Tuesday, July 25, 2023–11:57 a.m.
-David Crowder, WRGA News-
Cave Spring officially has a city manager.
The Cave Spring City Council has voted to hire Nick McLemore for the job. He will start on July 31, according to Cave Spring Mayor Rob Ware.
“We are very pleased that Nick has accepted the position as Cave Spring’s first-ever city manager,” Ware said. He brings a lot of real-world experience and educational knowledge to the job.”
McLemore said that he is excited and nervous at the same time.
“Our city has been put out there as the best city in the state,” he said. “We want to make it the best city in the southeast and continue to build on what our city council, our residents, and all the volunteers have been doing over the past several decades.”
McLemore was born in Floyd County and grew up in Cave Spring. He began a career in public safety right out of high school, working as a police officer for about 10 years and as a firefighter for about 20 years. He also taught for a brief time at a public college as an adjunct professor before moving into the private sector, working for several years as the director of business operations with Deaton Fleet Solutions. He has also owned and operated a family business for more than 15 years. and has served on the Cave Spring City Council. Most recently, he was Cave Spring’s sole representative on the Citizens SPLOST Advisory Committee, whose job it was to come up with a final list of projects to be included in a special purpose, local option sales tax referendum to be held on November 7.
One of the projects that McLemore will oversee as city manager is a large water and sewer project in Cave Spring.
“We just spent time, with the proposed SPLOST coming up, for Cave Spring to hopefully be awarded $3 million for that water project,’ he said. “That SPLOST means a lot, not only to the residents inside the city limits but also in the southern region of Floyd County and the areas that we serve. We look for great things to come from that and to be able to complete that project.”
According to McLemore, one of his main priorities as city manager is to build a great team.
“I think that Mayor Ware and the council have done great with that,” he added. “We have a few hurdles to clear with getting our staffing back up to the levels where we can begin to develop that and move forward with that plan.”
According to the job description, the city manager will be responsible for the overall administration of city government, including personnel, budgets, purchasing, grants, and pensions.
Cave Spring currently has five elected council members and an elected mayor, which is a part-time position. Under the previous charter, the mayor was the chief administrator. The council began discussions in-earnest about making the change back in January, with all five council members and Mayor Ware expressing support. A new charter was approved by the Georgia General Assembly during the last legislative session, which changed Cave Spring to a city manager form of government.
12 candidates submitted their applications for the city manager’s job with interviews taking place over the last several weeks.
