Lanier Dunn Named Sole Finalist for Royston City Manager

Royston Mayor Keith Turman has announced that Lanier Dunn has been selected as the sole finalist for the position of Royston City Manager.

Turman made the announcement Tuesday night at a called meeting after coming out of executive session.

Dunn is the former Elberton City Manager and resigned from that position on May 10, 2024.

Dunn had worked for the City of Elberton for the past 23 years, 18 of those years as its City Manager.

Royston Mayor Keith Turman tells WLHR News, they had a number of very well-qualified applicants but Dunn’s resume rose to the top.

During his tenure as Elberton City Manager, Dunn was successful in overseeing many improvements, most notably increasing the City’s financial stability.

In a 2023 interview with WSGC Radio News Dunn pointed out that when he started as City Manager, Elberton was struggling to pay its bills and had less than a month’s worth of reserve in the bank.

Today, Elberton has $17 million in cash reserves, more than six months of cash on hand, and has invested an additional $5 million in an industrial Spec building currently for sale with no debt incurred.

Additionally, by 2023, Dunn said 95% of the County had access to broadband, the City’s water system had received a major $1.2 million grant and the City’s natural gas system had expanded by 15% with 236 poultry houses now served by natural gas.

Dunn also oversaw the ongoing renovation of the downtown area that included the updating of the Elbert Theatre, the Elberton Arts Center, and the Samuel Elbert Hotel.

And Elberton also finished the renovation of the last downtown building that the City and the Downtown Development Authority own.

Elberton now has eight apartments and seven commercial storefronts completed in buildings downtown that were once in a state of structural failure before the city’s intervention.

Dunn received a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Brenau University in Gainesville and a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from the University of Georgia.

Now that Dunn has been named the sole finalist, by law, the Royston City Council must wait 14 days before formally hiring Dunn, which Mayor Turman said will likely be in mid-July.