City Mayor
Benita Cotton-Orr
Current Term 2026-2027
Benita Cotton-Orr was elected Mayor of Sky Valley on November 4, 2025, and will take office on January 6, 2026. Benita, who immigrated to Georgia in 1986 from South Africa, lived in Cobb County until she and her husband, Scott Orr, became full-time residents of Sky Valley in 2022. Scott retired in 2024 after 42 years at Georgia Power Company, the last 22 as the utility’s federal government affairs manager. Their five children and 12 grandchildren love visiting “Georgia’s Highest and Coolest City.”
Benita’s career spans journalism – 13 years at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, including on the Editorial Board – and public policy – 19 years as vice president of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation. In 2022, she founded High Grounds Consulting LLC.
A graduate of the 2007 Class of Leadership Georgia, Benita has been actively involved in numerous civic and policy organizations. Currently, she serves on the Political Science Advisory Board at Kennesaw State University; the board of First Generation Americans Foundation and the U.S. Civil Rights Commission’s Advisory Task Force for Georgia. She is a faculty member of the Leadership Institute, a Policy Advisor for the Heartland Institute, and chairman of the Rabun County Republican Party.
State of the City Presentations
- State of the City Presentation 2025
- State of the City Presentation 2024
- State of The City Presentation 2023
- State-of-the-City-Presentation-2022.pdf
- State-of-the-City-Presentation-2021.pdf
- State-Of-The-City-Presentation 2020.pdf