Building a city from scratch, as the people of Johns Creek did in 2006, is an opportunity in how to do government right: no sacred cows, no traditions of secrecy, no "this is the way we've always done it."

Mike Bodker, who led the campaign for cityhood and now is Johns Creek's first mayor, believes his north Fulton city is doing government right. Johns Creek has an active Web site with extensive information on its comprehensive land-use plan, a variety of budget and other financial documents and a calendar of all public meetings for months to come.

In addition, the city has taken the unusual step of creating a call center that takes question or complaint calls from citizens 24 hours a day. "It's always answered by a human being," Bodker said, adding that the center handles about 2,700 calls a month.

"I'm always looking for ways to make our government more available to the people," Bodker said. "Sometimes that's all about convenience, and a lot of times that's about transparency. I constantly ask for more information to be placed on the Web and in our packets before meetings, so that the public is better informed and can help us make a better decision."

He notes that "if 10 people have exactly the same amount of information, there's a good chance they'll all make the same decision."

Bodker gets high marks among his constituents for a mayoralty that is scarcely 15 months old.

"I think what makes him special is he expects and demands citizen participation," says resident Katie Keeney, who lives with her family in Johns Creek. "He really wants the city to be put together by its residents, not just by the leaders. The whole point of forming the city of Johns Creek was to have more local influence, to have more voice in what goes on."

Bodker says his constituents —-with a population of 65,000, Johns Creek is the state's 10th-largest city —- force him to be on his game. More than 44 percent hold at least a bachelor's degree (the state average is 23 percent), and median household income is $150,000, more than double the metro average of $67,100.

"These can be very demanding citizens," Bodker said. "They don't have to just accept an answer on its face. They challenge the answer, and that makes us, in my mind, a better government."

Bodker says the city tries to answer open-records requests as quickly as possible and has even anticipated some of them and made the information available before the request was made. He has, he said, been on the other end of an open-records request, and he didn't always like the experience.

"I've filed some in my lifetime, and I've seen that some governments look for any excuse they can to drag their feet —- almost as if it's a personal affront that someone asked," Bodker said. "I say, 'Look, these are the people we serve.' "