AJC > NorthSide > Blog > Archives > 2006 > October > 29
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Should one mayor have this much power?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
meetings.
For 20 years, Max Bacon has served as mayor of Smyrna, but he still can’t appoint the city manager.
And Jere Wood, the long-time mayor of Roswell, can’t veto actions taken by the City Council, though there are certainly times he wishes he could.
But, when Mike Bodker is sworn in as the first mayor of Johns Creek later this year, he’ll be able to do all those things — making him one of the strongest mayors in the state.
He can hire and fire the city manager, who controls all other city employees. He can veto a decision by the City Council, and it takes a supermajority — five of the six council members — to override it. It doesn’t hurt, either, that Bodker will be able to vote at City Council meetings (most big city mayors vote only in the event of a tie).
“While we see all kinds of variations — strong mayor, weak mayor, strong city manager — [Johns Creek] is probably the strongest form of mayor I’ve seen,” said Susan Pruett, general counsel for the Georgia Municipal Association.
Read the full story | Visit Mike Bodker’s web site
Should the city put this much power in the hands of one person?
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How will Milton manage growth?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The long-planned Publix opened last week in the heart of the Birmingham community, at the corner of Birmingham Road and Birmingham Highway.
It’s a sign that life is changing quickly in the traditionally rural part of the county that is soon to be the city of Milton.
And it comes as a new Atlanta Regional Commission report is out about growth in north Fulton and the rest of metro.
A news story in AJC’s NorthSide section by D.L. Bennett said the ARC forecasts that Fulton’s population will grow from 816,006 in 2000 to more than 1.1 million residents by 2030. The county should also have more than 1 million jobs by then, compared with an estimated 730,000 in 2000.
In Johns Creek and Milton, two soon-to-be cities, residents likely will struggle with developers seeking to cram more homes per acre than the areas now accept.
Doug McCurry, who lives in his grandfather’s former home next to the Birmingham Crossroads, said he’s resigned to more and more development of the remaining open land in rural northwest Fulton. He said his concerns are not about how many new folks come in but about making sure any new development doesn’t wipe away north Fulton’s rural character.
“We’ve already seen it change dramatically,” McCurry said. “It has been able to retain the ambience of what people are looking for. What’s saved this area so far has been lack of sewage.”
NorthSide asked the candidates for mayor and city council in the new city how they would manage growth. The answers would make good reading before you cast your ballots next Tuesday (or this week if you’re voting early). Here are the candidate’s answers about land use and commerical development.
Have you seen the new Publix and the other development planned and underway near Birmingham Crossroads? Has Fulton County done a good job of managing growth in the Milton area? How would you like the new city to guide future proposals for residential and commercial growth?
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