COBB COUNTY'S GOVERNMENT is the envy of most of those who know much about it. It has a reputation for honesty, efficiency and being progressive - not in the current political sense of that word, but in terms of being proactive and quick to adopt new ideas and concepts.

That reputation didn't happen overnight. Rather, it is the product of decades of strong leadership that usually embodied those and similar qualities. For the most part Cobb has been blessed with strong, visionary leaders, from the days of Commission Chairman George McMillan in the early 1940s up through Ernest Barrett in the 1960s, '70s and early '80s into the current era under Chairman Sam Olens. And while it is the chairman and commission who set policy, it is the county manager who carries it out.

County managers tend to come and go almost with the seasons. It's a demanding job: trying to satisfy taxpayers, county employees and elected officials - and not necessarily in that order. But Cobb County has sharply diverged from that pattern. It has had the same county manager since early 1993 - a man who is now near-legendary in Georgia governmental circles and who personally embodies the same attributes cited above on behalf of the county government itself: honesty, efficiency and progressivism. To which we might also add integrity.

That man, of course, is David Hankerson.

Hankerson grew up in rural Burke County and has lived in Cobb since 1973 with his wife Janet and four children. But his farm-boy roots run deep; so deep that he and friend developer Chuck Kastner still work a 12-acre farm in west Cobb "for fun," giving away to the needy most of what they grow. His first job in Cobb was as a district conservationist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture after having earned a degree in agronomy from Fort Valley State College. He later added a juris doctorate from the Woodrow Wilson College of Law and has worked for the Cobb government since 1984.

Hankerson's tenure as county manager coincides with many of Cobb's most notable accomplishments of the past two decades. Under his leadership, the county has seen the successful construction and opening of the Cobb Galleria Centre Convention Center, the Mable House-Barnes Amphitheatre in Mableton and the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre at the Galleria. He has overseen construction of two massive sewer tunnels, the expansions of the county jail, the Public Safety Center, numerous fire and police stations, construction of the Cobb State Court building on Marietta Square and the Superior Court building now under construction just off the Square.

In addition, he oversees a balanced budget at the lowest millage rate in the metro area - yet manages over a county government that provides a higher level of services than any other we know of, while at the same time having the fewest employees per capita. And you can throw in the county's ultra-rare (for governments) AAA credit rating to boot. Currently, he has successfully seen the county through the worst economic crisis in many decades, and done so without the county having to raise taxes or lay off employees.

He hasn't done it all by himself, of course. He worked hand-in-glove throughout the 2000s with Chairman Olens and before that, with the chairman who appointed him to the position, Bill Byrne. And he's been about as non-controversial as it is possible for a public official to be.

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FOR MORE THAN FOUR DECADES, each January the Marietta Daily Journal has honored those men and women who, through their soaring accomplishments and contributions, have led the way in making our community the best. Past recipients of the Marietta Daily Journal's Cobb Citizen of the Year Award have included former Gov. Roy Barnes, U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, former Cobb Sheriff Bill Hutson, retired Kennesaw State University President Dr. Betty Siegel, the Rev. Dr. Nelson Price, Smyrna Mayor Max Bacon, late Marietta Mayor Joe Mack Wilson, Chairman Olens, the late Dr. Robert Lipson of WellStar, Lockheed-Martin plant manager and VP Lee Rhyant and last year's winner, former Cobb school board Chairman Lindsey Tippins.

There is no question that Cobb County is regarded as the best-run and best-governed county in our state and a huge share of thanks for that most accrue to our county manager. And that is why David Hankerson has more than earned a place among such esteemed company and is truly deserving of the accolade of being named Cobb County Citizen of the Year for 2009.