Moments after being sworn in, Brookhaven City Council took its first vote Monday night, agreeing on an acting city attorney and city clerk and negotiating leases on temporary city offices.
But it is the question of the budget that looms over the future of Georgia’s newest city: namely, whether early estimates of a narrow financial cushion will hold. The Vinson Institute projected DeKalb County’s newest city will spend $25.1 million in its first year, on revenue of $25.2 million.
“We are not going to use the entire budget in the first year,” Mayor J. Max Davis said. “And we can delay rolling out any service if there is a concern about balancing our budget.”
Neither a projected budget or a cash-flow analysis was included in the final report from the Governor’s Commission on Brookhaven, a group appointed to help the city plan its startup. The panel approved that report Sunday night, officially recommending which private firms the council should hire to provide most government services.
Price was included in the recommendations but was not the deciding factor. Severn Trent, for instance, was the top pick for handling finance and administrative work, despite a $1.7 million price tag that was the highest bid among three finalists.
“We are recommending companies based on price and ability,” said commission chairman Ben Vinson. “The decisions, and the budget, are up to them.”
The four-member council has yet to digest and debate most of the recommendations from the governor’s commission. But it did agree with several simple proposals in its first voting session. The council:
• Approved leasing a temporary city hall in Building 200 of Ashford Center North, an office complex on Ashford Dunwoody Road near Mount Vernon Road in Dunwoody. A one-year lease for 12,636 square feet will cost the city $246,402 and includes the space, fully furnished, and utilities.
• Approved leasing temporary city court space at 2 Corporate Square Boulevard, an office building on Buford Highway just north of North Druid Hills Road in Brookhaven. The one-year lease will cost $60,800. However, the 3,800-square-foot space needs furnishings and needs to be rewired for court use.
• Named Bill Riley interim city attorney. Riley, who helped guide several other new cities and serves as city attorney for Johns Creek and Sandy Springs, worked for free for the governor’s commission.
• Named Lyn Rosser as interim city clerk, after her successful stint in the same job for the commission.
Brookhaven officially opens for business Monday. Because of the short time frame, though, DeKalb County is expected to provide nearly all services as the council rolls out decisions on what vendors to hire.
The council awarded a $816,000 contract for information-technology services to InterDev, the same company that provides IT for Sandy Springs and Dunwoody. The company said it would have phone and Internet services running by Monday.
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