking about, which is really good,” Gayle said. “A lot of people don’t realize what goes into passing an item. It’s a lot of hard work, and I was impressed with their showing.”

Gayle said he hopes they take something away from the council meeting and from shadowing city department heads and that some of them took away a new appreciation for city workers.

For Colbert, she definitely learned something from her time with planning and zoning.

“I was able to take away from the experience that when you want something done, you should always plan it out, make sure you know the general rules and never wait until the last minute,” Colbert said. 

Thomas Lynn is a government and education reporter for The Valdosta Daily Times. He can be reached at (229)244-3400 ext. 1256