Experience Counts When Serving the Public Interest

Politicians are famous or infamous for making promises of what they will, or will not do if elected to public office.  All too often citizens are disappointed in the newly elected politician when he or she fails to deliver, or proves to be someone different than was portrayed in the campaign.  As a candidate who is seeking election to Post 3 Peachtree Corners City Council, I also have presented myself in a specific way with distinct values.  This presents a question for every voter, “How do I know which candidate is sincere and is committed to follow through on his promises?”  The answer is found in an old but true principle, the best predictor of future performance is past performance.  In other words, examine the candidate’s record of leadership experience in similar situations and job responsibilities.  Do you like what you see? Are those experiences applicable to the sought after public office?

While fulfilling the volunteer roles of president, vice president, architectural control chairman and committee member in my homeowners association for the past 8 years, I have had many leadership opportunities to make our community better.  In the process I have learned the necessity of making tough decisions that benefit all our homeowners. Examples include the development of annual budgets, bidding and executing service contracts, revising and strengthening our protective covenants and working with our attorneys to ensure all residents are treated equally and fairly in collection of assessments and enforcement of covenants.  In addition I have organized teams of volunteers to participate in community improvement activities.  Furthermore, I have worked with county officials to solve problems beyond the means of our homeowners association.

Let’s examine my record more closely by looking at specific examples.  In 2008 after an audit of association resources, I discovered that the developer of our community had failed to turn over to county government responsibility for street lighting.  As a result the association unknowingly paid Georgia Power for lighting along some of our streets and had accumulated $16,000 worth of improper charges over a 10 year period.  After filing a complaint with Georgia Power they agreed to pay us back for only three years.  I stood up for our residents and continued the fight for a full refund of the $16000.00 in charges. Finally, I filed a complaint with the Georgia Public Service Commission which resulted in Georgia Power giving us back the full $16000.00 and also stopping the reoccurring improper monthly charges.

Under my leadership we never needed any special assessments to cover emergency costs.  We operated on frugal budgets so we could keep money in reserve for just that purpose.  Unfortunately our pool house recently burned to the ground.  However, as a result of healthy reserves and proper insurance we will be able to cover the cost of rebuilding our neighborhood pool house without any special assessments.  We implemented a study of our capital reserves to make sure we were amply replenishing them so that we could properly maintain our signs, asphalt, pool, and tennis courts.

After feedback from residents who were unhappy with the current management company, we executed a competitive bid selection process to select a new property management company.  We also became aware that our neighborhood was unhappy with the current landscaping of our common areas, so we executed a competitive bid process to select a new landscaping company.  We also arranged to have an empty unmaintained double lot in our subdivision to be taken care of by the association’s landscaping company.  Our neighborhood’s appearance is much more attractive because of this.

My passion has been and is working with my neighbors to ensure their voices are heard and their concerns are addressed at all levels of government.  I heard a neighbor say to me concerning my quest for a position on Peachtree Corners City Council, “You will just take the experience you gained from your volunteer work in our association and apply it to a larger scale.”Absolutely, that is what I will do.  Today our community is very active and engages in healthy conversations on many important issues.  I want to expand this to all of Peachtree Corners.  Standing strong to do what is right is what I intend to do as your council member.  I believe my experience as a volunteer servant to my community has made it a better place.  Together we will become a great team that can make all of Peachtree Corners a better place to live.  I would love to earn your vote and support on March 6, 2012.  Visit my website at www.davidproud.com to learn more about me.

Respectfully,

David Proud Peachtree Corners City Council Post 3