Community Profile
COMMUNITY FACTS
POPULATION 39,124 LAND AREA 19.63 SQ . MI . TOTAL EMPLOYMENT 18,760 CIVILIAN LABOR FORCE 19,401
Government
The Town of Garner has a Council-Manager form of government with a Mayor and five-member Town Council . Elections for the office of Council are held at two-year intervals in November of odd-numbered years . Elections are non-partisan and all members of Council are elected for four-year staggered terms . The Mayor is elected for a four-year term at the same time elections for Town Council are held .
The Town Council sets Town policies , adopts the annual budget , enacts ordinances , and appoints the Town Manager and Town Attorney . The Town Manager administers the daily operations and programs of the municipal government through the department heads , other staff members and employees .
The City of Raleigh owns and operates a water distribution system , a sanitary sewer collection system and a wastewater treatment facility which provides service to the Town .
The nationally accredited Parks , Recreation and Cultural Resources Department manages 11 parks totaling more than 315 acres . The Town also owns 318 acres of undeveloped parkland for active and passive recreation , with plans to develop two new signature parks . This diverse park system also includes a 2,500-square-foot LEED Gold Certified
Nature Center ; Garner Senior Center , a North Carolina Center of Excellence ; the 471-seat Garner Performing Arts Center ; and two recreation centers . Program offerings include arts , athletics , fitness , environmental education , outdoor recreation and more , as well as Town-wide special events like Independence Day Celebration and the award-winning Trick-or-Treat the Trails .
All-America City
The Town was named by the National Civic League as one of 10 All-America Cities in June 2013 . The program recognizes citizen engagement , cross-sector collaboration , innovation , and inclusiveness . It showcases grassroots solutions to meeting pressing challenges and critical needs in communities across the country . This prestigious award has been dubbed the “ Nobel Prize ” for civic accomplishment .
Town History
When the North Carolina Railroad was built in the 1850s , it initiated the creation of many towns ; Garner is one such town . Garner got its start with the coming of the railroad through the area beginning in 1847 . In that year , after a tie-breaker vote by the Speaker of the State House of Representatives , state leaders designated what is now Garner for the location of a new station of the North Carolina railroad that ran between Goldsboro and Charlotte .
Landowners who sold property to the NC Railroad Company included : Lewis Dupree 1853 , Joseph Broughton 1853 , Hardy Britt , Aisley Bagwell and heirs 1854 , and Absalom Smith and Joseph M . Smith .
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