Upson County didn’t have to look far for its first planning intern. Meg Hicks, a native of Warm Springs, Georgia and the daughter of Angela and Deron Hicks, is a May 2020 graduate of Macon’s Mercer University. Her newly minted Bachelor’s degrees are in anthropology and international affairs. While not pursuing a formal education in planning or public administration, Meg’s general interest in urban planning was the reason for pursuing the Upson County internship with the goal of having a better understanding of how local government works. One of Meg’s academic projects at Mercer was developing a park plan for an existing location in the City of Macon. Prior to her internship, Meg’s knowledge of Upson County had been limited to what she learned driving through it to get to Mercer and dining at Slices, one of her Meemaw’s favorites.
Since mid-June, Meg has been very busy assisting Doug Currier II (Director of Building and Zoning) on ordinance drafting, Census 2020 promotion and handling rezoning, special exception and variances cases. She has served as staff to both the Planning Commission and Board of Commissioner at their meetings. Ms Hicks says the most eye opening part of her experience has been working with the public. An Association of County Commissioners of Georgia (ACCG) grant is paying for a large portion of Meg’s salary. Her required projects for the grant are drafting tiny homes and gateway overlay ordinances. Before her research, Meg was unaware of what gateway overlays are and she was surprised at the lack of current regulations for tiny homes in Georgia.
According to her internship coordinator, Doug Currier, “Meg has been the right person at the right time with the right abilities for Upson County this summer. She easily slipped into the workload flow and got her assignments done. I hope she has benefitted as much as Upson County has.”
After completing her internship at the end of August, Meg will be in Athens, Georgia for a while, eventually traveling to Mongolia in Central Asia to teach English on a Fulbright Scholarship. Meg plans to continue her education in anthropology, pursuing a masters degree and eventually a doctorate, both hopefully at Cambridge in England.
UPSON COUNTY BUILDING AND ZONING DEPARTMENT DRAKE BUILDING 305 S. HIGHTOWER STREET, SUITE D-100 THOMASTON, GA 30286-4170 (706) 647-1297 FAX (706) 647-2693
Said Tammy Buchanan on working with Meg this Summer:“It’s amazing to have a young, energetic, and intelligent intern to be part of our team”. Meg’s last day with Upson County is August 26.
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