AJC > NorthSide > Blog > Archives > 2007 > May
May 2007
Townhall audience votes for road repairs, keeping tax rate unchanged
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With a show of hands the public spoke, and this is what they said: Fix the roads, even if it means forgoing a rollback of the tax rate.
At a Johns Creek town hall meeting Thursday night, Mayor Mike Bodker asked the 50 or so people in attendance about their priorities for the new city.
Public safety or roads? Roads.
Roads or parks? Roads.
Public safety or parks. Public safety.
The city is about to begin drafting its first year-long budget, and Bodker wanted to know the community’s priorities. The audience listened attentively as he described competing stresses on the budget and the spending plan for 2008, including:
The need to repave or widen roads.
The desire to buy land for parks and fire stations.
The startup of new police and fire departments.
The need to put money in a rainy day fund because it’s fiscally responsible and can lead to better bond ratings.
Johns Creek cannot raise taxes above the current 4.731 mills without a vote of the people, but the city could roll back the tax rate, especially in the current environment of increasing real estate assessments.
A lot of people are steamed because the Fulton County Tax Assessor’s Office just reassessed about 63 percent of the property in Johns Creek, and values have gone up as much as 30 percent. Many feel that because their county tax bill will increase sharply, the city should roll back its taxes.
Bodker guessed that if the city millage rate is not rolled back, the net gain to the city from reassessments would be $1 million to $2 million. The city budget for 2008 is estimated between $40 million and $45 million.
Most people in attendamce Thursday felt the city should put the extra money in reserve rather than roll back taxes.
“I can’t believe I’m saying ‘pay more taxes’ — that’s just not me,” said Darrell Dobresk.
Johns Creek must adopt a tax rate for 2007 by July 1, and a budget for 2008 by Oct. 1.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment | Categories: Johns Creek
Johns Creek changes Web site domain
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s official; the city of Johns Creek is really a city. Seriously, check it on the internet.
The city’s Web site has changed its domain name to a dot.gov suffix, an ending not available to anybody who’s not a real government.
The new Johns Creek Web site is www.johnscreekga.gov.
“This is it, we are on the internet,” said John Kachmar, city manager “We’re for real.”
The old Web site, www.cityofjohnscreekga.us will remain active for four or five years.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Johns Creek
Mayor holds town hall on Thursday to discuss budget
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mayor Mike Bodker is conducting a townhall meeting Thursday at 7 p.m. to discuss the 2008 budget with the audience.
The mayor also will talk about setting the millage, currently set at 4.731. The City Council will have to weigh whether it should roll back the tax rate to make the budget revenue-neutral, which would be in keeping with the minimal-tax sentiment popular in the city, or if it should keep the tax rate where it is in order to pay for equally popular - and needed - services.
“As we prepare for our second year of incorporation, it is very important that we hear from the citizens of Johns Creek as to what they feel the City’s financial priorities should be,” Bodker said in a prepared statement. “I am looking forward to a healthy dialogue with the community.”
Residents and business owners are encouraged to submit questions in advance to the mayor’s office through the city’s Web site at www.cityofjohnscreekga.us.
The townhall meeting will be at 11555 Medlock Bridge Road, about a mile north of the intersection of Medlock and Abbotts Bridge roads.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Johns Creek
Mayor signs council resolution to Perdue
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Almost a week after approval, Mayor Joe Lockwood signed a City Council resolution to Gov. Sonny Perdue asking the governor to approve changes to the city charter.
Lockwood opposed the changes, and sent a letter on May 14 stating his opposition to changes to the city’s governing document, which he feels undermines the authority of the mayor. On May 17, by a 4-3 vote, the City Council overrode Lockwood’s objections and effectively countermanded his letter by passing the resolution.
In the last legislative session, the General Assembly, at the behest of state Rep. Jan Jones, changed the the city’s charter. The bill struck provisions allowing collection of franchise fees, diluted some of the mayor’s authority in making appointments and hiring staff, set term limits, and removed language allowing benefits to the mayor and council.
A governor’s office spokesman said on Wednesday that Perdue had not signed the legislation changing the charter.
City staff on Wednesday emailed a copy of the resolution to Perdue and sent the original by courier.
Supporting the resolution were council members Karen Thurman, who sponsored the resolution; Rick Mohrig; Bill Lusk; and Neal O’Brien. Opposed were Mayor Joe Lockwood, and council members Julie Zahner Bailey and Tina D’Aversa Williams.
After the vote on May 17, Lockwood said he didn’t anticipate any further action on his part.
“I think we’re done,” he said. “it’s up to the governor now. We’ll move forward and do the best we can with what we’ve got.”
State Rep. Mark Burkhalter (R-Johns Creek) also weighed in with a letter of support to the mayor and council supporting Jones.
The governor’s office has been circumspect in discussing the controversy.
The governor will decide whether to sign based on its merits, said Bert Brantley from Perdue’s office. He takes into account all points of view, and he will consider every piece of information he has.
Lockwood and his supporters said they weren’t aware of the changes until April 24 after they had been passed. They also argued the changes weakened the position of the mayor. Other council members countered the changes were minor.
The council debate at times was sharp-edged. The writing of Thurman’s resolution wasn’t finished until just before the council meeting, prompting Zahner Bailey to decry the lack of “professional courtesy” by Thurman and by Jones for essentially ambushing the council.
Thurman countered that there wasn’t time to follow the normal procedure in presenting items to the council. Perdue’s deadline for signing bills is the end of the month. The next City Council meeting is June 7.
Thurman also faulted Lockwood for sending the letter to the governor without consulting the council first. Lockwood explained that he talked with a majority of the council and had come away with the understanding they agreed with him.
Lockwood said that when the governor’s staff called him for his reaction on Monday, he told them he wasn’t happy. Write a letter, they said. He did, asking Perdue to veto Jones’ House Bill 811.
See the May 17 story on the issue.
Lockwood said he was concerned about changes in the appointment of the city staff. Currently, the mayor appoints and the council ratifies. Under the change, should the council reject the mayor’s nominees, they can appoint on their own. Lockwood said that’s a major change; Council member Lusk said it was not.
“I didn’t know this was supposed to be a power struggle,” Lusk said. “We have equal votes. We are all equal up here. We’re not talking about something earth-shaking that will change the course of human events.”
The mayor also was upset about changes to a provision governing the appointment of council members to City Council committees. Before, the mayor made the appointments. Now the council members have to approve them. Lockwood said the change could make it difficult to get members to serve on politically treacherous or boring committees.
Jones, a Republican from Milton, sponsored the legislation creating the city in 2006. She said the recent changes were simply a matter of fine-tuning the city’s charter. Jones supported Lockwood’s opponent for mayor.
Jones said in an earlier interview she told Lockwood and other council members what she was going to do in her legislation twice starting in November.
“I’m surprised and puzzled at the mayor’s response and his strong reaction,” Jones said. “I didn’t ask Fulton County for approval to form the city to begin with. The majority of the City Council supports it. What would the change have been if they had voted on it? I ascribe this to newness and inexperience in government.”
She said that some changes in the charter are symbolic - state law allows the city to collect franchise fees and provides for benefits to the mayor and council. She just didn’t want the council to be able to use the charter, which she sponsored, as justification for policies she doesn’t agree with.
Jones and Lockwood have debated the collection of franchise fees in a series of letters in a local newspaper. Lockwood said they’re a necessary part of the budget, and at times has said the charter allows it. Jones is opposed to franchise fees.
The state allows the city to collect franchise fees from utilities for use of public rights of way, and those fees are passed on to consumers. Some Milton residents - as Sandy Springs residents did before them - objected to the fees as essentially new taxes, calling them a breach of pre-city promises that taxes would not go up if the voters approved cityhood in a referendum.
Council member Tina D’Aversa Williams said Jones is meddling and the mayor is justified in feeling aggrieved.
“My concern is that we became a city so that we could have greater local control,” D’Aversa Williams said. “But now we have changes without our input. I question what was the motivation behind it.”
But Council member Neal O’Brien said he believes Jones acted within her authority.
“I concur with what she did,”; he said. “It’s within the realm of her authority. The legislature has a signficant role in managing the law we operate under. Our job is to operate under that law.”
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Milton
Sandy Springs’ Northwood Drive: On The Right Track?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The City of Sandy Springs has been trying to clean things up along Roswell Road, bit by bit.
One area that seems to be scrubbed the hardest: Northwood Drive. Just south of I-285, the street is part of a conglomerate of older apartments —- some sprinkled with gang graffiti, others in need of repair. Solidarity Mission Village serves the residents with a church, a preschool, a bank branch and some stores.
The city has performed numerous code enforcement sweeps on the apartments in the area and police cruisers can be spotted regularly, signifying an increased presence.
Still, late Monday night, 40-year-old Rey Eras Morales was shot in the head and killed in a parking lot shared by the Sierra Creek Apartments, on Kingsport Drive, and the Prado North Condominiums, on Northwood Drive. And, in September, two men were shot and one died after an ongoing feud turned deadly at a children’s birthday party at neighboring Lake Placid Apartments.
NorthSide.Talk wants to know: if you live, or work, in this area, is Sandy Springs on the right track?
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment |
Milton dispute in governor’s hands
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Over the Milton mayor’s objections, the City Council Thursday effectively countermanded a letter he sent to the governor asking that changes to the city charter be vetoed.
By a 4-3 vote, the council approved a resolution that instead asked Gov. Sonny Perdue to sign legislation that changes the founding document of the city. The charter establishes the city and sets rules for its operation.
Supporting the resolution were council members Karen Thurman, who sponsored the resolution; Rick Mohrig; Bill Lusk; and Neal O’Brien. Opposed were Mayor Joe Lockwood, and council members Julie Zahner Bailey and Tina D’Aversa Williams.
In the last legislative session, the General Assembly, at the behest of state Rep. Jan Jones, changed the the city’s charter. The bill struck provisions allowing collection of franchise fees, diluted some of the mayor’s authority in making appointments and hiring staff, set term limits, and removed language allowing benefits to the mayor and council.
After the vote, Lockwood said he didn’t anticipate any further action on his part.
“I think we’re done,” he said. “it’s up to the governor now. We’ll move forward and do the best we can with what we’ve got.”
State Rep. Mark Burkhalter (R-Johns Creek) also weighed in with a letter of support to the mayor and council supporting Jones.
The governor’s office has been circumspect in discussing the controversy.
The governor will decide whether to sign based on its merits, said Bert Brantley, spokesman for the governor’s office. He takes into account all points of view, and he will consider every piece of information he has.
Lockwood and his supporters said they weren’t aware of the changes until April 24 after they had been passed. They also argued the changes weakened the position of the mayor. Other council members countered the changes were minor.
The council debate at times was sharp-edged. The writing of Thurman’s resolution wasn’t finished until just before the council meeting, prompting Zahner Bailey to decry the lack of “professional courtesy” by Thurman and by Jones for essentially ambushing the council.
Thurman countered that there wasn’t time to follow the normal procedure in presenting items to the council. Perdue’s deadline for signing bills is the end of the month. The next City Council meeting is June 7.
Thurman also faulted Lockwood for sending the letter to the governor without consulting the council first. Lockwood explained that he talked with a majority of the council and had come away with the understanding they agreed with him.
Lockwood said that when the governor’s staff called him for his reaction on Monday, he told them he wasn’t happy. Write a letter, they said. He did, asking Perdue to veto Jones’ House Bill 811.
See the May 17 story on the issue.
Lockwood said he was concerned about changes in the appointment of the city staff. Currently, the mayor appoints and the council ratifies. Under the change, should the council reject the mayor’s nominees, they can appoint on their own. Lockwood said that’s a major change; Council member Lusk said it was not.
“I didn’t know this was supposed to be a power struggle,” Lusk said. “We have equal votes. We are all equal up here. We’re not talking about something earth-shaking that will change the course of human events.”
The mayor also was upset about changes to a provision governing the appointment of council members to City Council committees. Before, the mayor made the appointments. Now the council members have to approve them. Lockwood said the change could make it difficult to get members to serve on politically treacherous or boring committees.
Jones, a Republican from Milton, sponsored the legislation creating the city in 2006. She said the recent changes were simply a matter of fine-tuning the city’s charter. Jones supported Lockwood’s opponent for mayor.
Jones said in an earlier interview she told Lockwood and other council members what she was going to do in her legislation twice starting in November.
“I’m surprised and puzzled at the mayor’s response and his strong reaction,” Jones said. “I didn’t ask Fulton County for approval to form the city to begin with. The majority of the City Council supports it. What would the change have been if they had voted on it? I ascribe this to newness and inexperience in government.”
She said that some changes in the charter are symbolic - state law allows the city to collect franchise fees and provides for benefits to the mayor and council. She just didn’t want the council to be able to use the charter, which she sponsored, as justification for policies she doesn’t agree with.
Jones and Lockwood have debated the collection of franchise fees in a series of letters in a local newspaper. Lockwood said they’re a necessary part of the budget, and at times has said the charter allows it. Jones is opposed to franchise fees.
The state allows the city to collect franchise fees from utilities for use of public rights of way, and those fees are passed on to consumers. Some Milton residents - as Sandy Springs residents did before them - objected to the fees as essentially new taxes, calling them a breach of pre-city promises that taxes would not go up if the voters approved cityhood in a referendum.
Council member Tina D’Aversa Williams said Jones is meddling and the mayor is justified in feeling aggrieved.
“My concern is that we became a city so that we could have greater local control,” D’Aversa Williams said. “But now we have changes without our input. I question what was the motivation behind it.”
But Council member Neal O’Brien said he believes Jones acted within her authority.
“I concur with what she did,”; he said. “It’s within the realm of her authority. The legislature has a signficant role in managing the law we operate under. Our job is to operate under that law.”
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Milton
Cityhood watch: South Fulton vote postponed
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Fulton County election officials on Wednesday pulled the plug on the June 19 referendum on a proposed city of South Fulton.
Election organizers said Gov. Sonny Perdue had not signed legislation calling for the election in time for them to issue the call and meet state legal guidelines to advertise the vote.
The delay means a vote can’t be held until September at the earliest. Any further delays would imperil elections that are now still set for November, if voters approve the new city.
Advocates for incorporation say they will adjust accordingly.
“I don’t think this hurts us at all,” said George Nicholson, a contractor who’s helping organize the city. “It does give us more time to educate the public on the new city.”
While the South Fulton election is off, there still will be a cityhood referendum on June 19 for the proposed city of Chattahoochee Hill Country.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Johns Creek
Where should second airport be built?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Federal officials Tuesday planted the seeds for a second commercial airport in metro Atlanta, and in doing so, launched what will likely be a long-running debate about where it should be located.
“Now is the time for Atlanta to consider having multiple commercial airports,” U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters told reporters at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport as she announced a $1 million grant to study capacity expansion in Atlanta.
Peters joined Federal Aviation Administration chief Marion Blakey, who presented the results of a study that found major U.S. cities must expand their airports or build new ones in the next 20 years to keep pace with an ever-increasing demand for air travel. Blakey said the nation might need to build up to four more major commercial airports during the next three decades.
“Atlanta, Chicago, Las Vegas and San Diego are among the likely candidates,” Blakey wrote in the preface of the FAA report, “Capacity Needs in the National Airspace System.”
Hartsfield-Jackson currently is the world’s busiest airport, with about 86 million passengers a year — but one reason it is so busy is that, unlike in some other major metro areas, it is the lone commercial airport for the region.
Read the full story by AJC reporter Jim Tharpe
Permalink | Comments (5) | Categories: Milton
How’s the fire service in Johns Creek
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On Friday, a new fire department will start to fight fires in the young city of Milton.
That will leave nearby Johns Creek, another new city, as the only place in north Fulton County protected by firefighters and paramedics with the Fulton County Fire Department.
Now some question whether Johns Creek should speed up efforts to roll out its own fire trucks, too.
Although the average response time citywide is about 6 minutes, it can take 11 minutes for county emergency workers to reach some parts of Johns Creek. That’s nearly three times what the National Fire Protection Association recommends.
“The city is doing the best they can, but is it good enough?” said Stan Stanfill, a retired DeKalb County paramedic. He worked on a task force that studied how to start a department in Johns Creek.
Evan Vayhinger, a longtime volunteer firefighter who lives in Johns Creek, wants the city to create a fire department sooner rather than later. The city has a contract with Fulton County to provide fire protection through 2008, but Mayor Mike Bodker has suggested that Johns Creek start a fire department by next February.
“We haven’t had that many bad situations,” he said. “But if you roll the dice enough times, you lose some time.”
The issue of fire protection in Johns Creek came up in a meeting between city and county officials last week. City staffers were concerned because the staffing levels dipped slightly at three county fire stations that protect Johns Creek, a violation of the fire-protection contract between Johns Creek and Fulton County. County officials promised to resolve the problem in a couple of weeks.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Johns Creek
Portman won’t appeal, so what’s next step?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Architect John Portman is not taking Sandy Springs to court over the right to build a 27,000 square foot house with elements rising 80 feet into the air. The deadline for appealing the April decision by the Board of Zoning Appeals passed on Saturday.
The question now is what will his next step be. He could build a house that only rises 40 feet above ground.
He could also sell the 12-acre site on Northside Drive.
Check back for updates.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Sandy Springs
Update on renaming Roswell Road
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A question on the city’s Web site asking residents to suggest new names for Sandy Springs’ main drag (Roswell Road) has started garnering some attention.
Residents have added “Sandy Springs Parkway,” “Sandy Springs Drive,” “Spring Weather Road,” “Terrapin Road,” and “Galambos Avenue” to the already-posed suggestions of “Sandy Springs Boulevard” and “Main Street.”
At their work session, a few weeks ago, the Sandy Springs City Council asked for residents’ suggestions in whether they would want to see Roswell Road renamed in hopes of jump starting an upgrade to the entire corridor.
When NorthSide.Talk asked this question, 70 percent of you said you wanted Roswell Road to keep its name.
You can voice your opinon to the city. But first, let NorthSide.Talk know one thing: are these suggestions moving in the right direction?
Permalink | Comments (16) | Categories: Sandy Springs
.JPG)
-1.JPG)
Services »
