RIP Granny Ruth Cameron and a few upcoming Dunwoody meetings.

Ruth Cameron & Kristin Heneghan

I hope everyone had a relaxing holiday season as we contemplate returning to the grindstone of everyday life and like many parents we start preparing our children for their return to school after the long break.

The Heneghan family experienced the loss of my wife's 99 year old grandmother, Ruth Cameron and if you know my bride or have ever had the pleasure of meeting Kristin's mother "Woodle"; you could guess that the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree in this family as Granny Ruth was an incredible lady who lived a very full life.  We celebrated her memorial services in two states over the break as my boys learned first hand that death is part of life and that no one lives forever but they also learned about the deep bonds of love that it means to be apart of this wonderful family. 

Please allow me to share with you the poem that Granny Ruth Cameron wrote and Kristin had the privilege of reading at the funeral.

WELCOME HOME
For those I loved, and for those who loved me,
When I am gone, release me, let me go,
I have so many things to see and do,
You musn't tie yourself to me with tears,
Be happy that we had so many years.
I gave you my love, you can only guess
How much you gave to me in happiness
I thank you for the love each of you have shown
But now it's time I traveled on alone,
So grieve awhile for me, if grieve you must
Then let your grief be comforted by trust
It's only for awhile we must part
So bless the memories that lie within your heart
I won't be far away, for life goes on
So if you need me, call and I will come
Though you can't see me or touch me, I'll be near
But if you listen with your heart
You'll hear all of my love around you soft and clear
And then when you come this way alone
I'll greet you with a smile and welcome home.
-Ruth Cameron

Upcoming Dunwoody Meetings & Events

This morning (Monday), I will be joining the Chamber of Commerce at the Teacher of the Year breakfast to honor our best, brightest and most creative teachers from area schools and hope to have photos up tomorrow.

Tuesday Night's Dunwoody Zoning Board of Appeals meeting will be interesting to me and many others as All Saints Catholic Church is in front of the board for variances needed for the proposed new church. The meeting starts at 7 pm and it will be live streamed and available here.

Saturday, January 10: Post Holiday Electronic Recycling Extravaganza at Northlake Mall

Dunwoody Homeowners Association's annual meeting is next Sunday, Jan. 11 at 2pm at the Kingsley Swim/Tennis clubhouse. Yearly recap, awards, speeches, New City Manager, State Legislative preview & DeKalb School System Update.

City Council Meeting on Monday January 12th where we will be discussing code revisions to Land Development, Zoning and Building Regulations as well as many other interesting topics.

Dunwoody Elementary School - Prospective Parent Night is Thursday, January 22nd at 6:00pm in the cafeteria, immediately following the PTO General Membership Meeting. This is a wonderful opportunity for new parents to get to know our school.

On February 7, 2015, Saint Luke’s Presbyterian Church is hosting the 2015 Tartan Trot 5K/10K race where an anticipated 1,500 runners will gather to the sound of bagpipes to compete. Audra over the AHA Connection has a discount code for $5.00 off.

The City of Dunwoody, the Rotary Club of Dunwoody, and the Dunwoody Chamber of Commerce are proud to announce the sixth annual State of the City event on Thursday, February 12th at the Crowne Plaza Ravinia Hotel.

Dunwoody City Council Planning Retreat - tentatively scheduled for Friday, February 20th probably at a local hotel. The "retreat" in case you are not aware is just a fancy name of an all day work session discussing a huge list of topics where we set the legislative priorities for the coming year. This one meeting reviews the last year puts into place the 2015 work & priority list for council and staff to attempt to achieve. With Mr. Eric Linton coming on as our new City Manager this week, this annual retreat meeting was pushed back a bit but I expect this will be very similar to other years.

Here is the agenda from the January 2014 meeting as we had presentations on changing city demographics, possible fire protection changes, city survey results and intersection improvement timelines. There is no telling what will be on the February agenda but guessing that with DeKalb thinking about County Wide changes in sanitation services, I figure this topic will be discussed. With the passing of revisions to the Dunwoody Charter in HB 1109, a group of four council members could now create a Dunwoody Fire Department and I can tell you that this scenario should never be taken lightly as it is an expensive endeavor to even consider.

The City Council has expressed an interest in exploring service delivery options to try to improve fire services for Dunwoody by locally controlling the tax rate and service levels provided to the community. To date, the City Council has not voted to nor implied any intent to change providers for Fire services. As with a variety of services, the Council, from time to time will investigate options.

I am of the opinion that we do not need to rush into any changes on fire protection and that a detailed multifaceted analysis would need to be conducted, published and well vetted by all parties. As this decision will be impossible to reverse and would not need to be done on a short time frame, it may be a good candidate for a citizen referendum prior to council approval if it were ever proposed?