Dunwoody turns one year old

By Ralph Ellis

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Dunwoody has generally gotten high marks since its official formation on Dec. 1, 2008. It is the fifth new city created in metro Atlanta in four years and the only one outside Fulton County.

The city of 40,000 residents and occupies 13 square miles in the northernmost tip of DeKalb County, just off I-285. The major landmark is Perimeter Center Mall. Many corporations have offices in Dunwoody.

Dana Kisala said police presence has improved in the year since Dunwoody stopped being part of unincorporated DeKalb County and became a municipality.

“There doesn’t seem to be as much speeding,” said Kisala, as she played with her 2-year-old daughter at Brook Run Park. “And I have friends who say if their home alarms go off the response by police is faster.”

Beth Broen, a long-time resident, said the city repairs things quicker than the county did.

“We’re getting our roads fixed and our lights fixed,” she said.  “You can just recognize it all over.”

Despite the good feelings about independence, Dunwoody still hasn’t finalized its divorce from DeKalb County.

One of the biggest unresolved issues is ownership of the 102-acre Brook Run Park and other county-owned properties. Council member Adrian Bonser said negotiations with the county came to a standstill, but Keith Barker, DeKalb’s chief operating officer, doesn’t see it that way.

Barker says the county presented the city with a reasonable offer for the properties.  “The city may feel they have a legislative remedy they may force on the county,” he added.

Dunwoody leaders said a bill died in last year’s legislature that would have called for the city to pay DeKalb $100 per acre and $5,000 per facility. Such a bill might be reintroduced.

The city is also defining its relationship with the massive Dunwoody Homeowners Association, which acted as a de facto municipal government for decades and has many city leaders as members. Developers regularly presented their plans to the DHA to find out if they’d face community opposition, DHA President Gordon Jackson said.

On Monday night, the city council considered requiring developers to hold “pre-submittal community meetings” with groups like DHA before approaching the city. Several people objected and the motion was voted down.

Said resident Joe Hirsch in an e-mail to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Now that we are a city, there’s no reason for a neighborhood group to have a more important voice than the other citizens. They should stand in line for public comment at the city’s meetings just like everyone else does.”

Otherwise, Hirsch said he thinks the city has worked out nicely. So does Jackson.

The founders of the five new cities -- Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Johns Creek, Milton and Chattahoochee Hills -- incorporated because of a deep dissatisfaction with the level of services delivered by the counties. All embraced privatization of government services.

Dunwoody differed from the other new cities because it did not sign a lump-sum contract with CH2M Hill, a Colorado-based company, to run city departments such as parks and public works.

Dunwoody contracted with different firms to run three departments: finance and administration, public works and community development.

“We think we saved ourselves $2 million by bidding it out separately,” said Warren Hutmacher, the Dunwoody city manager.

Dunwoody has a $14.4 million budget for 2009, with about $5.7 million of that dedicated to the police department. The 2010 budget will grow to $16.8 million, Hutmacher said. He expects the city to have built up $3 million in reserves by the end of this year.

The people who started Dunwoody want it run like a business. Mayor Ken Wright started three companies in the health care field and led Citizens for Dunwoody, the group that worked for the referendum that created the city.

“[Dunwoody] was designed to run as a business to create a surplus and at some time turn the surplus back to the citizens,” said Don Boyken, CEO of Boyken International, an Atlanta project management firm hired to help the city get off the ground.

Dunwoody doesn’t have a traditional city hall. Since May, police and city workers have operated out of the bottom two floors of a six-story, steel and glass cube in an office park just off Ashford-Dunwoody Road. The city signed a 10-year, $300,000-per-year lease on the space.

But the city and none of the other occupants are identified by exterior signage. Wright said that’s because of sign laws. He hopes directional signs will eventually be placed on the road.

Of the 100 or so people work for the city, all are contract employees except for 48 city police officers and four top administrators, including Hutmacher. Before taking this job, he worked as city manager at Avondale Estates and Norcross.

Hutmacher said goals for the upcoming years include revitalizing parts of the city, finishing the comprehensive plan and improving the city Web site so residents can interact with city hall more through their home computers.

“You should be able to do most of your business with us in your underwear,” he said.

Also in the works is a celebration of Dunwoody’s first birthday. That, Hutmacher said, will happen early next year.

Metro Atlanta's newest cities

Residents in several metro areas banded together to form new cities, largely because of dissatisifaction with county services.

Year of birth Population

Sandy Springs 2005 98,000

Milton 2006 20,000

Johns Creek 2006 70,000

Chattahoochee

Hills 2007 3,000

Dunwoody 2008 40,000