Dunwoody council delays vote on city services

This evening the city council decided to table any votes on the CH2MHill or Boyken proposals until they can be compared side to side on Monday at our next work session. Depending availability of the room, Monday's work session and Tuesday's voting meeting will both be held at Peachtree Middle School.

I have uploaded the audio of the meeting (some comments were hard to hear) as well as additional documents provided by the Acting City Attorney prior to the meeting that were intended to be discussed this evening.

Monday's work session should be a comparison of both proposals attempting to look at the various levels of service being offered by CH2MHill vs the services possible under the Boyken hybrid model, and the costs / risks associated with each.

By APRIL HUNT for the AJC
Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Dunwoody’s new council delayed action Wednesday night on how to provide city services, weighing whether to hire a private firm to handle the work or blend outside consultants with city employees.

The council met for its first voting session Wednesday night to adopt ordinances and to approve a city seal. But it was the question of how to provide city services that loomed over several public comments and the future of the new city.

A private management firm, CH2M Hill, has been negotiating with a nonprofit city group for months in a bid to privatize city operations. But on Sunday, a second firm, Boyken International, submitted a hybrid proposal. Council members just received the 60-plus pages of the Boyken plan Tuesday.

“Most of the council hasn’t had a chance to read it yet,” said Councilman Tom Taylor, who pushed for the proposals to be part of a work session next week. Speaking of the CH2M Hill and Boyken proposals, Taylor said, “We need time to review them side-by-side.”

Dunwoody officially becomes a city Dec. 1. Voters last month elected five new council members and a mayor, while a runoff for the sixth and final council seat is scheduled to be held Oct. 14.

Three of the five new council members were active in Citizens for Dunwoody, a group that advocated cityhood. That group has been negotiating with CH2M Hill to run the city and has recommended that the council hire the company to provide services, such as public safety and planning and zoning.

But in a meeting Sunday, Dunwoody officials said the CH2M Hill deal appeared to put the city $2 million in the red over the next three years.

Boyken’s counter-proposal calls for the city to hire department heads who would contract with the firm for services. This plan supposedly would save the city nearly $7 million during the same time period.

The council meets in work session at 7 p.m. Monday at Peachtree Middle School. Its next regular meeting will be at 7 p.m. Oct. 6th at the school.