The AJC, by Brian Faegans
Wed, Sept 17, 2008
New cities in Georgia traditionally have started with a compulsory round of municipal midnight madness. Council members who can’t be seated until the first day of business find themselves meeting in those early minutes of cityhood, passing ordinances into the wee hours. That way the sun doesn’t rise on a lawless city.
But the Dunwoody City Council, elected Tuesday, can avoid the craziness that marked the early days of nearby cities such as Sandy Springs, Milton and Johns Creek. The bill creating the north DeKalb city of nearly 40,000 gives it an unusual head start, said Oliver Porter, an unpaid consultant who helped set up the city of Dunwoody.
Once Tuesday’s vote is certified, members will have the power to make decisions immediately rather than waiting until the first day of business Dec. 1. “We have almost three months now when they can actually make decisions and advance things,” Porter said.
Those sitting around the table will be Mayor-elect Ken Wright and Councilmen-elect Denis Shortal, Tom Taylor, Robert Wittenstein, Danny Ross and John Heneghan.
One seat — in District 2 — remains to be decided. A run-off election set for Oct. 14 pits Adrian Bonser against Larry Pankey.
Porter expects the first City Council meeting within the next couple of weeks. Here are some of the issues expected to be high on their list:
CITY SERVICES
To CH2M Hill, or not to CH2M Hill? That is the question. The Colorado-based company submitted the only bid to handle a wide array of city services — from planning & zoning to code enforcement — should the City Council decide it wants to contract them out. The exact amount of the bid is under negotiation, but skeptics have said the city can’t possibly be getting the best price if there’s no competition. They want the City Council to consider breaking up services into smaller pieces and putting them out for bid separately. Others, including Porter, say the amount has been going down during negotiations with a citizens’ group and should be more than reasonable.
TRANSFER OF SERVICES AND ASSETS FROM DEKALB COUNTY
Technically Dunwoody has a two-year cushion on this one. The county must continue providing all services, from garbage collection to police patrols, for two years. But the county also gets to set the price for things like trash pick-up. So it’s in Dunwoody’s best interest to get rolling. Some things, like access to sewer and water pipes, require little more than an intergovernmental agreement. But others, like the possible transfer of parks and a police station across from Perimeter Mall, might take longer. The two sides would have to agree on a fair price.
BUDGET
A city task force presented a cash-flow analysis last week that showed city operations will cost about $2.3 million more than the city will take in from projected taxes and fees during its first year. That doesn’t mean the city will end its first year with a deficit, Porter says. The City Council can cut costs, find new revenue sources or raise taxes.
CITY HALL
Though far from the most important issue, this one seems to get a lot of attention. Just where will the center of power in Dunwoody be? Some think leasing some of Dunwoody’s abundant office space would be practical. Others would like to see city offices occupy vacant space in a shopping center. CH2M Hill, should it get the city contract for services, has said it already has a spot in mind. One thing is clear, Heneghan said. “We can’t go out and build some marble hall with cannons out in front of it.”
ZONING
DeKalb County has placed a moratorium on new zoning requests in Dunwoody. A task force on the issue has suggested the moratorium be extended for at least 90 days once the city begins operations in December. That will give the city time to adopt zoning ordinances and set up the infrastructure to enforce them. Don’t expect a land-use plan that quickly, though. The blueprint for how the city should grow will certainly involve lots of public input.
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