Mayor’s Youth Council now able to receive funding

If you ask Mayor Dan Rickord what one of his favorite parts of being in office is, he is almost guaranteed to bring up the Mayor’s Youth Council. In addition to simply bridging the gap between the youth of the community and the local government, the Council has helped inspire the students to become more involved and provide them with a voice for their visions of Decatur.

At the Tuesday night council meeting, the Mayor requested that a non-reverting fund be created so that the MYC can begin raising money. Rickord noted that the first phase of this would be setting up an office in City Hall, where the students could meet and work together on various projects. He mentioned adding furniture to the office and getting the group a laptop to use. Secondly, the fund would enable the MYC to fundraise for future projects that they will place into action in Decatur.

Note that with the request for the creation of the fund, Rickord was not asking the Council or Decatur for any money. All funds that the MYC would receive at this point would be donations from individuals and local businesses, some of which have intentions of making contributions currently. The fund would have a broad standard of use as long as it was for their purposes, and the City Council would still have to approve any distributions from that fund.

“I have some business owners who have stepped up already to donate and that is great,” stated Rickord. “They love the idea of what is going on with this Mayor’s Youth Council. They just need some funds so that they can do some projects and we can get this office set up for them with furniture, a desk, and a computer.”

The Mayor’s Youth Council was created at the beginning of this past school year and consists of students from Bellmont High School, created with the primary purpose of serving the Mayor and engaging students in the community. Students on the board attend local government meetings and provide updates to the rest of the Mayor’s Youth Council. The students on the council have been working on various projects throughout the year, currently helping with the Kekionga Project.

The Council voted unanimously to support the fund. Rather than go through the initial readings of the resolutions forming the fund and tabling it, the Mayor requested that the Council suspend the rules and regulations so that the MYC could fast track the anticipated donations.