Episode Transcript
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Robert Tidwell (00:20):
welcome to the peach buzz brought to you by
Tidwell's Strimban injurylawyers.
Woodstock's full service,personal injury law firm.
The peach buzz is a podcastdedicated to showcasing people,
having a positive impact in ourlocal communities and Woodstock
Cherokee County and all of NorthGeorgia today.
We're excited to have with us,Mr.
Donnie Enriques, Donnie has beenthe mayor of the city of
(00:43):
Woodstock for the past 16 years.
Uh, mayor, thank you so much forbeing with us today and welcome
to the peach buzz.
Mayor Henriques (00:51):
Robert, thank you for having me.
It's a pleasure.
Robert Tidwell (00:55):
You first ran for city council nearly 20 years
ago.
Is that right?
Mayor Henriques (01:02):
It was actually 1999 was the election.
Robert Tidwell (01:06):
Okay.
what were some of the reasonsthat you decided to get involved
with city council?
Mayor Henriques (01:13):
funny story, uh, the mayor at the time, David
Rogers was looking for someoneto fill a new ward that was.
Uh, dictated by the 2000 census.
And I saw him at a charityfunction.
I had known him a little bit,uh, through like the chamber and
(01:34):
things like that, but heapproaches me and he says, you
know, what'd you, what would youthink about your wife running
for the city council?
And at the time we had ourprivate practice audiology and
she was getting her doctorate.
So she was pretty busy and Itold him that and said that that
(01:57):
wouldn't be possible.
And she laughed when I told her,but anyway, um, he said, well,
why don't you try to recruitsomebody?
I said, okay.
I know a lot of people in thecommunity.
And it was, the ward wasbasically deer run, um, and park
view, which is next door, butit's a small development.
(02:19):
So I knew a lot of people.
So I started this recruitingprocess and everybody kept
saying, no, finally, after a fewweeks of doing this, uh, several
people came to me and said, whydon't you do it?
So I thought about it, talked toJan and decided I'll go ahead
and do it.
(02:39):
I called the mayor, David andsaid I would do it.
And he says, fantastic.
So he started meeting with me,showing.
What the city does and what,what, they're, what they're
trying to do.
And, uh, I ran and two folks ranagainst me, but they were not
(03:01):
involved in the community asmuch as I was.
So I, one sick about 68% of thevote against two individuals,
which is pretty hard to do.
So I took office in January of2000 and.
I always kid, uh, David's widow,David wound up dying, uh, about
(03:24):
nine months after I took officeof cancer.
And I always kid his widow thatit's all his fault.
Robert Tidwell (03:31):
Oh, my word.
Well, I imagine Woodstock lookeda lot different in 2000 when you
first, uh, became a city councilmember.
Mayor Henriques (03:38):
Yeah, it did.
We had about five businessesplus one restaurant, um, which
was the 1904 house, which is nowthe hips.
And that was about it.
Uh, the businesses closed theirdoors at five o'clock each day
and didn't want to stay open atnight.
So that's what it was until2006, when I took over as mayor
(04:05):
and, uh, we developed a.
An idea with Billy peppers wasthe, Canton city manager.
Now he was our economicdevelopment director and between
the two of us, we came up withthis idea of what's called
Friday night live and we wentand convinced, each business to
(04:28):
stay open one Friday night, amonth, invite customers in.
Feed them snacks and drinks andhopefully their shop.
And what was the fivebusinesses.
And the restaurant of coursestayed.
Opening, did specials.
It took a lot of convincing tokeep it going.
(04:49):
You could shoot a shotgun offfor six months and not hit a
person down on main street, buteventually people started coming
and.
It started getting better whenpure and canyons, hamburgers
moved in, people started comingand more importantly, more
(05:11):
businesses started comingbecause we had all those
buildings built by Hedgewood, inplace, but they were all vacant.
But once, Friday night livestarted really coming alive.
That's when all the growthstarted, what's happening
Robert Tidwell (05:32):
now, you first got on city council in 2000, but
you moved here to Woodstock backin 93.
Is that right?
Mayor Henriques (05:40):
Yes.
Robert Tidwell (05:41):
Okay.
And what brought you toWoodstock
Mayor Henriques (05:44):
housing, we were looking for a house.
We lived in Roswell and first westarted looking in Marietta
where my, one of my brotherslived.
And we quickly found that wecould not afford anything, not
anything livable.
Let's put it that way.
So my cousin was our realtor andwe kept moving out further and
(06:05):
further away from Marietta.
And we stumbled on Woodstock.
Found a house, in the outskirtsof town Lake, moved in in 93.
Was it there for three years.
And then we moved into deer runwhere I eventually ran for city
council.
So, uh, we've enjoyed our timehere.
(06:26):
Sure.
How,
Robert Tidwell (06:27):
No, I shared with you earlier that that's
very similar to our story, howmy wife and I got here, uh, I
had just finished law school andI had accepted a job at the
Marietta square law firm downthere.
And so we were looking for aplace we could afford.
And we just sort of drew someconcentric circles around the
Marietta square and startedbacking away from it and each
(06:48):
direction.
And the houses up here were justso much more affordable and it
was an easy commute down five 75to get to the Mariettasquare.
And so that's how we ended uphere in 2002.
Very similar.
Yeah.
Now a funny story I want to tellis in 2002, I had just finished
law school and I was.
(07:10):
Driving into Midtown eachmorning to take a, uh, bar
review class to help you prepareto take the bar exam.
And so I go into a coffee shop.
It was a caribou coffee shopright there in Midtown, and I'm
all excited to be there.
And so I'm getting some coffeeand I'm talking to the lady
making the coffee and I tell herI'm new in town, new in the
(07:31):
area.
And she asks, where, where doyou live?
And I tell her, I live inWoodstock and she looks at me
and says, where's that?
Okay.
Okay.
Fast forward to a couple ofweeks ago.
And my wife and I are over inOxford, Mississippi moving our
daughter out of her dorm room atthe end of the day for freshman
year.
And we decided to go to thebaseball game.
Ole miss was playing LSU.
(07:52):
And so we're sitting at the gameand there's a guy sitting next
to me and we start chatting andhe was, uh, he is from
Hattiesburg and he went to Olemiss graduated a few years ago
and now lives in Jonesborough,Arkansas.
And he asks me where we live.
And I tell him, we live inWoodstock, Georgia.
And he says, Oh, my word, Iwasn't Atlanta about a month
ago.
(08:12):
And some people told me I neededto go check out Woodstock.
So I drove up there and thattown was out.
He said it was amazing.
He said, I think he was here ona Friday night and people are
out and about, and just, youknow, he couldn't believe that
there was so much going on inWoodstock.
So how does a town in 20 yearsgo from not being known in
(08:33):
Atlanta to.
Running into people who live inArkansas who know about it and
actually went out of their wayto come visit Woodstock.
Mayor Henriques (08:41):
Yeah.
It's, it's quite a story.
Um, first of all, we, Imentioned Hedgewood earlier, uh,
they were the corporate partnerthat came to the city council.
I believe it was Oh three.
Uh, with a plan because it wasnothing but vacant land right
across the street, on the Eastside, from the five businesses I
(09:04):
mentioned earlier.
Um, and they, they had a greatplan.
Of course the plan went througha lot of reviews and changes as,
as all plans do when it come toa city.
But, um, they had a vision andto me it was a fantastic vision.
It's something that I thought.
(09:25):
Downtown Woodstock needed tobecome a destination.
And as I mentioned earlier, whenwe started Friday night live and
all the businesses startedcoming to where they are today,
it was an easy sell let's put itthat way.
Our, our goal was to become adestination city, We get a lot
(09:49):
of out of towners.
Uh, when I say that I, you canlook at the, license plates when
you walk downtown and you'll seeCobb Fulton, you know, they
really outweigh the Cherokeelicense plates, um, when you're
walking.
So we know we're a destinationcity so much, so we've made
(10:13):
national lists of places to be.
even recently, we were named thethird, best non big city
community to move to.
Robert Tidwell (10:27):
I saw that, I think they called it the, uh, it
was housing.com or somethinglike that.
Like that third rated suburb inthe U S to live in.
Mayor Henriques (10:35):
Exactly.
Robert Tidwell (10:36):
That's pretty outstanding.
Mayor Henriques (10:37):
It is, uh, we, we take those things seriously,
uh, and we appreciate them.
The national notoriety.
And, money magazines put us ontwo of their lists, uh, over the
years.
So, uh, we're very proud of whatwe've become.
Robert Tidwell (10:55):
I think that most of the people who live here
in Woodstock as well is proud ofthat.
I know that we all share andtalk about being ranked 17th in
the nation, as far as cities tolive in by money magazine.
Uh, the quality of life ispretty outstanding.
But, uh, one thing I wanted toask you is you grew up in new
Orleans, right?
Mayor Henriques (11:15):
Yes.
Robert Tidwell (11:16):
Did growing up in new Orleans have any
influence on your vision forWoodstock once you got involved
in local government?
Mayor Henriques (11:23):
Yeah, it did.
I lived in inner city of newOrleans.
Houses were very, very closetogether.
The architecture, everybodyknows is fantastic.
And when Hedgewood came forthwith their project, um, I saw
the same type of architecturethat reminded me of new Orleans,
(11:43):
uh, houses were fairly closetogether.
Some were shared driveways, andthat's kind of the way new
Orleans was still is.
But, uh, it's a difference
Robert Tidwell (11:55):
during your time as mayor.
Um, and, and let me preface thisby saying, you know, when we
moved here and my wife and I in2002, this was a pretty sleepy
community.
Yes.
And I have never been involvedin local government.
I have no experience or trainingin city planning or anything
(12:15):
like that, but never in ahundred years, would I have ever
imagined.
That Woodstock would grow fromwhat it was when I moved here in
2002, to what it is today.
At what point during yourinvolvement as either a city,
Councilman, or as a mayor ofWoodstock, at what point during
your time did you think toyourself, this is going to
(12:38):
happen?
This is a place where this canreally happen.
Mayor Henriques (12:41):
I think, it actually started when the
recession hit Oh eight, we.
Needed a new city manager and wehired Jeff Moon.
Who's still, our city managersat down with Jeff and talked
about the vision we had for thecity.
(13:02):
He got it, he knew it.
And he brought all of hisexpertise with him and that's
when things started reallytaking off.
Uh, sat down with him in Prestonpoos or who became our parks and
rec director, by the way, it wasour first parks and rec
(13:22):
director.
We never really had a parksdepartment and sat down with him
at lunch one day.
And I, I explained to both ofthem.
I said, I want three things.
I want trails.
I want more parks.
And I want an amphitheater.
And.
In 10 years they delivered.
(13:45):
The trail system is way ahead ofschedule.
It's a 60 mile trail system.
We've got probably over 30,000,30,000, 30 miles of trails right
now.
So we are ahead of the game.
This was a 20 to 30 yearproject.
hopefully be completed longafter I'm gone.
(14:07):
But, that's when it startedactually, you know, sounds kind
of funny in a recession to getthat type of, movement.
And, we took the opportunitybecause real estate prices, as
everyone knows, just fellthrough the floor.
And Jeff and I talked about itand he, he actually came up with
(14:29):
the idea that we need to startbuying stuff.
And so we did, we bought the,where it is now in the city
council chambers and the Elmstreet theater and the parking
lot behind it, which is on thecorner of town Lake and, uh,
main street.
(14:50):
That's one of the purchases wemade.
We purchased Woofstock park,which is today.
That was an apartment complexthat continually flooded.
So we got that for a song.
We had to tear down the existingapartment complex because it was
condemned by the federalgovernment.
And we made a deal with them.
(15:11):
We bought that property for$60,000, but again, like I said,
we had to tear it down, whichnominal fee, when you look at
it, So those are some of thethings that, we did during the
recession.
Yes.
We had to do some bonds.
We did not have much of areserve to speak of.
(15:34):
That's a lot different today,but we felt like we were getting
things for a song and we wentout on limb and, did those
things, the other thing was, Ithink the big.
Um, and you know, as well as Ido is our city hall, the city
hall we had back then was a sickbuilding, had a lot of mold and
(15:58):
mildew and people were gettingsick.
So we knew we had to findsomething else.
So as soon as the recession hit,Robert Harris homes had a three
story building on Trickum in 92.
And.
We bought that it's a$10 millionbuilding.
Even at the time we got it for5.2 and it included all the
(16:22):
furnishings and, and even thetelephones and fax machines.
So, we feel like we got a reallygood deal there too.
We could probably sell it todayif we wanted to for 10 million,
but we tore down the old cityhall in which that, and land
became the amphitheater, theamphitheater.
(16:42):
So we did a lot during toughtimes.
Uh, I think we made the rightmoves.
Robert Tidwell (16:50):
You talked about the Hedgewood property that came
in in downtown, and there wasnothing in this area that I can
think of that even was close tothe size and the magnitude of
that project.
I think a lot of folks probablygo back there.
A lot of people live there.
(17:10):
They see, you know, just howneat of a, of, of a development
it is.
But it almost didn't happen.
Isn't that, right?
Mayor Henriques (17:18):
They kinda got frustrated as a lot of
developers do when you'redealing with a city and the
planning department, ourplanning department, even back
then was top notch.
Uh, they knew what we couldhave.
And what we should have.
And so they stuck their feet tothe fire and held it there.
(17:42):
And finally Hedgewood agreed tothe changes.
It almost didn't happen.
Yes.
And then when they went out ofbusiness, everything that they
had built, including thecommercial sat vacant.
Nobody was moving in theresidential.
So it almost didn't happen evenafter it happened.
(18:06):
Yeah, there were two stumblingblocks there.
Robert Tidwell (18:09):
Now once a hedge would close their doors and the
property sat vacant for a littlewhile.
Was it, it was John Wieland,right.
That reached out to the cityabout finishing that project.
Mayor Henriques (18:20):
Yes.
John actually called himself toour chief planner.
And said, I'd like to look atfinishing that project.
It was about 60% at the time.
So he sat down, he and his teamwith our planners and, came up
with the plan, which is there.
Now he continued the vision thatHedgewood ad and the council,
(18:45):
uh, and the city and completedit.
And probably four years ago,five years ago, something like
that.
And he got so excited aboutbeing in Woodstock.
He bought almost a hundred acresand which is now called South on
(19:05):
main and another developmentsimilar to the downtown project.
Uh, housing is almost identical.
It's a great piece of land.
It's rolling Hills.
Um, and.
Backs up on the, a new dayCreek.
So those people will have agreat view that, uh, buy houses
(19:28):
on that water.
Robert Tidwell (19:29):
That is a real nice development.
Uh, I I've looked at some placesin there and it is, it's really
nice.
Also.
I have a couple of friends wholive back there.
Yeah.
That's a great area.
Great walkable area.
Mayor Henriques (19:42):
Yes, it is.
It's walkable to the downtowncorridor too.
Robert Tidwell (19:46):
So when John Wieland came in to finish the
downtown development project,that was right about the same
time the Friday night livesstarted to take off.
Is that right?
Mayor Henriques (19:57):
Yes.
It took us about a year to getFriday night live off the
ground.
Uh, and it took a lot of armtwisting of the existing
businesses, but once it did, um,other businesses saw what.
We could have in downtownWoodstock and they started
flocking in even to this day, assoon as somebody either moves or
(20:20):
unfortunately doesn't make it inbusiness and goes vacant in that
property.
Our DDA, uh, Bryan Stockton isthe director of that.
He gets calls all the time.
I'm looking for property.
I want to open a business indowntown Woodstock.
It's it's phenomenal.
It really is.
Robert Tidwell (20:42):
And just, just in case we have a listener or
two that is not familiar withFriday night, live Friday night
live is a themed party.
If you will, that we have oneFriday per month in downtown
Woodstock.
Is that right?
Mayor Henriques (20:57):
Yes.
Robert Tidwell (20:57):
Sometimes it might be an 80theme.
Sometimes it might be a collegetailgate theme, depending on
what time of year it is.
Um, who, who came up with thatidea?
Mayor Henriques (21:07):
Well, it was a combination of Billy peppers and
myself, as I said, uh, Billypeppers is the city manager of
Canton now, but at the time hewas our economic development
director and between us, uh, we,we just spit balled actually.
And, he, he mostly said, whydon't we do something special?
(21:29):
Get the merchants to stay open.
And see what we can come upwith, uh, draw people to
downtown Woodstock.
So, it is what it is today.
It's it's like you said, it's aparty.
It is.
It's a lot of fun.
It really is.
Yeah.
Robert Tidwell (21:45):
Now the amphitheater, that was one of
the projects.
That was kind of personal andimportant to you.
You wanted to see anamphitheater in downtown
Woodstock, right?
Mayor Henriques (21:54):
Yeah.
I think the name Woodstock lendsitself to a music venue.
Even though we're in Georgia, wecall it what Georgia's Woodstock
that's right.
And, you know, like I said, Italked to Jeff Moon and Preston
poos and, uh, they came up withthe actual plan.
I mean, I'm not a planner, I'man idea guy.
And they they're the detailguys.
(22:15):
So they came up with the plan.
And it took about a year and ahalf, we moved the, concerts
back up to the upper park wherethe gazebo is where they started
23 years ago or something likethat.
And, of course we had to reducethe number of crowds.
So we brought in just localbands, uh, just to provide a
(22:40):
music, concert for the month andwe constructed the amphitheater.
And the neat part about theamphitheater is we paid cash for
it.
3.2 million, if I remember.
Right.
So that was pretty cool.
Robert Tidwell (22:57):
That is wow.
And that has become just a greatentertainment source over the
years.
We've had a lot of nationalbands come through and play in
these free concerts during thesummer.
We'll have some more of those.
Mayor Henriques (23:10):
Yes, we will.
We, of course, suspended theconcerts last year because of
COVID, but we're committed todoing them this year and we
just.
Basically resigned all the bandsfrom last year that were
canceled.
Uh, Christopher Cross is the bigone for the year.
We usually have one big nameand, he, was supposed to be in
(23:33):
may.
He had contracted COVID himselfand he was in bad shape.
Um, but he recovered and said.
To us, can we move the mayconcert back?
Cause I've still got bandmembers that are, you know, head
(23:53):
Cove and they're just startingto recover.
So we said, sure.
So we're going to have twoconcerts the month of September,
there'll be a week apart.
So, uh, the other, I think aband that I'm excited about is a
queen cover band.
Now I was never a queen.
(24:15):
Fan back in the seventies andeighties.
But, I saw the movie BohemianRhapsody and it was fantastic.
Uh, and the person that did someof the vocals in that movie is
the lead singer for the queencover band.
Robert Tidwell (24:35):
Oh, wow.
I did not realize that.
Mayor Henriques (24:37):
Yeah.
So I'm excited about that.
I think we'll draw a big crowdpeople.
Have said that they know aboutthat.
Uh, so I think we'll have a bigcrowd and talking about crowds,
the amphitheater was built for7,500 people, but we've had
probably up to 10,000 so far insome of the bigger concerts.
(24:59):
So it's the upper park peopleare all the way back, past the
fountain almost to main street.
Uh, they take their lawn chairsand we put speakers up there so
they can hear it really well.
So, uh, it's been a tremendoussuccess.
The merchants are extremelyhappy because especially the
(25:21):
restaurants, people will comeearly, have a meal or pick up to
go items and bring it out to thepark.
So they're very excited aboutthe concert series when it
comes.
Robert Tidwell (25:33):
I'm personally excited about the steep Canyon
Rangers.
There you go.
That's a band I'm lookingforward to seeing this summer
and I've got my fingers crossedat a Steve Martin is going to
show up and play banjo with him.
Yeah.
I kid that, uh, he may show up.
I, I doubt it, but if he does,we're not going to pay him
extra.
So that's right.
He wasn't part of the contract.
(25:55):
No, he wasn't.
Wow.
All right.
So 16 years as the mayor, andyou've decided that this is
going to be your final term.
Correct.
Uh, what were some of theinfluences on you that led to
your decision that this is itI'm, I'm, I'm ready to walk
away.
Mayor Henriques (26:14):
You know, I took about six months of talking
to friends and family about it,especially in my wife.
And, at first I was pretty muchdecided I was gonna run it one
more time, mainly for theMorgans ACE hardware site.
Uh, as people probably know,Morgan is one of the move to a
(26:36):
new building.
And so we bought that propertyand our plan is to build a
parking deck, a boutique hoteland some more retail and
restaurant.
And, I said, I was going to stayfor that to at least see it,
come on to the ground, start tocome out of the ground.
(26:57):
And then I decided, you know,what.
If I stayed on every term foranother big project, I'd be here
forever because there's alwaysgoing to be another project.
So I talked to my wife and whenshe finally said, Oh, this was
in February, I believe, uh, shesaid, you know what?
(27:19):
It's probably time you hang itup.
You need a break.
And the other thing was, ourfamily dynamics have changed.
Or an NR going to change?
Uh, my daughter got married ayear ago and during COVID, there
were 10 people there instead of185.
But anyway, um, she's pregnantand I've got my son and
(27:44):
daughter-in-law who have.
My existing three grandchildren.
They're moving here.
She she's a teacher and, uh, gothired by Carmel L elementary
where my daughter went toschool.
Wonderful.
How about that?
So they're moving here.
My mother-in-law just moved in.
We built her a cottage on myproperty.
(28:04):
Uh, she needs assistance.
She's 88.
So all these family dynamicscoming together, Kind of weighed
in on my decision.
And, my wife's happy.
I think, uh, I get people allthe time saying, no, you need to
run it, run some more.
And I said, no, it's time for abreak.
(28:26):
You know, I'm on a lot ofboards, uh, for Anna Crawford
and things like that.
I've been asked to serve on theeducation foundation.
Bored, but I've told them no.
I said, I need a break.
I've got all these family peoplemoving here.
I bought a bigger car because Iknow I'm going to be the school
bus, you know?
(28:47):
Uh, so I felt like I wouldn'thave as much time to devote to
the job.
So I decided not to do it.
Robert Tidwell (28:58):
Well, it sounds like you have some pretty
wonderful things waiting for youin life after serving on.
City government.
Mayor Henriques (29:06):
Yes, I do.
Yeah.
Robert Tidwell (29:08):
So looking back on the 20 years that you've
served, what are some of the,what are some of the things you
look back at and remember fondlyas highlights as compared to
some of the things you look backand think, man, that was a
difficult time that we had toget through.
Mayor Henriques (29:23):
Yeah, like I mentioned before, and it, it, it
falls into both categories, thedifficult and the fondness, was
the recession.
It was very difficult.
I worked very closely with JeffMoon.
One of the first things we didwas we sat down with the police
and fire because the rumor wasthat we were gonna lay some
(29:45):
people off.
Jeff and I talked about it andsaid, we're not going to do
that.
If at all possible.
So we, Rested their fears.
And we stayed true to ourpromise.
So that made me feel good.
But it was a difficult time.
But as I mentioned before, itwas a time that we could go
(30:08):
ahead and spend some money andget real value for our dollar in
property and buildings.
So that was very pleasing.
Other difficult times was whenCOVID hit.
It was, something that nobodyhad anticipated and nobody had
(30:28):
dealt with anything like it, inover a hundred years, at least
governments hadn't.
So, it was a learning process.
But my part-time mayor's jobbecame full time for about six
months.
Luckily, I was retired from myfull-time job that I had with
Northside hospital and I had thetime to devote and help Jeff.
(30:52):
We had to make a lot ofdecisions, for the city.
And, it was very trying but itgot a little easier once.
I think we got used to the, thethings that were happening.
I had.
Allowed myself to back off alittle bit.
I'm not a guy that needs to havehis finger in every pie that
(31:15):
exists in city government.
I let people do their job.
I trust them until they can't dothe job and then I will get
involved.
Uh, and of course includecounsel on that.
But, Jeff did a fantastic jobmanaging things, as we see we're
(31:36):
coming out of the pandemic, sothings get back to normal
hopefully very quickly.
Robert Tidwell (31:44):
I'm fascinated at the different ways that the
COVID 19 pandemic affecteddifferent.
Industries, if you will.
And if you consider citygovernment as an industry, um,
you know, the, the challengesyou guys faced were unique to
running a city.
I know that for us in the legalprofession, it has been a very
(32:06):
difficult year.
My law partner and I we triedone of the last jury trials in
the state of Georgia before thecourts shut down.
In fact, Uh, I contracted COVIDduring that trial in my fever,
hit me in the middle of myclosing argument.
Oh, wow.
It was, uh, it was aninteresting hour and a half, uh,
(32:27):
standing up there, stayingfocused while I could feel
myself getting hotter andhotter.
Uh, fortunately it went well.
But you know, the courts havebeen shut down for 14 months and
they're just now reopening forjury trials.
So it was, it's been a verychallenging year for folks
trying to manage court dockets.
(32:47):
You have constitutionalprotections for people who are
charged with criminal offensesand when, when are they going to
have their day in court?
And then you have people who areinvolved in civil suits, waiting
for their opportunity to havetheir day in court.
So it's been quite a mess forthat industry.
What were some of the majorchallenges that you guys faced
(33:08):
running a city government?
During the shutdown.
Mayor Henriques (33:12):
Yeah.
First of all, my philosophy oncity government is just like, it
would be in the business world.
You treat city government as abusiness.
The residents and businessowners are your customers.
And as being in a business, yourcustomers come first.
So that's one thing.
(33:33):
Um, it became difficult forinstance, in the planning
department.
We couldn't let anybody in thebuilding that was bringing plans
to develop land or, you know,renovate a building or whatever
the case may be.
So that was difficult.
We had to learn how to doeverything electronically, which
(33:54):
we had really, we did verylittle of that.
I like most other people had noidea what zoom was.
But we came very familiar withit very quickly.
So to this day we still have ourstaff and agenda meetings on
Monday mornings via zoom, wherewe used to do it with all the
directors in one room, but we'restill, trying to stay safe.
(34:19):
I also had COVID funny storyabout that.
Is, uh, I had brought mymother-in-law was with us from
Thanksgiving through new year's.
So I drove back to new Orleansto bring her home.
That was on the 3rd of January.
I went to lunch with somefriends, uh, at noon on the
(34:40):
fourth and came home to mymother-in-law's house.
I said, you know, I'm tired.
So I went and took a nap, wokeup.
I said, you know, I feel like Ihave a fever.
So I took my temperature.
It was 103, and I knew I was introuble.
I was scheduled to come back toWoodstock the next day, which
is, uh, even when you're feelinggood is a long drive.
(35:03):
Right.
So I did the drive with a 103fever.
Luckily I made it on one tank ofgas, so I didn't have to stop
and, you know, intermingle withpeople and got back.
And I had a fever for eightdays.
My whole family got COVID.
But everybody else had, it was abreeze, you know, very little
(35:24):
symptom, not me.
I had to do it the hard way hetook one for the team I did.
I did.
So, during that time I couldn'tdo any zoom meetings or
anything.
I just, you know, felt likeeverybody else did when they got
sick with it.
But, Jeff had to.
Muscle on and, take care ofbusiness with the city.
(35:47):
So luckily, you know, he's thetype that doesn't need any
supervision.
And I knew that from thebeginning.
I mean, you know, Jeff.
Yeah.
Uh, he knows his business.
He really does.
Yeah.
He has been quite the asset forthe city.
Yeah.
But that was some of thechallenges we had.
(36:07):
Having to do zoom meetings, evenamong the teams, apartments is
it was, was different.
Uh, but we've learned we'vegotten most things done
electronically now, and we'reeven adding more services like,
you know, the developers cansend in their plans
electronically.
And staff can review them, sendback comments or approve it or
(36:31):
what ever the case may be.
So that's, that's a benefit.
We've learned to be a little bitmore streamlined.
Robert Tidwell (36:38):
Well, that's got to help.
That's got to save a lot of timeas far as getting in, going
through the plans.
If you can submit them online,that's outstanding.
So when you look back at the 16years that you have served the
city as the mayor, What do youthink your legacy is?
Mayor Henriques (36:59):
Well probably two things.
One is physical, you know,physical.
You see the amphitheater, uh,you see the city hall, you see
the property, the parks.
I think that's all a legacy fornot just me, but for the
councils we've had and Jeff andhis staff, it's.
Top-notch the other thing is Ithink people look at Woodstock
(37:24):
as welcoming.
We welcome everybody with openarms.
Hopefully they had the samevision we have.
So that to me is a legacy.
I like to tell this story.
When I worked for Northsidehospital, my boss was the CEO of
Billy Hayes.
Well known in the community, butNorth side, my job was to go out
(37:47):
and sell North side to thecommunity.
It was an easy sell, just likeWoodstock is, but all the years
I did that for North side sevento be exact.
I never had any complaintsexcept twice, and it was not on
the quality of care.
It was on billing.
(38:09):
Which I have problems with ittoo.
I mean, I'm a former employee.
I retired, but I always tellpeople the quality of care that
exists in that system come fromBilly Hayes.
Because the last thing he'll sayto you, even outside of the
hospital is what can I do foryou?
(38:31):
That's the same philosophy I hadworking with the city.
And I think I helped instillthat Jeff Moon is the same way.
Very customer oriented just asBilly Hayes
Robert Tidwell (38:42):
is not in the business of writing a narrative
for you or anyone else, buthaving lived here for 19 years,
one of the things that I, or afew of the things that I see
that I attribute to you, yourleadership is.
One, like you said, a verywelcoming place.
(39:05):
But two, there is a certain kindof pride that people in
Woodstock have about Woodstock.
And I think that that sort offeeds into the friendliness
because I think so many of thepeople here are so proud of this
town, what it is, the people whowork here live here, enjoy time
here.
(39:25):
Um, that sort of pride in thecommunity.
You know, that's one of thethings that I attribute to the
leadership you've had becausewhen we first moved here, there
just wasn't much here.
And then the way things weredeveloped, it transitioned from
a sleepy bedroom town of 30 yearold, new parents looking for an
(39:47):
affordable house into a placewhere 20 something year old
professionals live here, wherethey would have never lived in a
place like Woodstock 15 yearsago.
And you have such a wide varietyof people here.
You have people who are retiredliving within a hundred yards of
people who are just starting outout of college.
(40:08):
And that vibrance that existshere in Woodstock is one of the
things I think is a legacy ofyours, just because of the way
you saw what Woodstock couldbecome.
And then putting people aroundyou to make it happen, which,
uh, I thank you for,
Mayor Henriques (40:25):
well, thank you for the kind words.
Uh, I appreciate it, but yes,uh, there is a sense of pride,
uh, among the residents and thebusinesses.
I think 99.9% of the people thatlive here are happy with what's
happened.
I mean, I've had some reallylong-term residents come to me
(40:46):
and said, why did you let thishappen?
And I said, I will say to them,are your property taxes low?
Well, yeah, I said, well,there's, there was a reason.
So, but you can't please,everybody, no net for years.
So yeah, there is pride, I thinkso.
Yeah.
Robert Tidwell (41:07):
All right.
Well, mayor, I thank you so verymuch for joining us today.
Thank you for the insight.
Thank you for your leadershiphere in Woodstock, and I wish
you nothing but the very best,and I hope you have so much fun
with your family and drivingthat big car around full of kids
over the next few years.
Mayor Henriques (41:26):
Thank you, Robert.
I appreciate you having me.
Robert Tidwell (41:29):
All right.
This has been the peach buzzbrought to you by Tidwell
Strimban injury lawyers.
We'll see you next time.
welcome to the peach buzz brought to you by
Tidwell's Strimban injurylawyers.
Woodstock's full service,personal injury law firm.
The peach buzz is a podcastdedicated to showcasing people,
having a positive impact in ourlocal communities and Woodstock
Cherokee County and all of NorthGeorgia today.
We're excited to have with us,Mr.
Donnie Enriques, Donnie has beenthe mayor of the city of
(00:43):
Woodstock for the past 16 years.
Uh, mayor, thank you so much forbeing with us today and welcome
to the peach buzz.
Mayor Henriques (00:51):
Robert, thank you for having me.
It's a pleasure.
Robert Tidwell (00:55):
You first ran for city council nearly 20 years
ago.
Is that right?
Mayor Henriques (01:02):
It was actually 1999 was the election.
Robert Tidwell (01:06):
Okay.
what were some of the reasonsthat you decided to get involved
with city council?
Mayor Henriques (01:13):
funny story, uh, the mayor at the time, David
Rogers was looking for someoneto fill a new ward that was.
Uh, dictated by the 2000 census.
And I saw him at a charityfunction.
I had known him a little bit,uh, through like the chamber and
(01:34):
things like that, but heapproaches me and he says, you
know, what'd you, what would youthink about your wife running
for the city council?
And at the time we had ourprivate practice audiology and
she was getting her doctorate.
So she was pretty busy and Itold him that and said that that
(01:57):
wouldn't be possible.
And she laughed when I told her,but anyway, um, he said, well,
why don't you try to recruitsomebody?
I said, okay.
I know a lot of people in thecommunity.
And it was, the ward wasbasically deer run, um, and park
view, which is next door, butit's a small development.
(02:19):
So I knew a lot of people.
So I started this recruitingprocess and everybody kept
saying, no, finally, after a fewweeks of doing this, uh, several
people came to me and said, whydon't you do it?
So I thought about it, talked toJan and decided I'll go ahead
and do it.
(02:39):
I called the mayor, David andsaid I would do it.
And he says, fantastic.
So he started meeting with me,showing.
What the city does and what,what, they're, what they're
trying to do.
And, uh, I ran and two folks ranagainst me, but they were not
(03:01):
involved in the community asmuch as I was.
So I, one sick about 68% of thevote against two individuals,
which is pretty hard to do.
So I took office in January of2000 and.
I always kid, uh, David's widow,David wound up dying, uh, about
(03:24):
nine months after I took officeof cancer.
And I always kid his widow thatit's all his fault.
Robert Tidwell (03:31):
Oh, my word.
Well, I imagine Woodstock lookeda lot different in 2000 when you
first, uh, became a city councilmember.
Mayor Henriques (03:38):
Yeah, it did.
We had about five businessesplus one restaurant, um, which
was the 1904 house, which is nowthe hips.
And that was about it.
Uh, the businesses closed theirdoors at five o'clock each day
and didn't want to stay open atnight.
So that's what it was until2006, when I took over as mayor
(04:05):
and, uh, we developed a.
An idea with Billy peppers wasthe, Canton city manager.
Now he was our economicdevelopment director and between
the two of us, we came up withthis idea of what's called
Friday night live and we wentand convinced, each business to
(04:28):
stay open one Friday night, amonth, invite customers in.
Feed them snacks and drinks andhopefully their shop.
And what was the fivebusinesses.
And the restaurant of coursestayed.
Opening, did specials.
It took a lot of convincing tokeep it going.
(04:49):
You could shoot a shotgun offfor six months and not hit a
person down on main street, buteventually people started coming
and.
It started getting better whenpure and canyons, hamburgers
moved in, people started comingand more importantly, more
(05:11):
businesses started comingbecause we had all those
buildings built by Hedgewood, inplace, but they were all vacant.
But once, Friday night livestarted really coming alive.
That's when all the growthstarted, what's happening
Robert Tidwell (05:32):
now, you first got on city council in 2000, but
you moved here to Woodstock backin 93.
Is that right?
Mayor Henriques (05:40):
Yes.
Robert Tidwell (05:41):
Okay.
And what brought you toWoodstock
Mayor Henriques (05:44):
housing, we were looking for a house.
We lived in Roswell and first westarted looking in Marietta
where my, one of my brotherslived.
And we quickly found that wecould not afford anything, not
anything livable.
Let's put it that way.
So my cousin was our realtor andwe kept moving out further and
(06:05):
further away from Marietta.
And we stumbled on Woodstock.
Found a house, in the outskirtsof town Lake, moved in in 93.
Was it there for three years.
And then we moved into deer runwhere I eventually ran for city
council.
So, uh, we've enjoyed our timehere.
(06:26):
Sure.
How,
Robert Tidwell (06:27):
No, I shared with you earlier that that's
very similar to our story, howmy wife and I got here, uh, I
had just finished law school andI had accepted a job at the
Marietta square law firm downthere.
And so we were looking for aplace we could afford.
And we just sort of drew someconcentric circles around the
Marietta square and startedbacking away from it and each
(06:48):
direction.
And the houses up here were justso much more affordable and it
was an easy commute down five 75to get to the Mariettasquare.
And so that's how we ended uphere in 2002.
Very similar.
Yeah.
Now a funny story I want to tellis in 2002, I had just finished
law school and I was.
(07:10):
Driving into Midtown eachmorning to take a, uh, bar
review class to help you prepareto take the bar exam.
And so I go into a coffee shop.
It was a caribou coffee shopright there in Midtown, and I'm
all excited to be there.
And so I'm getting some coffeeand I'm talking to the lady
making the coffee and I tell herI'm new in town, new in the
(07:31):
area.
And she asks, where, where doyou live?
And I tell her, I live inWoodstock and she looks at me
and says, where's that?
Okay.
Okay.
Fast forward to a couple ofweeks ago.
And my wife and I are over inOxford, Mississippi moving our
daughter out of her dorm room atthe end of the day for freshman
year.
And we decided to go to thebaseball game.
Ole miss was playing LSU.
(07:52):
And so we're sitting at the gameand there's a guy sitting next
to me and we start chatting andhe was, uh, he is from
Hattiesburg and he went to Olemiss graduated a few years ago
and now lives in Jonesborough,Arkansas.
And he asks me where we live.
And I tell him, we live inWoodstock, Georgia.
And he says, Oh, my word, Iwasn't Atlanta about a month
ago.
(08:12):
And some people told me I neededto go check out Woodstock.
So I drove up there and thattown was out.
He said it was amazing.
He said, I think he was here ona Friday night and people are
out and about, and just, youknow, he couldn't believe that
there was so much going on inWoodstock.
So how does a town in 20 yearsgo from not being known in
(08:33):
Atlanta to.
Running into people who live inArkansas who know about it and
actually went out of their wayto come visit Woodstock.
Mayor Henriques (08:41):
Yeah.
It's, it's quite a story.
Um, first of all, we, Imentioned Hedgewood earlier, uh,
they were the corporate partnerthat came to the city council.
I believe it was Oh three.
Uh, with a plan because it wasnothing but vacant land right
across the street, on the Eastside, from the five businesses I
(09:04):
mentioned earlier.
Um, and they, they had a greatplan.
Of course the plan went througha lot of reviews and changes as,
as all plans do when it come toa city.
But, um, they had a vision andto me it was a fantastic vision.
It's something that I thought.
(09:25):
Downtown Woodstock needed tobecome a destination.
And as I mentioned earlier, whenwe started Friday night live and
all the businesses startedcoming to where they are today,
it was an easy sell let's put itthat way.
Our, our goal was to become adestination city, We get a lot
(09:49):
of out of towners.
Uh, when I say that I, you canlook at the, license plates when
you walk downtown and you'll seeCobb Fulton, you know, they
really outweigh the Cherokeelicense plates, um, when you're
walking.
So we know we're a destinationcity so much, so we've made
(10:13):
national lists of places to be.
even recently, we were named thethird, best non big city
community to move to.
Robert Tidwell (10:27):
I saw that, I think they called it the, uh, it
was housing.com or somethinglike that.
Like that third rated suburb inthe U S to live in.
Mayor Henriques (10:35):
Exactly.
Robert Tidwell (10:36):
That's pretty outstanding.
Mayor Henriques (10:37):
It is, uh, we, we take those things seriously,
uh, and we appreciate them.
The national notoriety.
And, money magazines put us ontwo of their lists, uh, over the
years.
So, uh, we're very proud of whatwe've become.
Robert Tidwell (10:55):
I think that most of the people who live here
in Woodstock as well is proud ofthat.
I know that we all share andtalk about being ranked 17th in
the nation, as far as cities tolive in by money magazine.
Uh, the quality of life ispretty outstanding.
But, uh, one thing I wanted toask you is you grew up in new
Orleans, right?
Mayor Henriques (11:15):
Yes.
Robert Tidwell (11:16):
Did growing up in new Orleans have any
influence on your vision forWoodstock once you got involved
in local government?
Mayor Henriques (11:23):
Yeah, it did.
I lived in inner city of newOrleans.
Houses were very, very closetogether.
The architecture, everybodyknows is fantastic.
And when Hedgewood came forthwith their project, um, I saw
the same type of architecturethat reminded me of new Orleans,
(11:43):
uh, houses were fairly closetogether.
Some were shared driveways, andthat's kind of the way new
Orleans was still is.
But, uh, it's a difference
Robert Tidwell (11:55):
during your time as mayor.
Um, and, and let me preface thisby saying, you know, when we
moved here and my wife and I in2002, this was a pretty sleepy
community.
Yes.
And I have never been involvedin local government.
I have no experience or trainingin city planning or anything
(12:15):
like that, but never in ahundred years, would I have ever
imagined.
That Woodstock would grow fromwhat it was when I moved here in
2002, to what it is today.
At what point during yourinvolvement as either a city,
Councilman, or as a mayor ofWoodstock, at what point during
your time did you think toyourself, this is going to
(12:38):
happen?
This is a place where this canreally happen.
Mayor Henriques (12:41):
I think, it actually started when the
recession hit Oh eight, we.
Needed a new city manager and wehired Jeff Moon.
Who's still, our city managersat down with Jeff and talked
about the vision we had for thecity.
(13:02):
He got it, he knew it.
And he brought all of hisexpertise with him and that's
when things started reallytaking off.
Uh, sat down with him in Prestonpoos or who became our parks and
rec director, by the way, it wasour first parks and rec
(13:22):
director.
We never really had a parksdepartment and sat down with him
at lunch one day.
And I, I explained to both ofthem.
I said, I want three things.
I want trails.
I want more parks.
And I want an amphitheater.
And.
In 10 years they delivered.
(13:45):
The trail system is way ahead ofschedule.
It's a 60 mile trail system.
We've got probably over 30,000,30,000, 30 miles of trails right
now.
So we are ahead of the game.
This was a 20 to 30 yearproject.
hopefully be completed longafter I'm gone.
(14:07):
But, that's when it startedactually, you know, sounds kind
of funny in a recession to getthat type of, movement.
And, we took the opportunitybecause real estate prices, as
everyone knows, just fellthrough the floor.
And Jeff and I talked about itand he, he actually came up with
(14:29):
the idea that we need to startbuying stuff.
And so we did, we bought the,where it is now in the city
council chambers and the Elmstreet theater and the parking
lot behind it, which is on thecorner of town Lake and, uh,
main street.
(14:50):
That's one of the purchases wemade.
We purchased Woofstock park,which is today.
That was an apartment complexthat continually flooded.
So we got that for a song.
We had to tear down the existingapartment complex because it was
condemned by the federalgovernment.
And we made a deal with them.
(15:11):
We bought that property for$60,000, but again, like I said,
we had to tear it down, whichnominal fee, when you look at
it, So those are some of thethings that, we did during the
recession.
Yes.
We had to do some bonds.
We did not have much of areserve to speak of.
(15:34):
That's a lot different today,but we felt like we were getting
things for a song and we wentout on limb and, did those
things, the other thing was, Ithink the big.
Um, and you know, as well as Ido is our city hall, the city
hall we had back then was a sickbuilding, had a lot of mold and
(15:58):
mildew and people were gettingsick.
So we knew we had to findsomething else.
So as soon as the recession hit,Robert Harris homes had a three
story building on Trickum in 92.
And.
We bought that it's a$10 millionbuilding.
Even at the time we got it for5.2 and it included all the
(16:22):
furnishings and, and even thetelephones and fax machines.
So, we feel like we got a reallygood deal there too.
We could probably sell it todayif we wanted to for 10 million,
but we tore down the old cityhall in which that, and land
became the amphitheater, theamphitheater.
(16:42):
So we did a lot during toughtimes.
Uh, I think we made the rightmoves.
Robert Tidwell (16:50):
You talked about the Hedgewood property that came
in in downtown, and there wasnothing in this area that I can
think of that even was close tothe size and the magnitude of
that project.
I think a lot of folks probablygo back there.
A lot of people live there.
(17:10):
They see, you know, just howneat of a, of, of a development
it is.
But it almost didn't happen.
Isn't that, right?
Mayor Henriques (17:18):
They kinda got frustrated as a lot of
developers do when you'redealing with a city and the
planning department, ourplanning department, even back
then was top notch.
Uh, they knew what we couldhave.
And what we should have.
And so they stuck their feet tothe fire and held it there.
(17:42):
And finally Hedgewood agreed tothe changes.
It almost didn't happen.
Yes.
And then when they went out ofbusiness, everything that they
had built, including thecommercial sat vacant.
Nobody was moving in theresidential.
So it almost didn't happen evenafter it happened.
(18:06):
Yeah, there were two stumblingblocks there.
Robert Tidwell (18:09):
Now once a hedge would close their doors and the
property sat vacant for a littlewhile.
Was it, it was John Wieland,right.
That reached out to the cityabout finishing that project.
Mayor Henriques (18:20):
Yes.
John actually called himself toour chief planner.
And said, I'd like to look atfinishing that project.
It was about 60% at the time.
So he sat down, he and his teamwith our planners and, came up
with the plan, which is there.
Now he continued the vision thatHedgewood ad and the council,
(18:45):
uh, and the city and completedit.
And probably four years ago,five years ago, something like
that.
And he got so excited aboutbeing in Woodstock.
He bought almost a hundred acresand which is now called South on
(19:05):
main and another developmentsimilar to the downtown project.
Uh, housing is almost identical.
It's a great piece of land.
It's rolling Hills.
Um, and.
Backs up on the, a new dayCreek.
So those people will have agreat view that, uh, buy houses
(19:28):
on that water.
Robert Tidwell (19:29):
That is a real nice development.
Uh, I I've looked at some placesin there and it is, it's really
nice.
Also.
I have a couple of friends wholive back there.
Yeah.
That's a great area.
Great walkable area.
Mayor Henriques (19:42):
Yes, it is.
It's walkable to the downtowncorridor too.
Robert Tidwell (19:46):
So when John Wieland came in to finish the
downtown development project,that was right about the same
time the Friday night livesstarted to take off.
Is that right?
Mayor Henriques (19:57):
Yes.
It took us about a year to getFriday night live off the
ground.
Uh, and it took a lot of armtwisting of the existing
businesses, but once it did, um,other businesses saw what.
We could have in downtownWoodstock and they started
flocking in even to this day, assoon as somebody either moves or
(20:20):
unfortunately doesn't make it inbusiness and goes vacant in that
property.
Our DDA, uh, Bryan Stockton isthe director of that.
He gets calls all the time.
I'm looking for property.
I want to open a business indowntown Woodstock.
It's it's phenomenal.
It really is.
Robert Tidwell (20:42):
And just, just in case we have a listener or
two that is not familiar withFriday night, live Friday night
live is a themed party.
If you will, that we have oneFriday per month in downtown
Woodstock.
Is that right?
Mayor Henriques (20:57):
Yes.
Robert Tidwell (20:57):
Sometimes it might be an 80theme.
Sometimes it might be a collegetailgate theme, depending on
what time of year it is.
Um, who, who came up with thatidea?
Mayor Henriques (21:07):
Well, it was a combination of Billy peppers and
myself, as I said, uh, Billypeppers is the city manager of
Canton now, but at the time hewas our economic development
director and between us, uh, we,we just spit balled actually.
And, he, he mostly said, whydon't we do something special?
(21:29):
Get the merchants to stay open.
And see what we can come upwith, uh, draw people to
downtown Woodstock.
So, it is what it is today.
It's it's like you said, it's aparty.
It is.
It's a lot of fun.
It really is.
Yeah.
Robert Tidwell (21:45):
Now the amphitheater, that was one of
the projects.
That was kind of personal andimportant to you.
You wanted to see anamphitheater in downtown
Woodstock, right?
Mayor Henriques (21:54):
Yeah.
I think the name Woodstock lendsitself to a music venue.
Even though we're in Georgia, wecall it what Georgia's Woodstock
that's right.
And, you know, like I said, Italked to Jeff Moon and Preston
poos and, uh, they came up withthe actual plan.
I mean, I'm not a planner, I'man idea guy.
And they they're the detailguys.
(22:15):
So they came up with the plan.
And it took about a year and ahalf, we moved the, concerts
back up to the upper park wherethe gazebo is where they started
23 years ago or something likethat.
And, of course we had to reducethe number of crowds.
So we brought in just localbands, uh, just to provide a
(22:40):
music, concert for the month andwe constructed the amphitheater.
And the neat part about theamphitheater is we paid cash for
it.
3.2 million, if I remember.
Right.
So that was pretty cool.
Robert Tidwell (22:57):
That is wow.
And that has become just a greatentertainment source over the
years.
We've had a lot of nationalbands come through and play in
these free concerts during thesummer.
We'll have some more of those.
Mayor Henriques (23:10):
Yes, we will.
We, of course, suspended theconcerts last year because of
COVID, but we're committed todoing them this year and we
just.
Basically resigned all the bandsfrom last year that were
canceled.
Uh, Christopher Cross is the bigone for the year.
We usually have one big nameand, he, was supposed to be in
(23:33):
may.
He had contracted COVID himselfand he was in bad shape.
Um, but he recovered and said.
To us, can we move the mayconcert back?
Cause I've still got bandmembers that are, you know, head
(23:53):
Cove and they're just startingto recover.
So we said, sure.
So we're going to have twoconcerts the month of September,
there'll be a week apart.
So, uh, the other, I think aband that I'm excited about is a
queen cover band.
Now I was never a queen.
(24:15):
Fan back in the seventies andeighties.
But, I saw the movie BohemianRhapsody and it was fantastic.
Uh, and the person that did someof the vocals in that movie is
the lead singer for the queencover band.
Robert Tidwell (24:35):
Oh, wow.
I did not realize that.
Mayor Henriques (24:37):
Yeah.
So I'm excited about that.
I think we'll draw a big crowdpeople.
Have said that they know aboutthat.
Uh, so I think we'll have a bigcrowd and talking about crowds,
the amphitheater was built for7,500 people, but we've had
probably up to 10,000 so far insome of the bigger concerts.
(24:59):
So it's the upper park peopleare all the way back, past the
fountain almost to main street.
Uh, they take their lawn chairsand we put speakers up there so
they can hear it really well.
So, uh, it's been a tremendoussuccess.
The merchants are extremelyhappy because especially the
(25:21):
restaurants, people will comeearly, have a meal or pick up to
go items and bring it out to thepark.
So they're very excited aboutthe concert series when it
comes.
Robert Tidwell (25:33):
I'm personally excited about the steep Canyon
Rangers.
There you go.
That's a band I'm lookingforward to seeing this summer
and I've got my fingers crossedat a Steve Martin is going to
show up and play banjo with him.
Yeah.
I kid that, uh, he may show up.
I, I doubt it, but if he does,we're not going to pay him
extra.
So that's right.
He wasn't part of the contract.
(25:55):
No, he wasn't.
Wow.
All right.
So 16 years as the mayor, andyou've decided that this is
going to be your final term.
Correct.
Uh, what were some of theinfluences on you that led to
your decision that this is itI'm, I'm, I'm ready to walk
away.
Mayor Henriques (26:14):
You know, I took about six months of talking
to friends and family about it,especially in my wife.
And, at first I was pretty muchdecided I was gonna run it one
more time, mainly for theMorgans ACE hardware site.
Uh, as people probably know,Morgan is one of the move to a
(26:36):
new building.
And so we bought that propertyand our plan is to build a
parking deck, a boutique hoteland some more retail and
restaurant.
And, I said, I was going to stayfor that to at least see it,
come on to the ground, start tocome out of the ground.
(26:57):
And then I decided, you know,what.
If I stayed on every term foranother big project, I'd be here
forever because there's alwaysgoing to be another project.
So I talked to my wife and whenshe finally said, Oh, this was
in February, I believe, uh, shesaid, you know what?
(27:19):
It's probably time you hang itup.
You need a break.
And the other thing was, ourfamily dynamics have changed.
Or an NR going to change?
Uh, my daughter got married ayear ago and during COVID, there
were 10 people there instead of185.
But anyway, um, she's pregnantand I've got my son and
(27:44):
daughter-in-law who have.
My existing three grandchildren.
They're moving here.
She she's a teacher and, uh, gothired by Carmel L elementary
where my daughter went toschool.
Wonderful.
How about that?
So they're moving here.
My mother-in-law just moved in.
We built her a cottage on myproperty.
(28:04):
Uh, she needs assistance.
She's 88.
So all these family dynamicscoming together, Kind of weighed
in on my decision.
And, my wife's happy.
I think, uh, I get people allthe time saying, no, you need to
run it, run some more.
And I said, no, it's time for abreak.
(28:26):
You know, I'm on a lot ofboards, uh, for Anna Crawford
and things like that.
I've been asked to serve on theeducation foundation.
Bored, but I've told them no.
I said, I need a break.
I've got all these family peoplemoving here.
I bought a bigger car because Iknow I'm going to be the school
bus, you know?
(28:47):
Uh, so I felt like I wouldn'thave as much time to devote to
the job.
So I decided not to do it.
Robert Tidwell (28:58):
Well, it sounds like you have some pretty
wonderful things waiting for youin life after serving on.
City government.
Mayor Henriques (29:06):
Yes, I do.
Yeah.
Robert Tidwell (29:08):
So looking back on the 20 years that you've
served, what are some of the,what are some of the things you
look back at and remember fondlyas highlights as compared to
some of the things you look backand think, man, that was a
difficult time that we had toget through.
Mayor Henriques (29:23):
Yeah, like I mentioned before, and it, it, it
falls into both categories, thedifficult and the fondness, was
the recession.
It was very difficult.
I worked very closely with JeffMoon.
One of the first things we didwas we sat down with the police
and fire because the rumor wasthat we were gonna lay some
(29:45):
people off.
Jeff and I talked about it andsaid, we're not going to do
that.
If at all possible.
So we, Rested their fears.
And we stayed true to ourpromise.
So that made me feel good.
But it was a difficult time.
But as I mentioned before, itwas a time that we could go
(30:08):
ahead and spend some money andget real value for our dollar in
property and buildings.
So that was very pleasing.
Other difficult times was whenCOVID hit.
It was, something that nobodyhad anticipated and nobody had
(30:28):
dealt with anything like it, inover a hundred years, at least
governments hadn't.
So, it was a learning process.
But my part-time mayor's jobbecame full time for about six
months.
Luckily, I was retired from myfull-time job that I had with
Northside hospital and I had thetime to devote and help Jeff.
(30:52):
We had to make a lot ofdecisions, for the city.
And, it was very trying but itgot a little easier once.
I think we got used to the, thethings that were happening.
I had.
Allowed myself to back off alittle bit.
I'm not a guy that needs to havehis finger in every pie that
(31:15):
exists in city government.
I let people do their job.
I trust them until they can't dothe job and then I will get
involved.
Uh, and of course includecounsel on that.
But, Jeff did a fantastic jobmanaging things, as we see we're
(31:36):
coming out of the pandemic, sothings get back to normal
hopefully very quickly.
Robert Tidwell (31:44):
I'm fascinated at the different ways that the
COVID 19 pandemic affecteddifferent.
Industries, if you will.
And if you consider citygovernment as an industry, um,
you know, the, the challengesyou guys faced were unique to
running a city.
I know that for us in the legalprofession, it has been a very
(32:06):
difficult year.
My law partner and I we triedone of the last jury trials in
the state of Georgia before thecourts shut down.
In fact, Uh, I contracted COVIDduring that trial in my fever,
hit me in the middle of myclosing argument.
Oh, wow.
It was, uh, it was aninteresting hour and a half, uh,
(32:27):
standing up there, stayingfocused while I could feel
myself getting hotter andhotter.
Uh, fortunately it went well.
But you know, the courts havebeen shut down for 14 months and
they're just now reopening forjury trials.
So it was, it's been a verychallenging year for folks
trying to manage court dockets.
(32:47):
You have constitutionalprotections for people who are
charged with criminal offensesand when, when are they going to
have their day in court?
And then you have people who areinvolved in civil suits, waiting
for their opportunity to havetheir day in court.
So it's been quite a mess forthat industry.
What were some of the majorchallenges that you guys faced
(33:08):
running a city government?
During the shutdown.
Mayor Henriques (33:12):
Yeah.
First of all, my philosophy oncity government is just like, it
would be in the business world.
You treat city government as abusiness.
The residents and businessowners are your customers.
And as being in a business, yourcustomers come first.
So that's one thing.
(33:33):
Um, it became difficult forinstance, in the planning
department.
We couldn't let anybody in thebuilding that was bringing plans
to develop land or, you know,renovate a building or whatever
the case may be.
So that was difficult.
We had to learn how to doeverything electronically, which
(33:54):
we had really, we did verylittle of that.
I like most other people had noidea what zoom was.
But we came very familiar withit very quickly.
So to this day we still have ourstaff and agenda meetings on
Monday mornings via zoom, wherewe used to do it with all the
directors in one room, but we'restill, trying to stay safe.
(34:19):
I also had COVID funny storyabout that.
Is, uh, I had brought mymother-in-law was with us from
Thanksgiving through new year's.
So I drove back to new Orleansto bring her home.
That was on the 3rd of January.
I went to lunch with somefriends, uh, at noon on the
(34:40):
fourth and came home to mymother-in-law's house.
I said, you know, I'm tired.
So I went and took a nap, wokeup.
I said, you know, I feel like Ihave a fever.
So I took my temperature.
It was 103, and I knew I was introuble.
I was scheduled to come back toWoodstock the next day, which
is, uh, even when you're feelinggood is a long drive.
(35:03):
Right.
So I did the drive with a 103fever.
Luckily I made it on one tank ofgas, so I didn't have to stop
and, you know, intermingle withpeople and got back.
And I had a fever for eightdays.
My whole family got COVID.
But everybody else had, it was abreeze, you know, very little
(35:24):
symptom, not me.
I had to do it the hard way hetook one for the team I did.
I did.
So, during that time I couldn'tdo any zoom meetings or
anything.
I just, you know, felt likeeverybody else did when they got
sick with it.
But, Jeff had to.
Muscle on and, take care ofbusiness with the city.
(35:47):
So luckily, you know, he's thetype that doesn't need any
supervision.
And I knew that from thebeginning.
I mean, you know, Jeff.
Yeah.
Uh, he knows his business.
He really does.
Yeah.
He has been quite the asset forthe city.
Yeah.
But that was some of thechallenges we had.
(36:07):
Having to do zoom meetings, evenamong the teams, apartments is
it was, was different.
Uh, but we've learned we'vegotten most things done
electronically now, and we'reeven adding more services like,
you know, the developers cansend in their plans
electronically.
And staff can review them, sendback comments or approve it or
(36:31):
what ever the case may be.
So that's, that's a benefit.
We've learned to be a little bitmore streamlined.
Robert Tidwell (36:38):
Well, that's got to help.
That's got to save a lot of timeas far as getting in, going
through the plans.
If you can submit them online,that's outstanding.
So when you look back at the 16years that you have served the
city as the mayor, What do youthink your legacy is?
Mayor Henriques (36:59):
Well probably two things.
One is physical, you know,physical.
You see the amphitheater, uh,you see the city hall, you see
the property, the parks.
I think that's all a legacy fornot just me, but for the
councils we've had and Jeff andhis staff, it's.
Top-notch the other thing is Ithink people look at Woodstock
(37:24):
as welcoming.
We welcome everybody with openarms.
Hopefully they had the samevision we have.
So that to me is a legacy.
I like to tell this story.
When I worked for Northsidehospital, my boss was the CEO of
Billy Hayes.
Well known in the community, butNorth side, my job was to go out
(37:47):
and sell North side to thecommunity.
It was an easy sell, just likeWoodstock is, but all the years
I did that for North side sevento be exact.
I never had any complaintsexcept twice, and it was not on
the quality of care.
It was on billing.
(38:09):
Which I have problems with ittoo.
I mean, I'm a former employee.
I retired, but I always tellpeople the quality of care that
exists in that system come fromBilly Hayes.
Because the last thing he'll sayto you, even outside of the
hospital is what can I do foryou?
(38:31):
That's the same philosophy I hadworking with the city.
And I think I helped instillthat Jeff Moon is the same way.
Very customer oriented just asBilly Hayes
Robert Tidwell (38:42):
is not in the business of writing a narrative
for you or anyone else, buthaving lived here for 19 years,
one of the things that I, or afew of the things that I see
that I attribute to you, yourleadership is.
One, like you said, a verywelcoming place.
(39:05):
But two, there is a certain kindof pride that people in
Woodstock have about Woodstock.
And I think that that sort offeeds into the friendliness
because I think so many of thepeople here are so proud of this
town, what it is, the people whowork here live here, enjoy time
here.
(39:25):
Um, that sort of pride in thecommunity.
You know, that's one of thethings that I attribute to the
leadership you've had becausewhen we first moved here, there
just wasn't much here.
And then the way things weredeveloped, it transitioned from
a sleepy bedroom town of 30 yearold, new parents looking for an
(39:47):
affordable house into a placewhere 20 something year old
professionals live here, wherethey would have never lived in a
place like Woodstock 15 yearsago.
And you have such a wide varietyof people here.
You have people who are retiredliving within a hundred yards of
people who are just starting outout of college.
(40:08):
And that vibrance that existshere in Woodstock is one of the
things I think is a legacy ofyours, just because of the way
you saw what Woodstock couldbecome.
And then putting people aroundyou to make it happen, which,
uh, I thank you for,
Mayor Henriques (40:25):
well, thank you for the kind words.
Uh, I appreciate it, but yes,uh, there is a sense of pride,
uh, among the residents and thebusinesses.
I think 99.9% of the people thatlive here are happy with what's
happened.
I mean, I've had some reallylong-term residents come to me
(40:46):
and said, why did you let thishappen?
And I said, I will say to them,are your property taxes low?
Well, yeah, I said, well,there's, there was a reason.
So, but you can't please,everybody, no net for years.
So yeah, there is pride, I thinkso.
Yeah.
Robert Tidwell (41:07):
All right.
Well, mayor, I thank you so verymuch for joining us today.
Thank you for the insight.
Thank you for your leadershiphere in Woodstock, and I wish
you nothing but the very best,and I hope you have so much fun
with your family and drivingthat big car around full of kids
over the next few years.
Mayor Henriques (41:26):
Thank you, Robert.
I appreciate you having me.
Robert Tidwell (41:29):
All right.
This has been the peach buzzbrought to you by Tidwell
Strimban injury lawyers.
We'll see you next time.
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