Candles and tablecloths adorned 15 tables in the Athena Ballroom of the Classic Center. A three-piece band in the corner softly played jazz music to set the mood.

This might not sound like the setting for a Student Government Association event, but this was the scene Friday night at the third annual State Relations Day.

Rep. Keith Heard, one of the speakers at the event, encouraged students to get involved in the community, referencing his own work in Athens before he took office.

“I was actually serving the community before I was elected,” Heard said. “It’s very important to take a role in the community. And I think it’s important that as a student you become politically alert.”

Brent Wierson and McCoy Pitt, co-chairs of SGA’s external affairs committee, organized the event, which brought Mayor Heidi Davison,

Sen. Bill Cowsert and Rep. Keith Heard to the Classic Center to speak to students about issues facing Athens-Clarke County and the state of Georgia.

“We organized this event to connect students with local and state government,” Wierson said.

The evening began with Cowsert, who discussed his thoughts on tax policy, the state budget and how the state government has worked to address the drought.

“In 2004, a law was passed to have a state water council, and this water council was given the joy of creating a water conservation plan,” Cowsert said. “We’ve been working on that plan for three years now.”

The plan involves doing a wide-scale assessment of the state’s water supplies and dividing Georgia into “regional water councils to come up with plans for the best ways to provide water,” he said. “Water resources vary from place to place in the state.”

Cowsert also advised students to continue contacting their senators and to include their hometowns in e-mails so the officials know their constituents are the ones contacting them.

Davison shifted gears during her part of the evening, focusing on the ways Athens-Clarke County and the University work together.

“Some of you know about our poverty initiative . and I would say the majority of people who came to volunteer were University students,” she said. “Local government is open to having (students) . help steer the government to make a tangible difference in the community.”

Heard, the final speaker of the night, jokingly noted he was the “only thing standing between (attendees) and food,” so he kept his discussion of the state budget, health care and traffic problems brief.

“I think it’s important that students get involved in (the Brain Train initiative). We need your input and we need your advocacy,” Heard said. “We’ve got a lot of great things going on in this state. Georgia’s future looks very well.”

Heard also said people should look to the state’s budget to find the issues that will take center stage next year.

“If you follow the budget, you will follow the issues,” he said.

After the speakers took a few questions from the audience, the buffet table was opened up and students were encouraged to talk to the guest speakers.

Wierson and Pitt said the event went well, considering it was scheduled on a Friday night before a home football game.

Nearly 100 people came to the Classic Center to hear the speakers’ views.

Zaid Jilani, an international affairs major from Kennesaw, said he came to the event with two of his friends to listen to the speakers’ views on current events.

“No matter what your beliefs are, I think you should know what your elected officials have to say,” Jilani said.