Accomplishments and Milestones
2019
JULY
The Town of Garner won the Government Finance
Officers Association’s Award for Outstanding
Achievement in Popular Annual Financial Reporting
for the fifth consecutive year—every year that the
Town has been eligible for the honor. The award
recognizes the Town’s Popular Annual Financial
Report (PAFR) for the fiscal year ending June 30,
2018. The PAFR offers a reader-friendly summary of
the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.
The Garner Senior
Center was recertified
as a Center of
Excellence by the N.C.
Division of Aging and
Adult Services. This
prestigious designation
was the result of a
five-year process that
involved documenting
achievement in five different operational areas:
outreach and access to services; programs and
activities; planning, evaluation and input from older
adults; staffing; and operations. The excellence
certification enables the center to receive additional
state funding that can be used to enhance services
and to purchase equipment, furniture and other items
as needed.
The National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA)
selected the Garner Parks, Recreation and Cultural
Resources Department—in particular, White Deer
Park—as grand prize winner in its first-ever national
BioBlitz, a program that’s part of the organization’s
Parks for Pollinators campaign. White Deer Park held
its BioBlitz event in June, which is National Pollinator
Month. At the event, citizen scientists and lovers of
pollinators were encouraged to pick up their smart
phones and cameras, take a self-led hike through the
park and snap pictures of pollinators along the way.
AUGUST
In response to a remarkable citizen-led initiative, and
in accordance with the Town’s newly adopted facility
naming policy, the Town Council at its Aug. 5 regular
meeting voted unanimously to change the name of
Rand Mill Park to Jackie Johns Jr. Community Park.
Mr. Johns, a longtime Town Council member, passed
away in January 2019 at the age of 81. The Smith
Drive Community Reunion Committee led the effort
to get the park renamed in honor of Mr. Johns.
SEPTEMBER
The Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in
Financial Reporting was awarded to the Town
of Garner by the Government Finance Officers
Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA)
for the Town’s Comprehensive Annual Financial
Report (CAFR) for the fiscal year ending June 30,
2018. The Certificate of Achievement is the highest
form of recognition in the area of governmental
accounting and financial reporting, and its attainment
represents a significant accomplishment by a
government and its management. It was the 29th
consecutive year that the Town’s Finance Department
has earned this honor.
2020
FEBRUARY
The Town
Council
unanimously
approved a
project that will
bring 300,000
square feet
of Class A
professional
office space—
with some limited retail and restaurant space—to an
approximately 22-acre site at the southwest corner
of East Garner and Jones Sausage roads. When the
project’s three buildings—each 100,000 square feet—
are completed, it will be the largest office park project
in Garner’s history. The project has been named the
White Oak Innovation Park.
APRIL
The Town
won three 2020
Excellence in
Communications
Awards from N.C.
City and County
Communicators—
first place in
the category
of promotional videos for a recruitment video for
the Garner Police Department; second place in
videography for the Town’s 2019 Year in Review
video; and second place in annual reports for the
Town’s 2019 Popular Annual Financial Report.
garnernc.gov
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