CORNELIA, Ga. — After a decade of redevelopment, business recruitment, and public projects, Community Development Director Jessie Owensby says leaving Cornelia is not about walking away; it’s about stepping into a new challenge while carrying forward lessons learned.
Owensby is headed to White County to serve in a similar yet more streamlined role with greater emphasis on leadership and department management. She’ll lead an eight-person department dedicated to planning, zoning, and economic development. It’s a move she said aligns with her long-term goals in public service.
Owensby begins her new job in early March, overlapping briefly with her predecessor, John Sell, during the first week to ensure a smooth transition.
A decade of transformation
Reflecting on her ten years in Cornelia, Owensby said it’s impossible to point to just one accomplishment as her proudest. Working with a small staff, dedicated volunteers, and business leaders, she helped earn numerous statewide awards and guided major redevelopment efforts.
When pressed, she points to two key turning points in downtown Cornelia, beginning with the opening of Bigg Daddy’s Restaurant & Tavern in 2017.
“That was the catalyst to get John Herrin in with Jack Bradley and Common Ground and then, in 2020, Jay Reeder bought the bank building,” she said. “The things that have happened since Jay came onto this scene have been incredible.”
That same year, Cornelia established its downtown entertainment district, later expanding it.
Infill development was also a priority. Along the U.S. Business 441 corridor, the long-struggling Habersham Village Shopping Center was revitalized after sitting largely vacant following Kmart’s closure. Today, it serves as a commercial hub surrounded by new retailers and restaurants.
Other projects during her tenure include city park improvements, the approval and design of a new amphitheater, and the ongoing Sweet Acres Farm Winery multi-use development project.
Before she left, Owensby approved roughly half a dozen commercial projects, including a Seven Brew coffee shop, package store, and a new Level Grove student ministry building featuring a 9,600-square-foot assembly space. She also reviewed 23 site plans for the final phase of Magnolia Villas.
“I am very proud to have been part of every single one of those projects from the get-go,” she told Now Georgia.
No disappointments, only lessons
In her ten years of service to the City of Cornelia, Owensby said challenges were inevitable. Most recently, vocal opposition to Cook Construction’s proposed Apple Corridor development stood out. While she emphasized that controversy did not influence her decision to leave, she hopes residents take one lesson from it: get involved early.
“Government works for you. We’re paid with your tax dollars. If you are not involved on the front end of the planning … when they ask for you to attend a town hall meeting, a public meeting, or an informational meeting that’s going to help them and help you make decisions about your life, take them up on it because they don’t know what you want if you don’t tell them.”
Waiting until decisions are nearly finalized can limit influence.
“In the 2020 Comprehensive Plan, the only feedback we got was to diversify our tax base to lower our millage rate. Every survey and every public engagement [said that]. And when you have town hall meetings and ten people show up, guess what, those ten people get to decide your life.”
Moving on
Even with the occasional challenges and losses, Owensby leaves Cornelia with no regrets.
“Nothing’s been a disappointment, only lessons learned,” she said. “There are times things have not gone my way, but those have made me a better community developer, economic developer, and public servant.”
She said remaining in government was intentional.
“My whole heart has been community-driven and public service all the way,” she said. “I actually had a second job offer in the private sector, but turned it down to stay in the public sector because that’s where my heart is.”
Owensby described the White County position as more focused and leadership-driven.
“At the city I’m an umbrella of things,” she said. “At White County, it will be more focused on planning, zoning, and economic development. It’s a bigger team, more leadership, and less technical work — just a new challenge.”
Owensby said White County’s strong tourism base and measured approach to economic development will add a new dimension to her work. It will also require listening.
“We’ve already discussed some of the things that we plan to do in White County, including a quarterly town hall meeting, if for nothing else, just to hear from [the residents] and to understand what is going on in their world and what it is that they want to see.”
Grateful Dee Anderson ‘rolled the dice’
A Piedmont University graduate with a degree in Mass Communications, Owensby credits Cornelia City Manager Dee Anderson for launching her career.
“Working for Cornelia has literally changed my life. It has changed the trajectory of my life,” she said. “Dee saw something in me and gave me that opportunity… I wouldn’t be able to do any of the things I’m going to do in White County if it weren’t for him rolling the dice on me,” she said.
She added, “Everything I know I’ve learned in Cornelia.”
Owensby praised Cornelia’s Main Street Director, Noah Hamil, who will step into her former role.
“He is going to do great,” she said.
All in the family
Although she’ll be working ‘next door,’ Owensby and her husband will still live in Cornelia. White County already is like a second home to her. Her family hails from both counties, and half still live in White. Her cousin, Jonathan Stribling, has just been named White County school superintendent and her parents attend church in Helen. She’ll also be reunited with a former colleague from Habersham County. Derick Canupp used to run Habersham’s public works department. He is now White County’s manager.
“I’ve been around that community my entire life. I know a lot about it,” she said. “I feel very comfortable going there.”
As she looks ahead, Owensby is quick to point out, “I was not looking for this.” She has been approached several times about positions in different communities in recent years, but turned them all down, she said. “This one just aligned with my goals and what I believe is God’s calling for me in the public sector and where I needed to be right now.”
