HAHIRA — What do you like about being mayor? 

Do you do a lot of paperwork?

How do you take care of tornadoes and hurricanes?

How old are you?

Those were the burning questions of Hahira Elementary School second graders when Hahira Mayor Bruce Cain visited.

“I love being mayor,” Cain said. “Before I was mayor, I was on the city council, so I’ve been in city government for 12 years. I was born and raised in Hahira, and I love giving back to the community.”

Mayor since 2014, Cain was invited to hang out with the second-grade students to help apply some of their lessons to real-life experiences.

Jamie Yates, HES second grade teacher, asked the mayor to come chat with the students, who are learning about how towns run and the different positions involved in keeping a city together.

“I thought it would be really neat to have him come and actually give the kids a real-life perspective on what they’ve been learning about,” Yates said. “The kids were so excited that we were having a local celebrity come.”

Cain gave the students a quick rundown on term limits, voting in ordinances, zoning laws, all the departments under City Hall and emergency preparedness — a particular interest among this group of kids who had been actively watching Hurricane Dorian’s path days before.

“When the storms are really bad, we sit down and have a meeting and make sure everything is in order and ready to go,” Cain said. “If a really bad storm comes in, we’ll call in extra (first responders).”

The Hahira mayor even brought in some subject matter for the students to see a physical example of his work — a potential drawn-up subdivision from a previous Hahira City Council meeting.

Cain was honest with the students — he doesn’t know yet if he’ll run again for mayor or city council when the end of his term comes in three years.

However, he can’t think of anything else he would rather be doing than helping the people of Hahira when he can.

“It feels good,” Cain said. “Whenever I go and talk with people about problems they’re having and I’m able to help them out, it’s a really good feeling.”

Katelyn Umholtz is a reporter with the Valdosta Daily Times. She can be contacted at (229)244-3400 ext. 1256.