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Wednesday, November 8, 2006
Are Johns Creek’s leaders moving too fast?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When five Johns Creek residents will sit down Nov. 14 and start the business of governing the new city, four council hopefuls will be watching from the wings.
The races in Post 2 and Post 4 ended without any of the candidates winning a majority, sending the races to a Dec. 5 runoff.
In Post 2, top vote getters Dan McCabe and Michael Barker will face off, while Ivan Figueroa and Dave Rich will compete for the Post 4 seat.
Figueroa said he wasn’t surprised by the result, but still disappointed he won’t be part of the historic first council meeting.
“I’d rather be on stage than in the audience,” Figueroa said.
The council will be able to meet because it will have four of its six members, enough to conduct business under state law.
Incorporation organizer Mike Bodker was unopposed for mayor, and will join the four at the first meeting.
The Johns Creek City Council will have enough members to start governing the city as soon as Fulton County certifies election results. Incoming Mayor Mike Bodker and other council members plan to start making laws as soon as possible, even though two more seats must be decided in Dec. 5 runoffs.
Should the council hold off on making weighty decisions until all six members seated?
What would you like to see the new government do first?
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Two Johns Creek races headed for runoffs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The folks in Johns Creek haven’t been doing election parties very long, but they seemed to get this one right.
The red, white and blue balloons and American flags overwhelmed the early trapping of Christmas evident at the Rivermont Golf and Country Club as a crowd of as many as 200 people celebrated the first election in the city’s ultra-brief history.
As mayor-elect Mike Bodker doled out election results from a laptop set up in the clubhouse bar, the roaring crowd cheerfully celebrated the successes of three of the six council candidates Bodker had endorsed.
“This election is what it was all about, being able to choose,” said Patty Hanson, an aide to Bodker. “This is why we did it, no matter who wins.”
All day Tuesday, voters in this north Fulton city of upscale subdivisions and traffic-clogged streets were excited to create their own government.
“I’m in favor of keeping our tax dollars in north Fulton,” said Matt Risse, a real estate agent.
According to unofficial election results, council candidates Randall Johnson in Post 1, Liz Hausmann in Post 5 and Bev Miller in Post 6 won election to the council outright.
One of the so-called “Six Pack” candidates, Wayne Carrell, lost to Karen Richardson while two others will be forced into runoffs. They are Dan McCabe in Post 2 and Ivan Figueroa in Post 4. McCabe will face Michael Barker in a runoff, and Figueroa will be running against Dave Rich.
Bodker had endorsed the six candidates, who shared advertising costs and contact lists.
Several of the candidates had worked together for about a year to help birth the new city.
“They’ve been here since the beginning. They helped start this city,” Bodker said.
Hausmann rejected concerns that the candidates will, in her words, “walk in lockstep.”
“We were still individual candidates,” Hausmann said. “We all had our own bases of support. We just took advantage of opportunities to get in touch with each others friends. We work together well.”
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Lockwood wins as first mayor of Milton
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
George Ragsdale was headed off to bed one night six weeks ago when he tripped on a flight of stairs and tore up his knee.
The accident will go down as a significant moment in the history of the new city of Milton.
After spending 18 months leading the campaign to create a new city in this community of golf courses and horse farms, Ragsdale couldn’t hit the streets in his race to become Milton’s first mayor..
His opponent, Joe Lockwood, who had no role in the creation of the city, was on the streets each day with a friendly, folksy style, and he won an upset victory Tuesday.
“I don’t want to blame the accident, but it happened at an inopportune time,” Ragsdale said. “I couldn’t go door-to-door.”
Instead, Ragsdale, an attorney, worked the phones and waged an e-mail campaign. Because Lockwood owns a construction company, Ragsdale claimed, he could face conflicts of interest in zoning matters.
Brian and Stacy Kelly, both 36 and residents of the Providence Oaks neighborhood, were not impressed by that. They both voted for Lockwood.
“Ragsdale seemed to be running the more negative campaign,” Brian Kelly said. “That turned me way off.”
Tuesday night, all of it came back to haunt Ragsdale, who conceded around 10 p.m. at a small Italian bistro on Ga. 9 north of Windward Parkway.
Across town, in a posh home at the Atlanta National Country Club, whoops and hollers rose from more than 100 Lockwood supporters when the results were announced. Lockwood high-fived his 6-year-old son Charlie and told the crowd he was humbled. “The next step is to harness all that energy and put it towards our community,” he said.
With most of the precincts counted in Milton’s three contested City Council races, Julie Zahner Bailey held a strong lead in District 2; two other seats appeared headed for a runoff. Bill Lusk and Marty Lock were leading in District 3 and headed to a runoff on Dec. 5, as were Tim Enloe and Vincent Pisano in District 4.
Karen Thurman (District 1), Tina D’Aversa-Williams (District 5) and Rick Mohrig (District 6) were unopposed.
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