Mayor Ames M. Barnett and his wife, Ashley, and three councilmen represented the city of Washington over the weekend in meetings with leaders of MEAG during Georgia Municipal Association’s Annual Mayors Day in Atlanta.

“It was a great opportunity to meet the CEO of MEAG and many other city mayors, councilmen, and city managers,” he said. “We enjoyed getting to know other mayors and city officials.”

The 2012 GMA Mayors Day Conference offered an opportunity for city officials to become engaged on the issues that shape the environment in which cities must operate on behalf of their constituents, he said.

It was a good opportunity to network, Barnett said, to learn about issues, and to make many small cities’ voices heard on important issues that will affect them all.

One of the most important topics was the increases in electric costs. “MEAG’s President and CEO Bob Johnston discussed the issues facing MEAG today,” Barnett said, “and he talked about the strict new federal EPA regulations that will have an impact on costs for coal-burning plants. He also spoke about the future nuclear power plants, specifically at Plant Vogtle, and what an asset they are for the future power generation.”

Several Washington city councilmen, including Nathaniel Cullars, Marion Tutt Jr., and Kimberly Rainey attended classes throughout the weekend, learning about planning and zoning, changes in local option sales taxes, and how to cut municipal costs for fleet energy use and other areas.

Councilmen Henry Harris, Mike Scarborough, and Travis Armour will attend the annual GMA conference in Savannah in June for the same classes and meetings, Barnett said.

Participants also got to take part in policy committee meetings, the Municipal Training Institute, district caucuses, and visits to the state capitol.