HUNTSVILLE, AL—
The Mayor of Huntsville is coming up on his one-year anniversary of taking office. Mayor Tommy Battle will give the State of the City Address next week. WHNT NEWS 19 will air it LIVE.What can you expect from the mayor's address next week?
The Mayor's Office says you can expect a lot of things, but one of them should not be the typical politician speaking to a crowd while standing in the center of room. This year's State of the City Address will be more engaging.
"It's not going to be your traditional cookie-cutter event where you can stand there to eat lunch, and you listen to the mayor speak straight through for 45 minutes," said Huntsville Chief of Staff Trent Willis.
Trent Willis is the bulldog that keeps the mayor on time, on his mark, and on message. He plans to give the mayor more flexibility when it comes to the State of the City Address.
"The mayor is not going to be using a podium for about 3/4 of his speech. He's going to be walking freely around a big stage, and the story will be told in segments," added Willis.
The story read by Mayor Battle will be one of Huntsville and its people.
"The State of the City is going to be interesting. We have sections where I'm going to be talking about what's going on, what's happening in the city of Huntsville, and sections that are pre-recorded," said Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle.
The mayor will also talk about the city's challenges, its successes, and future.
"He's going to run the gamut of what's happened in the past year in the city of Huntsville, but that's only going to be a small portion of the speech," added Willis.
Social media sites such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook along with AOL Instant Messenger, will be a major part of the city's event for the first time.
Why such a dramatic change in the way a leader speaks to his community?
"I think it's worked. I think they're formal, but I think you're always looking for ways to bring more interactivity into our government, and a do a better job in the community with our residents," added Willis.
Mayor Battle says while the delivery of the speech has changed, its message, and purpose are the same.
"The State of the City is the one time we can celebrate all the accomplishments of the city of Huntsville," added Mayor Battle.
We are less than a week away from the state of the city address, so there is still more work in progress on the annual event. The same goes for the speech as well. So far, it stretches 33 pages long, and lasts about 30 minutes.
Mayor Battle's State of the City Address is on Thursday, November 5, 2009. It starts at 12:30p.m. WHNT NEWS 19 is bringing it to you on the digital channel 19.2, and on whnt.com.
