The City of Andalusia has accepted an invitation to present its story at the fall conference of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) in Portland, Oregon, this week.

Andalusia’s presentation, “Rebirth of an Historic Alabama Community,” shares a bit of the city’s history with details of the steps taken to revitalize the community. The presentation explores the use of public/private community development partnerships to continue an equitable renaissance that began with the restoration of the former East Three Notch Elementary School as City Hall. 

The presentation begins with a virtual tour of the community narrated by Mayor Earl Johnson and produced with assistance from PowerSouth. Other presenters are John Thompson, City of Andalusia Administrator; Steven Bingler, founder and CEO of Concordia, an Architecture, Planning and Community Engagement firm located in New Orleans; and Scott vonCannon, chief operations officer of Retail Strategies. The City is working with Concordia to update its  comprehensive plan, and works with Retail Strategies to recruit new businesses to the city.

“We are honored that ICMA found our story compelling and invited us to present to their group,” Mayor Earl Johnson said. “We hope that the exposure will help us to continue to attract interest in Andalusia.”