Loganville – split by a County line

Curry has the unique challenge of leading a city that is split by a county line. The Gwinnett-Walton county line runs north-south on the western side of the city. It goes down through the Bright Inn, IHOP and the Walmart.  The tax revenues from Walmart are split with the  sales tax going to Walton county and the liquor taxes being deposited into Gwinnett county’s account.

The City of Loganville has 6.8 square miles of land and about 11,000 residents. Around 30% of that lies in Gwinnett county and the remainder in Walton.  “I look at it as a challenge to be in two counties”, said Curry. “Chairman Nash has been good to us and we have several inter-governmental agreements.”  One of those is a near future improvement of the Highway 78 and Brand Road intersection funded by SPLOST.

Dan Curry grew up in Centerville and is a 1967 graduate of South Gwinnett High School.  His career has included retail plant nurseries, landscaping, a motor carrier publishing company, insurance, and most recently the church administrator for Hope and Life Fellowship.  Dan had been with that congregation for most of his life seeing it grow from 80 to 1400 people.

“I’ve always been involved in community affairs,” said Curry. “I was seeing some negative changes to Centerville and felt like a need to pull the community together.” Along with some businessmen and pastors, they started the Centerville Business Association in 2006 with Curry as its first president, and the organization is still active today.  “It gave the community a voice to an unincorporated area that didn’t get much attention. We could discuss issues and it made for a more solid community.”

This type of vision and leadership led Dan to begin attending city council meetings after he moved to Loganville in 2004.  He was on the Planning Committee and then ran for city council in 2010.  In 2012, Dan was elected as Vice-Mayor and shortly thereafter, Mayor Ray Nunley resigned and passed away.  Curry was elected as Mayor unopposed and then was reelected in November 2013.

Previous Mayor Nunley has instituted several programs and Curry continued to implement them. “We’ve gone in and finished what he started, things he would have finished had he lived, I give him the credit;” One of those was the Loganville Development Authority which promotes business.  “Loganville is identified as a retail city as we have no industry, and we govern it as such.”

Mayor Curry has already made some improvements during his brief tenure.  They finished the Town Green where free concerts are being held throughout the summer. Most recently the Drifters performed and the Sock-hops are due next. They estimate up to 800 people attended the concerts. Within the Town Green is the ‘Ray Nunley Pavilion’ named after the previous mayor.

The Rock Gym, built in 1934 and located in downtown Loganville, has recently been renovated and converted into a meeting area and conference center.  In October they will host the Gwinnett Municipal Association dinner. The city spent $200,000 to renovate the historic building.

Development and new businesses are on the increase in Loganville and Curry is spearheading the progress.  Within the last year, the city has added Aldi’s, Colonial Buick GMC, and two package/beverage stores.   Explaining the two similar stores so close to each other is a long story. About 67% of Loganville residents voted for the liquor stores in a referendum.  Ideally, they would have wanted one store in Walton and one in Gwinnett, but both ended up on the Gwinnett side so tax revenues are headed toward Lawrenceville. “I support Gwinnett just as much as Walton”, said Mayor Curry. “They’re both in my city”.

Gwinnett County Chairman Charlotte Nash, says, “one of the side benefits of serving as Gwinnett Commission Chair is working with the mayors of the 16 cities that are wholly or partially within Gwinnett. Each of them is passionate about her/his city, and Dan Curry is no exception to the rule. He is a real booster for Loganville and great things that are happening in the city.”

The new mayor sees his goals as keeping taxes as low as possible and keeping the services at a high level. The city will be adding one new policeman and police car and looking to fill some empty buildings and adding more retail stores, restaurants, and a movie theatre. “There’s not a better place to be situated, we’re 35 miles east of Atlanta and 35 miles west of Athens.”  

“I like being mayor, it’s not much different from being an insurance man or a church administrator,” Curry observes.  “It’s all about helping people, coming up with solutions.  That’s what it’s all about.”  The 64-year old Curry is married to Nancy, his wife of 38 years and has two married daughters and four grandchildren. “We’re excited about what’s going on and are pursuing more businesses. At the end of the day, I want to have as many happy citizens as possible.”