Dunwoody City Council Agenda for Monday December 15, 2025 (Zaxby's, Capital projects financial closeout, Discover Dunwoody Budget, Audit Services, Chamber A/V Upgrades)

DUNWOODY CITY COUNCIL 
Monday, December 15, 2025
6:00 PM
DUNWOODY CITY HALL - DUNWOODY HALL
4800 ASHFORD DUNWOODY ROAD
DUNWOODY, GA 30338

Agenda 6 pm  - City Site Agenda

City Council meetings are live-streamed on the City of Dunwoody’s Facebook page.

They are also available for viewing (no two way communication) on Zoom,
https://dunwoodyga-gov.zoom.us/j/85998548170 or  phone +14702509358,,85998548170#

You can access the video after the meeting on the City of Dunwoody’s YouTube page.

Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance

PUBLIC COMMENTS - Public Comment allows the City Council the opportunity to listen to the public (3 minutes per speaker / 30 minutes total).

City Manager's Report

Retreat Deliverables / Year in Review (J. Jay Vinicki)

Contract for Internal Audit Services 

Capital Project Closeout and Reallocate Funding

Discover Dunwoody Budget

Amendment to Municipal Contract adding Finance Person (Eric Linton)

SECOND READ: Zaxby's SLUP 25-02, 125 Perimeter Center W: Request for a Special Land Use Permit for a drive-through (Madalyn Smith)

MOU Between Park Place at Dunwoody (EDENS), LLC and Dunwoody Police Department for Shared Cameras (Chief Carlson)

Purchase for Council Chambers Audio/Visual (A/V) Upgrades (Ginger LePage)

Contract for External Audit Services

Dunwoody City Council Meeting Video - 2024 Budget & Beyond Conversation

https://vimeo.com/875221798

The Dunwoody City Council met on October 16th to have the first 2024 Budget hearing and handle other business. As most residents only learn of what happens at Council meetings via second hand news reports, I thought I would highlight what I thought was an important meeting, primarily as we discussed the future financial plans of the city.  The second read and scheduled vote on the 2024 Budget will be happening at our next meeting, Monday October 30th.

Here is a link to the proposed 2024 Budget that cleared the budget committee.
https://jkheneghan.com/city/meetings/2023/Oct/10162023_Budget_Hearing.pdf

I have uploaded the meeting video to my server space and I will highlight a few conversations that I think you should watch; not that I am purposely skipping any other topics, participants, Mayor or Council-member statements or other public commenters as not being relevant; please do watch the entire meeting.  Mayor Deutsch and Stacey Harris both gave touching remarks regarding the horrific events happening in Israel, the support of the community and the Dunwoody Police Department.

Please go to the Vimeo page to watch the meeting video, and if you click the "Read More" link you will see the same description and text as I state below, but the beauty is that the meeting time stamps are active and you can watch that segment without scrolling through.  Closed Captioning is also available, just click the CC in the bottom right corner.  I hope this is recap is informational.

In Public Comment, at 6:22 Bob Hickey highlights the need to prioritize police spending and asks us how we are going to rectify deficit spending not only this year but in the coming future. This gentleman's public comment was very germane to the 20224 Budget Hearing and discussions that we were going to have later in the evening on what the Council's plan is for addressing the long term structural deficit.

At 09:20 residents Michael Rock and Erika Harris (both people I know and respect) gave two very different pro-bond statements with Erika asking for the city to spread more bond information with a direct mailer to every resident.

In the City Manager report there is an item where a resident waited an hour for emergency transport and after waiting an extended time, the mother decided to drive their child to the hospital.  Deputy Chief addressed my concern and a bit later at 40:49 Mayor Deutsch followed up with the Deputy Chief regarding an additional dedicated ambulance.

At 45:52 Finance Director Richard Platto starts his presentation and discusses the budget process and the numbers. At 1:09:47 Council member Stacey Harris, who served as this years Budget Committee Chair, described what the budget committee (Harris, Seconder & Heneghan) did and our thoughts on expanding the police department and providing raises in 2024 (that are not currently budgeted). Council member Robert Price asked a follow up question and we discussed the assessor's valuations and estimated tax digest when released in May.

At 1:17:40 Councilman Tom Lambert discusses the budget, the need for community investment, an analogy to the Atlanta Beltline which raised the tax digest in that area was made, with the thoughts that same tax digest bump could happen here in Dunwoody thereby, slowing or reversing the structural deficit.

At 1:27:30 Councilman Heneghan questions the Finance Director on revenue breakdowns (Residential / Commercial / Office). Heneghan discusses the city financial outlook as he sees it, locked revenue streams, concern over office vacancy rates, police funding (both the lack of raises and the additional number of officers needed as per professional analysis), the anticipated administrative contract raises in 2026, and finally his concerns over the $3.3 million dollars in the 2024 budget (on top of what might be approved in the $60 million dollar bond) being banked to fund multi-use (10 - 12 ft) paths in front of single family homes. Council member Heneghan agreed with investments in the community are needed especially as related to parks but wishes that Council split the bond referendum into two questions.  He like the Finance Director has concerns moving forward and he stated that we have work to do.

At 1:34:33 Mayor Deutsch confirmed with the Finance Director that the $3.3 million being set aside for paths in front of single family homes in this budget is from Capital funds and not Operational funds, therefore can not be used to fund additional police or provide raises.  She then went on to discuss if there was ever a drastic downturn (worst case scenario) that budget cuts could be made, she stated that we will take care of our police officers, she would hire 10 more officers tomorrow if we could, she discussed using more non-sworn officers.  She discussed the work she is doing at the State Capital regarding EMS & ambulance service rules to free up officer time.  She discusses police hiring, retention as a priority, as hiring officers is very difficult. Mayor Deutsch discussed office vacancies, she too has concerns but also sees glimmers of hope.

At 2:08:05 Councilman Seconder outlines how the City staff will work with residents directly affected by City projects. He read a statement from a homeowner who wants the 10 - 12 foot shared use path in their front yard.

At 2:13:30 the Mayor closes the meeting with comments that if the HOST & SPLOST ballot items don't pass, that your tax bill will go up.  She had an interesting comparison between Sandy Springs and Dunwoody Tax bills which shows the differences of Fulton vs DeKalb and then the special financing requirements placed on Dunwoody during incorporation.  The Mayor said that we will need to look closely at the fiscal reality that the City is in, reviewing the restrictions of incorporation and the promises made at the start of the city.

Video of Dunwoody City Council Meeting and Legislative Town Hall of March 10, 2014

City Council Video of March 10

Video

March 10, 2014 Representative Mike Jacobs and Senator Fran Millar Town Hall

Video of Dunwoody City Council meetings of Feb 24, 2014

6 pm Work Session Video

7 pm Voting Meeting

FYI: uploading over 3 hours of video to YouTube takes some time but I personally like the results plus I do not have the issue of older videos being deleted from the system over time because of the quota limits on the last service I was using. 

Video of the January 27, 2014 Dunwoody City Council Meeting

 

 Video - 6 pm

Video - 7 pm

Video of Dunwoody City Council Meeting of Jan 2nd 2014

Video

Swearing in of Jim Riticher, Denny Shortal & Doug Thompson by Georgia Supreme Court Justice David Nahmias.  Election of Denny Shortal as Mayor Pro Tem.

Various Dunwoody Updates, Monday meeting, website, animals, electronics and park design.

An extraordinary amount of poise and class was exerted by the Chesnut Charter Elementary students who each came to the podium to exalt the benefits of city wide emergency sirens.  Sadly the same can't be said by some others who were in the room and should have been taking lessons from these kids.

In many ways Monday's meeting was like many others, we listened to various presentations, reviewed and voted as needed.  Strong opinions filled the air, some factual, some emotional - all valid to the person expressing the opinion and we listened to what was being said.  The streaming video kept being knocked off line but there are seven segments that were recorded and they can be found here.

One of the items presented to Council was the webpage redesign presentation whereby at the December meeting there will be a contract presented to the winning firm of Jesse James Creative, Inc. and here is a copy of the powerpoint outlining the proposal and our request. If you are in web design please feel free to comment on the proposal and the firm's work.

The firm provided a few examples of their work and I see a few nice touches but also some limitations.  Everyone of the pages has a search bar so I searched "Jesse James" looking for their contract or city council action and only found limited information at best.  The backend of the city will still be tied to SIRE for documents as will the video streaming and it is my hope that the last five years of documents will be indexed and searchable through the new front end being designed by Jesse James.  I am also told that Sire may be upgrading the Video package in January that might be moving away from Silverlight?

http://visitpagosasprings.com

http://edinamn.gov

http://www.cityofcheney.org

http://unicefinnovation.org

Do you remember the discussion on the total number of animals to be allowed in the home?  Here is the proposed replacement ordinance which I believe hits to the heart of the problem attempting to be solved.

As far as animals, I received an email this evening with a photo showing a coyote wandering around on Andover Dr in Dunwoody North so please take appropriate action.

As I will be stepping away from the computer for a few days... On Saturday there will be an electronics recycling event, then on Tuesday there will be a meeting as to what amenities should be included in the park at Shallowford and Pernoshal.  I think a few active basketball courts would work well as we tore down one hoop to build out the 16 acre pipefarm.  The park will be situated on the Brook Run Trail immediately between two playgrounds made for children therefore I would like to see some amenities that are not available at the other two parks.

Also on Saturday, Ms. Bobbi Sedam of the Friends of Brook Run Park Dunwoody will be conducting a work day at 10 am to meet at the entrance to the multiuse trail off the parking lot behind the skate park at Brook Run. Bring your hoe, rake, gloves, water bottles, clippers if you have them and your terrific selves. She will bring hot apple cider, hot chocolate, pumpkin bread and Kleenex......it will be cold.

Video of the October 14th Dunwoody City Council Meeting.

6 pm - CAD 2 CAD

7 pm - First three hours.

10 pm - last hour and a half.

The Dunwoody City Council started at 6 for a quick meeting, followed by executive session on real estate followed by the main meeting that started at 7 and finally ended about 11:30.  It was along night.

Council approved the Zoning Code Rewrite with some minor edits taking out the restrictions on animals and added a few clarifying points that were not substantive. We approved a minor GDOT item and everything else was discussion item preparing for the vote in two weeks.  We discussed the Dunwoody Village Parkway, Georgetown Renaissance Project, Brook Run Trail, City Budget and a Spruill Center Ground Lease whereby a new 6 story hotel will be built just off Ashford Dunwoody near Wal-Mart.  

The items added by Councilwoman Bonser regarding an ethics hearing and her reimbursement were removed from the agenda by her at the last minute.

Video of the Dunwoody City Council - September 23, 2013

 

 Video - everything except three deferred items approved.

Items in Red Deferred.

Appointment of the Internal Auditor.

Approval of Agreement with ConnectSouth for Georgia.

Approval of Audit Committee Appointment Nominations.

Approval of Request from Dunwoody Homeowners Association for Continuation of City Co-Sponsorship for Food Truck Thursdays.

Resolution for the Purchase of the Final Tract ("C") of the 19 Acre Property.

Award of 2013 Neighborhood Paving Contract.

Award of Contract for the Roof Replacement at the North DeKalb Cultural Arts Center.

SECOND READ: Ordinance to Approve the Lease of the Property Located at 4555 North Shallowford Road.

Deferred Discussion of Marta Bus Shelter Agreement. Attorney / Client privileged memo presented by City Atty to Council and second legal review specializing in subject is currently reviewing for possible next steps. 

Deferred Appointing Members to Serve on Dunwoody Alcohol License Review Board.

Resolution Appointing Members to Serve on Convention & Visitors Bureau of Dunwoody.

Deferred Appointing Members to Serve on Dunwoody Construction Board of Appeals.

Special Called Zoning Rewrite Meeting of the Dunwoody City Council - Videos and Recap.

The Dunwoody City Council met for 3 and a half hours for the first read of the zoning rewrite and we only got partially through the task.  We covered primarily the Staff Memo which highlights the recommendations presented by both the Community Council & Planning Commission.

Video

Video - Part 2

I was too busy flipping through various documents and questioning the various proposals as they were presented so I do not have detailed notes but here are a few of the highlights.

The Tree Ordinance is only applicable for development (construction) when needing a permit therefore the proposed tree ordinance does not affect the individual homeowner who just wants to remove a tree.  On the flip side it still allows an individual to clear his entire lot but it protects us from development who wants to clear the land without taking the trees into consideration.

I believe it was the will of council (no actual votes were taken) to limit Concurrent Variances but to use them as presented under the large scale "Planned Development" projects which would be mixed use and include a housing aspect.  There was an interesting item as to what size of acreage is needed for a "Planned  Development".   If it was 10 acres there might be more of them as they would be easier to do but if the minimum requirement was 25 acres as originally presented then City Council would be deferring more items back to the ZBA (as most intend to do by limiting as the Concurrent Variances in the first place) because the threshold was set high.  Discussion was has that the larger acreage requirement for the "Planned Development" might spur a higher quality development (Large Mall vs Strip Mall) but less of them.  No definitive final answer was determined on that issue but I stated publicly that I wanted a larger area requirement over less as I believed this "Planned Development" zoning class should be very special and not the norm.

The requirements for outside storage of boats and RV's will stay the same whereby you will need to be 20 feet away from your neighbors property line. I was looking for a middle of the road solution to include screening (8 foot fence) but there was little support for the topic.

We had a Stream Buffer item that semi approved an allowance to rebuild the same construction (replacing the deck) up to the 50 ft stream buffer line without going back to ZBA but there is also a chance that this will be reverted back to the 75 ft mark allowing the ZBA more review, as we are still receiving public comment asking us to do so.

Pet limitations (both in numbers and types) was a hot topic and city staff will be going back to the drawing board on that proposed ordinance with the direction to not ban any specific dog breeds.  Icky snakes might be allowed too?  Council asked staff to better define the problem caused by pets and then address the issue head on if needed at all.

The Mayor set the time limit at the start of the meeting and we ran out of time before we got to discuss home occupations and our other misc items, therefore they will be discussed (at least partially) at next Monday's  regularly scheduled meeting.   I am stressing to council and staff that we need to take our time with this review and allow the various items to be fully vetted.  Another Special Called meeting is probably in the works?

A friend and neighbor who served on the Dunwoody Zoning Sounding Board told me that I made misleading statements in my blog post from yesterday where I touched upon some of the possible hot button issues in the zoning rewrite.   In that post, I attempted to lay out the concerns as I saw them and as it was reported by others. In an attempt to equal out the conversation, I offer you the no spin, hype free version of the rewrite from a member of the Zoning Sounding Board who has spent many hours working on these documents.

Zoning Rewrite Hype-Free Zone: What does it really say?

The newly-revised zoning ordinances are easy to read. Yet, so many have no idea what is in them. Or worse - they do know and continue to distribute misinformation about both the words and intent.

Read more at the link above and please weigh on the items we discussed or will discuss as Council is listening.   Thanks.

DeKalb Fire Chief O'Brien visits Dunwoody to discuss ambulance changes and an overall meeting recap.

Presentation of DeKalb Fire Chief, Edward O'Brien

Video of Chief O'Brien is shown at about the 15 min mark on the following video link.
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/35550351

Video two    http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/35556011

The audio from the meetings are rather poor but it works if you turn your volume way up.

Recap - everything officially presented (Ashford Dunwoody Hotel items) were passed but the discussion items are telling as it gives the city staff an idea on where the council is leaning for approval items at the next meeting.    General Emergency Notification Sirens look to be going nowhere soon with only me and Councilman Shortal in strong support but lightning detection for large open areas (like used at Murphy Candler) has full council approval and will be researched by staff.  The Tree Atlanta item looks promising for passage but a discussion on fruit trees not being a part of the project at all for planting in our parks where we already have an orchard doesn't make sense to me.  Design number 2 on the Mt. Vernon Vermack intersection was selected.  The cost of GIS maps are going up soon.  Building construction standards for four story buildings are being proposed to be toughened.  Public Safety Video Surveillance will be passed, the election IGA has more questions than answers and finally Alcohol in the parks will pass.

Dunwoody Council Video May 13 - Berman Commons Assisted Living Facility approved, Ashford Dunwoody hotel returned to Planning Commission, Food Truck Thursday Approved, make the streets of Dunwoody woody.

Video

Monday night was a work session with numerous item up for discussion and had just a couple of left over items from the last meeting to vote upon.  We Approved of the Berman Commons Assisted Living Facility on Womack with the conditions originally stated in the application.  With the recent ethics ordinance, we appointed two new alternate board members and reappointed two others.

The rezoning for the hotel on Ashford Dunwoody was remanded back to the Planning Commission for numerous reasons and I questioned whether the application process was fatally flawed enough to where the applicant should be required to resubmit a new application and go though the full cycle of a public meeting, community council, planning commission and then on to the city council.  In my opinion, the lack of substantive documents (deed to curb cut) in the original application, followed by numerous major cite changes along with errors in the application, raised enough questions in my mind as to the validity of the submission, and therefore should be forced to start over.  That being said, I am keeping an open mind and look forward to see where this is going and what will be submitted to the planning commission.

Dunwoody Food Truck Thursday was approved so mark your calendar for next Thursday, May 23rd at Brook Run from 6 to 9 pm.   Community - Food - Music is the tagline so please check it out on the last day of school.  (interested in providing food or music, contact Bettie at (404) 754-3211)

 The North DeKalb Fire Authority discussion centered around the pros and cons of joining together with our adjoining sister cities in DeKalb vs the cost and control of doing fire services our self.   A preliminary analysis of just a Dunwoody Fire Department was deemed as it being too expensive but if we go forward with a professional analysis of joining with other cities, Council recommended a professional analysis of what a Dunwoody Fire Department would cost at an appropriate level of service.   Point to remember, most people including council like DeKalb Fire Services but with tax increases in the fire district along with reductions in the level of service, we owe it to the residents to explore all options; and that is what we are doing.

We had a good discussion on the facilities improvement partnership program and will approve what was submitted but most of the discussion centered around those who did not apply, why they didn't apply and what needs do they have.

Finally, it my guess that we will approve Phase II of the Brook Run Trail to match phase I to be a 12 foot concrete path completing a 1.5 mile circular path all the way around the perimeter of Brook Run through the trees.  This discussion then morphed into the city's no net loss of trees policy whereby we will replace onto city property the same number of trees we removed.  Because Brook Run and our other parks would never be able to accept all of the trees, I mentioned that the city should explore a tree planting program throughout the city whereby residents could request a tree be planted in front of their house, but within the city right of way which is actually still considered city property.   After researching this subject, I believe the City of Chicago does this program as I imagined it and they even allow the resident (together with the City Arborist) to pick the type of tree.  Thoughts?

Video and recap of April 22 Dunwoody City Council Meeting

 Video - first 20 mins

Video - Most of meeting 

Recap - major item on agenda the Berman Commons Assisted Living Facility was deferred until the next meeting for council needing more information not available in city packet.  Everything else was passed as presented.

Dunwoody Council Recap for April 1, 2013

The Dunwoody City Council held a few meetings on Monday evening, a 6 pm work session to discuss the Georgia Emergency Management Grant followed by Exec Session, followed by the 7 pm voting meeting.  I shot video but the site was not when I got home so not sure if they took.  The links are below.

6 p.m. - http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/30755975

7 p.m. - http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/30757877

Basically everything passed as presented and the Ethics Ordinance was finalized with minor tweaks.

Proclamation - World Autism Awareness Day.

SECOND READ - Ordinance to Amend the 2012 Operating Budgets. Passed

Amendment of City Position Allocation and Compensation Chart Related to the Public Works Director Position.  Passed

Sidewalk Improvement Plan Update. Budget Amendment coming soon for Hensley & Mt. Vernon Way.

Award of Design Contract for Mount Vernon/Vermack Intersection Improvement. Passed

Approval of Georgia Emergency Management Agency Grant. Passed

SECOND READ: Ordinance to Amend Chapter 2, Administration, Article VIII, Ethics. Passed with few edits including Ethics Board being only the Jury and not directly questioning witnesses.  Ethics Board will be retrained prior to Moratorium being lifted.

Resolution to Extend the Ethics Ordinance Moratorium - 90 days.  Pulled - not needed.

Update on Project Renaissance- Construction starting very soon.

Dunwoody City Council Meeting Video from Feb 11, 2013

Video

Meeting recap, here is the Agenda - everything was a discussion with no actual votes.  Lots of spirited communication both among Council and from those attending.

Dunwoody Mayor announces Krystal Corporate HQ move and city passes False Alarm Ordinance - video

Meeting Video

Recap: Three new police officers were sworn in, Mayor Davis announces Krystal Corporate Headquarters moving to Dunwoody, everything on agenda passed as submitted except that a minor change was made to the Alarm Ordinance prior to final approval. Only alarms that are registered with an alarm monitoring company are now required to be registered with the City.  There is no registration fee for residential alarms ($25 for commercial alarms) but other fees kick in for failing to register and numerous false alarms where police are called out.

Dunwoody passes resolution for Ethics Ordinance Moratorium

Monday was a long night with much City Council discussion and just one vote; whereby we put into place a 90 day moratorium on the filing of ethics complaints and this was done to only change the way these items are handled, not to change the ethical rules in which we strive to operate.  Much of the discussion on ethics took place at the 6 pm meeting shown below and that is also where the 911 CAD to CAD item was again updated.  It was brought out in open discussion in the work session and the main meeting that there is another recent ethics charge that the city is dealing with and that we will follow the original ethics ordinance in its handling.

Work Session 6 pm - poor sound quality

Council discussed numerous other things like the alarm ordinance, court probation fees, the City purchasing policy and other things whereby there were either no or very minor changes to what was presented.  Council decided the next big intersection to be funded for complete design plans will be Vermack / Mt. Vernon with the intersection of Chamblee Dunwoody / Spalding receiving just preliminary design funding along with outreach with the community and Sandy Springs.

7 pm meeting video

My video limit is 3 hours per recording, therefore a second and much shorter video clip was needed to record the complete meeting.

7 pm meeting still going strong at 10 pm

Video of December 10th Dunwoody City Council Meeting

Video - most of meeting

Video - end of meeting public comments

Dunwoody Budget Discussions - Womack Vermack Roundabout and Brook Run Dog Park

At Monday's Dunwoody City Council Meeting several items were voted upon which surprised a few people, though as budgetary items they were fair game at the final vote of the budget.  The items below were both budget amendments to remove funding for specific projects or to remove funding for a specific aspect of a project.

The amendment to remove funding of the Womack Vermack roundabout was successful and the amendment to remove the funding needed to move the dog park to a better suited location until a decision could be made by Council if they wanted to close the dog park, failed to pass.

 Video

Video - (Dog Park issue starts about 2 min in)

Video of the Oct 29th Dunwoody City Council Meeting

Video

Recap to the best of my memory.

Modified: Amend the 2012 Operating and Capital Budgets
Womack Vermack Roundabout removed from the 2012 budget amendment

Modified: Adopt the 2013 Annual Operating and Capital Budgets
Womack Vermack Roundabout removed from the 2013 budget.
Prisoner Transport Approved
DEA Officer rejected
Crime Response - Traffic Team added
Discussion of Closing Dog Park rejected - moving approved
3 percent employee raise

Deferred the City Council 2013 Meeting Schedule.

Approved Items Below
Approval of Facility Use Agreements with Affiliated Programming Partners.
a. Stage Door Players
b. Dunwoody Nature Center
c. Dunwoody Senior Baseball
d. Handweavers
e. Spruill Center
f. Dunwoody Preservation Trust / Donaldson Bannister

Approval of Park Rental Fees.
Resolution of Support for the I-285 @ GA 400 Interchange
Approval of Agreement with ConnectSouth for Georgia Legislative Support.

 Approved RZ 12-101: Pursuant to the City of Dunwoody Zoning Ordinance, Walton Ashwood, LLC, Owner of 1000 Ashwood Parkway, Seeks Permission to Rezone Property Currently Zoned Office-Institution Conditional (O-Ic) to Office-Institution Conditional (O-Ic) to Allow for a Change of Previous Conditions.

Approved RZ 12-102: Pursuant to the City of Dunwoody Zoning Ordinance, Charles P. Stephens, Owner of 1725 Mount Vernon Road, Seeks Permission to Rezone Property Currently Zoned Office-Institution Conditional (O-Ic) to Office-Institution Conditional (O-Ic) to Allow for a Change of Previous Conditions.