Heneghan’s Dunwoody Blog

Friday, January 30, 2009

Dunwoody Job Fair Saturday at 11 a.m.

Dunwoody Police - Job Fair
Saturday January 31, 2009
1 a.m. - 1 p.m.
115 Perimeter Center Place, Dunwoody 30346

Dunwoody could hire the first of its 29 patrol officers in the next two weeks, making good on its pledge to have a force ready to hit the streets April 1 in part because of a generous benefits package.

A total of 26 candidates have started the multi-stage interview process, with 10 ready for the last step of interviewing with Police Chief Billy Grogan. Even more candidates are expected to emerge with the city council’s approval last week of the benefits package — which includes a $2,000 signing bonus - and a job fair being held Saturday.

“We want the best, and we want to make it easy for them to come to our force,” Grogan said.

Having a local police force was a driving force for many residents who voted last year to make Dunwoody Georgia’s newest city. More than 40 percent of the city’s $14.4 million budget will pay for 48 positions, 40 take-home police cars, other equipment and benefits.

Averages salaries will be $70,000 for three lieutenants, $58,000 for six sergeants; and $46,000 for patrol officers. The benefits package includes:

• Fully paid medical insurance.

• A retirement program that includes city contribution of 10 percent of the worker’s salary.

• $2,000 yearly tuition reimbursement.

• $300 monthly housing subsidy, for up to three years, to live in the city limits.

Mayor Ken Wright admitted the package was top-notch, especially in tough economic times. However, he said it falls within the planned budget and will help the city meet its aggressive goal for standing up its department.

“If we’re trying to attract the finest out there, and quickly, that’s a very important piece of getting that,” Wright said. “It’s a good package, to be sure, but it’s not crazy.”

Dunwoody plans to hire only experienced and certified officers for its force. Grogan said applicants so far have between two and 10 years of experience. Most of them are from the metro Atlanta area.

Saturday’s job fair in Atlanta is designed to appeal to cops like that, who have been curious but have not applied. The event will feature a question and answer session as well as a presentation of equipment, such as the Glock .45 caliber and stun guns that officers will use.

Grogan said he will explain his vision for the force that focuses on community policing and partnerships with local groups, as another way to draw out the best candidates.

“We want to attract good employees who are otherwise happy where they are and give them a good reason to partner with us,” he said.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Are we preparing our children for the future?

As the father of three young boys, my wife & I are still trying to instill the educational basics available to us in the local public educational system. Though we are active in the classroom and involved in homework on a nightly basis, I still am not sure that we (or our educational system) are doing enough to prepare our children for the future.

Several months ago I read the Thomas Friedman best seller "The World Is Flat" and it discusses the employment changes occurring worldwide because of the internet. The best selling book has been around for a few years therefore it should be available at the local library and I highly recommend it to every parent and young adult entering high school. The five minute video below reminded me of the book and if you have the time it is thought provoking.

Are we (politicians, tax payers, school administrators, teachers & parents) really doing all we can to prepare our children for the future?

Hat tip to Cerebration of the DeKalb County School Watch Blog which I also consider required reading for every parent in the DeKalb County School System. Thank You, Cere!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o9nmUB2qls

City of Dunwoody & Kingsley Elementary apply for Safe Routes to School grant.

In an unprecedented partnership between the City of Dunwoody, the DeKalb County School System and the hard working parents of the Kingsley Charter School Council, I and am proud to display the formal 17 page Safe Routes to Schools grant application and supporting documentation that was submitted to the Georgia Department of Transportation less than two weeks after the City of Dunwoody was created.

Kingsley_Dunwoody_SRTS_Final.pdf

Below is an article from the Dunwoody Crier discussing the proposal and each elementary school in Dunwoody is currently instituting a Safe Routes to School program therefore if you have children and are interested in assisting with this citywide endeavor, please talk to your local PTA.

Dunwoody Crier - Jan 27, 2009

Thirty years ago, the most common way for children to get to school was to walk. Times have changed, however, and the sight of children walking or riding their bike to school is something you are more likely to see on TV or in a movie than in your own neighborhood.

Kingsley Charter Elementary School and the City of Dunwoody are hoping to recapture some of the past - and replace car pool lines with lines of children walking to school. The city and the school have collaborated on a grant application through the Georgia Department of Transportation’s Safe Routes to School program. If selected, Dunwoody would receive nearly $460,000 worth of infrastructure improvements in the Kingsley neighborhood - such as new sidewalks, pedestrian crosswalks, traffic-calming devices and improved pedestrian lighting.

Safe Routes to School is an international movement designed to encourage students to walk or ride their bikes to school. Encouraging students to walk to school promotes a healthy and active lifestyle for children, reduces traffic and improves air quality through reduced emissions. Georgia’s SRTS program is managed by GDOT and backed by federal funding.

The local effort was initiated by Dunwoody City Councilman John Heneghan. Heneghan viewed SRTS as a great opportunity for Dunwoody to make needed improvements along the routes leading to our schools, making walking and biking to school a safe option for children.

“We need to look for innovative funding streams to make Dunwoody a safe community in which to walk and bike,” said Heneghan.

Heneghan hosted a community meeting in late October to discuss the pursuit of a SRTS grant for Dunwoody, and invited representatives from each of Dunwoody’s schools to attend. After several meetings to discuss and review the cases for each school, it was decided that the city would partner with Kingsley for this year’s application.

“Kingsley’s parents, together with Principal Karen Graham, put together a very strong grant application to improve the safety of Kingsley’s various routes to school in order to encourage more children to walk,” said Heneghan.

One of the biggest challenges was the grant had a deadline of December 12, less than two weeks after the city officially began business. To complete the application in such a short period of time required the cooperation of many people - including Kingsley’s parents and principal, several neighbors living near the school, the city of Dunwoody and the DeKalb County School System (which needed to approve the project).

“That’s a testament to the citizens we have in this city,” said Dunwoody Public Works Director Richard Meehan. “I think it’s great that we had citizens that were forward thinking enough to start looking at deadlines and grants that we could go after that we would be ready to turn in on day one.”

Another reason Dunwoody was able to submit such a strong application so quickly is that Kingsley had been working on its own SRTS program since the spring of 2007. In that time the school had formed a SRTS committee, improved traffic safety near the school with new car pool procedures and traffic patterns, created a parent safety patrol, conducted traffic surveys, collected traffic safety reports and worked on a formal walk to school program that will begin this spring.

Kingsley has used the resources available through the SRTS program, as well as taking advantage of complimentary programs from the Center for Disease Control (Kids Walk to School) and the Clean Air Campaign (Walk There For Clean Air). Kingsley is also a registered Clean Air School, and participates in the Clean Air Campaign’s No-Idle Program.

This spring, Kingsley plans to introduce a formal “Walking Wednesdays” program. Students could participate by joining a “walking school bus” - a group of students and parents walking together along a specific route to school. Based on responses from a parent survey, more than half of Kingsley’s parents said they would like to participate in the walking school bus program, but 75 percent cited apprehension over traffic safety as a major road block.

“Kingsley has the potential to be a great walking school, but the safety of our children is obviously our top priority,” said Tom Lambert, chair of Kingsley’s SRTS committee. “We have been eager to begin a formal walking program, but real concerns over traffic safety along our walking routes have slowed down our efforts.”

That is where the infrastructure improvements in the grant play a vital role. The project targets specific concerns of parents, neighbors and the school administration - and will create a pedestrian friendly environment along all of Kingsley’s proposed walking routes.

“We were very excited when we heard the city would be targeting a SRTS project,” said Lambert. “Kingsley had put in a lot of work on its SRTS plan, but we would not have been able to move forward without the leadership of Mr. Heneghan and the overwhelming support of the City of Dunwoody. I think it’s a great sign of things to come for Dunwoody.”

Both Kingsley and Dunwoody are hoping to receive good news this spring, when GDOT is expected to announce the projects it has approved for this year’s SRTS. Regardless of GDOT’s decision, however, Kingsley plans to persist with its SRTS efforts.

“We will continue to move forward on our Safe Routes program, but these infrastructure improvements are a vital component to maximizing our efforts,” said Lambert. “It could literally be the difference between a handful of kids participating or hundreds of students walking to school.”

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Help name the new Dunwoody Elementary School.

What should the name of this School be?
Any Suggestions?

As a Chesnut Elementary School Parent I received the following e-mail which I think should be shared with the entire community. Any good suggestions out there?

You have the opportunity to participate in the naming process as well as choosing a mascot and school colors for the new 4/5 school opening this summer. The information below states policies regarding the naming process. You have until February 28, 2009 to make your submission. Your idea and supporting reason can be sent to schoolnaming@gmail.com. Please read through all the information below so that you understand the process. Our Chesnut representative is Sarah Borcherding. Any questions can be sent to her at slborcherding@hotmail.com.

Description and timeline:
We are extremely excited about the opportunity to select the name, mascot and school colors for the new school that will serve 4th and 5th grade students in the Dunwoody area. This is such an incredible opportunity to provide something for the community that will last for generations.

The DeKalb County School Board Policies establish procedures for creating the name, school color, and mascot so that the process is an open one that involves as many people as possible and truly represents the heritage, culture, and wishes of the local community. Please find links to the board policies listed below in this document. The School naming Committee has been established using these policies and chaired by our district Board Member, Mr. Jim Redovian. The other members on the committee and their affiliations are listed later in this document and you may also find them on the school's website at www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/dunwoodyes.

This process will begin January 26, 2009 and be open for public submission of ideas and supporting reasons until February 28, 2009. The school website has an established email account where individuals may submit their ideas. The email address is schoolnaming@gmail.com. General notification will go out to the public through a variety of methods including the Dunwoody Crier, local school newsletters, calling posts, web pages, and community and informational blogs. For an idea or submission to be considered for approval, it is required that all ideas must be submitted through the email link on the website and have accompanying reasons and supporting information indicating relevance and significance for our community.

If you are not able to submit your ideas and supporting reasons to the website, the School Naming Committee will be hosting a public forum at Peachtree Charter Middle School at 7:00 pm on February 17, 2009. All submissions must be in by the close of day of February 28, 2009. At that time, the submissions will be collected, counted, analyzed and a final selection of three possibilities will be presented to the local communities through the feeder elementary schools on Monday, March 9, 2009.

All ballots will be due back to the local feeder schools for approval by Friday, March 20, 2009. The local schools will collect the ballots and return them to the Region Assistant Superintendents office. The final selection of the school name, colors and mascot will be presented to the DeKalb County School Board for approval at the board meeting on April 13, 2009.

This is such a wonderful opportunity for the community. We are very excited to participate in this process and hope that all of you will embrace this chance and enthusiastically play your part as well. We look forward to seeing all of your submissions and working to serve the community in this capacity. Please do not hesitate to contact your local representative that is serving on the School Naming Committee if you have any questions.

Board Policy Links
School Naming/Renaming Committee - BYLAWS https://eboard.eboardsolutions.com/ePolicy/policy.aspx?PC=FDC&Sch=4054&S=4054&RevNo=1.04&C=F&Z=P

School Naming/Renaming Committees - Board Policy Descriptor Code: FDC https://eboard.eboardsolutions.com/ePolicy/pdfs/dekalb/School%20Naming-Renaming%20BYLAWS%20FINAL%209-17-08%202.pdf

Existing names, mascots and colors:

School Mascot Colors
Austin Elementary Eagles Red and Blue
Chesnut Elementary Cougars Red, White, and Blue
Hightower Elementary Indian Chiefs Green and White
Kingsley Elementary Comets Red, White, and Blue
Vanderlyn Elementary Vikings Blue and Yellow
Peachtree Charter Middle School Patriots Red, White, and Blue
Dunwoody high School Wildcats Red, White, and Blue

Timeline:
• 1/26/09 - 2/28/09 the email link is public for individuals to submit ideas and support evidence. All ideas and supporting evidence must be presented by the end of the day on February 28, 2009.
• 2/17/09 a public forum will be held at Peachtree Charter Middle School(PCMS) for feedback and presentation of ideas for those not presented to the web email account
• 3/09/09 ballots presented to the feeder schools that will highlight the top three choices for name, mascot, and color options. Individuals will have two weeks to complete and return their ballot by the end of the day on March 20, 2009.
• 3/20/09 ballots are due to the Dekalb County School System Area Assistant Superintendent - Mrs. Heckman for counting and summarizing.
• 4/13/09 The name, colors, and mascot selection will be presented to the Dekalb County School Board for final approval

Members on the Committee and affiliation:
Robin Burch Dunwoody Homeowners Association
Adrian Bonser Dunwoody City Council
Sarah Borcherding Chesnut Elementary School
Johnathan Clark Dunwoody 4/5 Principal
Elizabeth Heckman Region 1 Assistant Superintendent
Lisa Gill Austin Elementary School
Libba Morris Vanderlyn Elementary School
Donna Pittman Hightower Elementary School
Jim Redovian DeKalb County School Board member
Danny Ross Dunwoody City Council
Pam Speaks DeKalb County School Board member
Gregg Vandewiele Kingsley Elementary School
Kay Weber Community Representative

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Dunwoody City Hall and Police Station site chosen near Perimeter Mall.

Warren Hutmacher announces City Hall & Police Station
Click Photo above or Click Here

The Monday Night Dunwoody City Council meeting covered a wide range of items on the agenda and most items were approved as presented. Including glass containers of alcohol (bottled wine, ect) are now allowed in parks when an event is permitted by the city. Employee benefits were discussed at length and approved by the Council as presented except for the health club membership portion which was removed. A new public comment period was added just prior to city council votes when amendments are added from the floor. The Construction & Alcohol Appeals boards were deferred until a future meeting in order to obtain a different set of volunteers since there is no reason to have one group sit on three various boards. The other boards were seated as proposed with the Mayor completing the slate for the Development Authority.

The big news of the night was the decision to enter into an agreement with the newly created Development Authority for the City of Dunwoody to sign a ten year lease for a co-mingled City Hall and Police Station at 41 Perimeter Center East, Dunwoody, Georgia 30346. This location is near the mall, off Ashford Dunwoody and located directly behind the Ravinia Building Complex. The City will lease almost two full floors (1st & 2nd floors) whereby the Police Station and the Court Room / City Council Chambers will be located on the First Floor and the Second Floor will be the administrative offices of City Hall.

I am not allowed to speak about what is said in executive session but believe I can state that the City Hall decision was a difficult one for all members of the Council (it was for me) since I like many were hoping for an ideal location in a different part of the City, but it just did not make financial and logistical sense to do so.

The almost four hours of audio from the meeting is now available as shown below.

01262009_audio1.mp3 Beginning up to benefits.
01262009_audio2.mp3 Start of benefits.
01262009_audio3.mp3 Chief Grogan on benefits up to Exec Session.
01262009_audio4.mp3 Return from Exec Session - announce City Hall.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Dunwoody City Council Meeting Agenda- Boyken Update, Employee Benefits, City Hall, Signs, Alcohol in Glass, and City Boards.

Dunwoody City Council Meeting - Public Hearing at Dunwoody United Methodist Church (1548 Mt. Vernon Road, Dunwoody, GA 30338).
Date: 1/26/2009
Time: 7:00 PM

Meeting Agenda_Jan 26 09

INVOCATION_Jan 26 09
E1 DUNWOODY COUNCIL Meeting Minutes from 01-06-09_Jan 26 09

J2 Chapter 21 - Signs Final_Jan 26 09
J2 Ordinance to Chapter 21 2009-01-09_Jan 26 09

K1 Boyken Services to Dunwoody in 2008_Final_Jan 26 09
K1 January Boyken Update_Jan 26 09
K2 Comcast Agreement Memo_Jan 26 09

L1 Comprehensive Benefits Plan_Jan 26 09