Snellville to change its slogan

In a move designed to help shed Snellville's anti-business, poor quality-of-life image, city leaders are expected to adopt a resolution fine-tuning the slogan to "Snellville, Where Everybody's Proud to be Somebody."

As for the old slogan, the city will copyright and preserve it. It just won't be marketed anymore, officials said.

"We're really attempting to turn the city around," said Councilman Tom Witts, who came up with the idea. "A one-word change [sic] to our slogan says a lot. It makes a statement. It's waking up and smelling the coffee."

Waking up, indeed. For years, this Gwinnett County municipality of 20,000 has been mired in political gridlock, legal turmoil and strict zoning and liquor laws that some say turned off businesses.

Then there were the antics: a mayor getting a police escort to the restroom at City Hall; a councilman growing daffodils out of a toilet in his front yard.

In November, Snellville residents elected two new council members, tipping the balance of power on a divided governing body. Since then, the city has rallied to save its annual Christmas tree lighting, created a farmers market, formed the Snellville Trade and Tourism Association, and made headway on constructing a new police department and public works facility.

Its most recent controversy over Sunday alcohol sales will go before residents in a July 20 referendum, capping a six-year political tug-of-war.

City leaders say the changes add up to civic pride -- hence, the new catch phrase.

"We're feeling good about ourselves again," Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer said. "We're embracing the slogan. By saying ‘Everybody's Proud,' people are stepping it up even further. Anything that shows Snellville is moving forward and getting out of the funk over the last couple of years, I'm all for it."

"Everybody's Somebody in Snellville" originated from Emmett Clower, the mayor from 1973 to 1999. In the 1970s, he visited Luckenbach, the tiny Texas town made famous in the Waylon Jennings song, and purchased a promotional bumper sticker. He brought it back to Georgia, removed the word "Luckenbach " and inserted his town's name.

"If [city leaders] want to change it, that would be fine with me," Clower said recently. "It's their prerogative."

Councilman Tod Warner, who has a degree in marketing, said the tweak still honors the message while emphasizing something positive. And positive change could bring economic growth, he said.

"If you get the life back in the community, then it will be much easier to bring in the development," he said. "People will say, ‘Hey, wait, Snellville's not a sleepy, in-bred, backbiting community. They're doing positive things. They have a vision.'"

Other Gwinnett city slogans