This Friday and Saturday, March 20-21, Statesboro’s City Council, mayor, city manager and key agency leaders will hold their annual strategic planning retreat in Augusta. Unlike the Bulloch County Commission’s budget retreat, which was being held Wednesday and Thursday in the field house at Paulson Stadium, the city government’s are usually held away from Statesboro, and for the last few years have been in Augusta. Also, the city’s retreats focus less on current-year budgeting and more on “big picture” topics and goals. But the city’s sessions, starting at 8:30 a.m. Friday and 8 a.m. Saturday after 7:30 a.m. breakfasts, are also officially open meetings, in case other Statesboro citizens want to make the drive. The location is the Augusta Marriott at the Convention Center, 2 Tenth Street. Michael Hourihan from the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia, the same facilitator who set up the discussions at least the past six years, is scheduled to do so again. Poverty – and the plight of working people of very limited means – and homelessness are Friday morning’s key topics. After the overview and statement of retreat objectives at 8:30 a.m., the presentation
