It was standing room only at the City Council meeting Tuesday night as more than 50 residents packed the 's small meeting room to weigh-in at the city's first Public Hearing on the new budget.
But before Mayor Mike Mason opened up the meeting for public comment, he spent a few minutes to explain how the budget differs from the numbers provided in the Carl Vinson Institute study. The study, he reminded the audience, was used only to determine if a limited-service city was feasible.
"We all know everyone is here to talk about the budget," said the mayor. "I've been getting phone calls, emails and even stopped in the grocery store by some of you. It's easy to understand the confusion."
The feasibility study, he explained, was needed to introduce the legislation for cityhood to the General Assembly. It was, he said, "full of assumptions."
After Mason spoke five residents stood before the City Council to express their concerns on the proposed $2.7 million budget.
Long-time resident Jimmy Neese expressed his concern that the new limited-service city could "get out of control and at some point add a police force and other services. "If we don't keep a cap on it, its going to get out of control. I hope you guys listen to us and keep the city a city-lite."
Mary Beth Stickney, whose husband Brian ran for the the Post 6 city council seat, worried about the extra expenses, such as the proposed call center that was not mentioned during the campaign.
"I ask you to question some of these items," said Stickney. "such as the call center." And 17 percent is too high for a retirement plan for a city manager." Stickney asked that the City Council to limit the millage rate to .25 and not a full 1 mill as proposed in the budget. "Please cut this and cut these expenses," she said.
Gray Terry, who ran for the Post 5 seat, pointed out that some of the revenue streams were missing such as the municipal court expenses, which was not on the itemized budget.
Chattahoochee Station resident Gary Shell said "the budget in general looks a little rounded, a little fluffy," and asked the City Council to "sharpen those budgets. The budget looks too comfortable," he said.
The city will hold its second Public Hearing on the budget on Tuesday, June 26 at 7:30 p.m. at the YMCA.
A copy of the Carl Vinson Institute's study is available on the city's website.
I've been to the meeting where this was discussed. Mike Mason wants an call center / answering service ( I won't get into the technical differences) so that everyone in the city has a single place to call when there is a problem. Don't remember the exact figures, but Sandy Springs and John's Creek spend about $700-800,000 annually for this,but remember, that includes full services, police, fire etc. The problem with this concept is that probably 90%+ of the calls will just be transferred to Gwinnett County. Mike wants a way of tracking the issues, to see if the county is doing its part. Fair enough. In my humble opinion, once we have a staffed City Hall, the main number for the city can be answered with an announcement "If this is a trash, zoning, code enforcement or city permit issue, please press 1, otherwise, all other services are provided by Gwinnett County, the County can be reached at xxx-xxx-xxxx, press 2 to be transferred to the county". I think that would be a LOT cheaper than $100,000. Also, if Gwinnett isn't doing its job, I can vote on their officials as well. Once again, we have a mayor who wants champagne on a 1 Buck Chuck budget.
When I have a service need/problem from my waste disposal service provider, I do not call Gwinnett county. Who does? Peachtree Corners developing the need for a call center from observations of a full service city (Sandy Springs) is like a grape studying a watermelon, so it can be a good grape? Council, why all the comparisons to John's Creek/Sandy Springs? Ed, I didn't know that Mike Mason wanted a call center to track issues to see if Gwinnett County was doing it's part. Monitoring the county is also NOT one of the three mandates of "city light" and therefore an inappropriate use of Peachtree Corners City taxpayers' money. If I don't get the service I need from Gwinnett County, I would handle it directly with the county. Does Mike Mason really want to be a conduit for county service difficulties? City Council, PLEASE HEED Ed's humble opinion, because it REALLY was what the voters chose with "city light". The Peactree Corners council & mayor need to FOCUS on the three services, not the hundreds of services that are provided elsewhere. COME ON! Readers, I encourage you to contact your council representative and at large members to insist that "city light" be the litmus test for spending your money.
With all due respect to our city council, the Mayor appears to be VERY QUICK to add to the services that Peachtree Corners City Lite would provide. First there was the Call Center, then at the meeting on 6/19, when discussing the $200K Reserve that exists in the proposed budget, the Mayor commented that he was 'quite sure' that, had the tornado that we had in the area a few years ago happened after the city was established, then the residents of Peachtree Corners would 'expect' the Peachtree Corners City staff to help out citizens who were impacted by such an event. There is no evidence that the citizens would expect our city to handle anything of the sort. It is not the responsibility of the new City to police Gwinnett County. It is the responsibility of the citizens of Gwinnett city to do this. Let us keep Peachtree Corners City really 'Lite'. Please!!