Friday, April 27, 2001
Friday, April 27, 2001 |
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Playing council for a day: McIntosh H.S. students take hands-on government role
By JOHN
MUNFORD Five McIntosh High School students got an up-close lesson on occupying the hot seat Tuesday afternoon during a mock Peachtree City Council meeting. Kathryn Murphy, who served as mayor, led the meeting with councilmen Robert Jones, Amit Salkar, Daniel Graham and Courtney Hudson. They got an earful on the two agenda items they covered the possible location of a multi-purpose recreation center and whether the city should pay to upgrade and repair privately owned streets in local neighborhoods. The street debate became somewhat heated, as other students took to the podium to address the issues. Some felt the for-sale Braelinn Baptist Church campus on Robinson Road would be an ideal location for the multi-purpose center. Others thought it would be better to renovate Westpark Walk's movie theaters for the center. A place is needed for local bands to play, others added. Eventually, the mock council voted unanimously to select the Braelinn Baptist building as the preferred site for the multi-purpose center. The most spirited debate was over the streets issue. On one hand, residents on private streets pay city taxes, too and perhaps the city should pay the million or so dollars to upgrade the streets to city standards. Still others argued that other taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for the streets upgrading or the annual maintenance through repairs. Even current Councilwoman Annie McMenamin swapped roles, playing a concerned citizen who lived on a private street. She implored council to take care of the private streets since those residents pay taxes too. The mock council decided to begin maintaining private streets after they were upgraded to city standards at the expense of the residents on those private streets. The meeting was part of Georgia Cities Week, and the local Kiwanis club helped put the event together. The mock council meeting is an annual staple at City Hall, and many department heads and employees attended the mock meeting.
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