Wednesday, December 18, 2002

[The following was submitted Monday evening by the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce to The Citizen for publication as a letter to the editor.]

Mayor Brown, this letter is a critique of your first year in office.

As you are aware, the Chamber of Commerce is a membership of businesses and concerned individuals who collectively work toward a favorable business climate in Fayette County. We have over 800 member businesses and 1,600 representatives from these businesses. Local businesses employ thousands of citizens of Fayette County. More than half of our membership is located in Peachtree City.

Over the years, we have been blessed with strong leadership which has built one of the finest counties in Georgia. Low crime, safe neighborhoods, good jobs, great schools, superior recreation facilities. If Fayetteville is the charming and historic center of Fayette County, then Peachtree City is the model of a successful planned community. The creation of modern day Peachtree City has taken more than 40 years and has required the collaborative efforts of hard-working citizens, dedicated businesses and responsible government leaders. Since its inception, this symbiotic relationship has allowed Peachtree City to flourish.

Because most local business owners are also residents of this county, we have always believed that smart, logical and planned growth is the lifeblood of every successful community. Growth is inevitable; it is how it is managed which decides the success of a community. Businesses are a major tax revenue base and fund necessary services such as fire, police, EMS and road projects. In Peachtree City, businesses also help fund amenities such as golf cart paths, sporting and entertainment venues and parks. In essence, businesses contribute to the high quality of life which we enjoy.

In the past, the Chamber of Commerce has worked very well with local municipalities and the county government on issues affecting business. Although the business community and local governments have not agreed on every issue, each side has been able to make informed and intelligent decisions based on honest and ethical dealings and the open exchange of information. The Chamber's relationship with past city councils of Peachtree City has always been professional, respectful and productive.

This year, however, the Chamber of Commerce has been very disappointed with how your administration, and you in particular, has run government in Peachtree City. There are numerous examples of how your conduct has adversely affected the business community in Fayette County. Below are just a few examples.

1. In early January, just one week into your administration, you imposed a blanket moratorium on new construction projects throughout Peachtree City. You claimed that this action was necessary to give your administration time to "digest complicated federal and state laws" and to "rewrite ordinances." You never need to review and revise city ordinances. The city attorney advised you that your moratorium, as drafted, was illegal. The Chamber of Commerce suggested that such action would create a negative business climate.

Following a challenge by local businesses, a Fayette County judge summarily declared your moratorium illegal. Although your moratorium was short-lived, the effect was nonetheless harmful, sending a message to businesses looking to relocate to Peachtree City that this is not a business friendly city. That perception is still present today.

2. After the moratorium debacle, you attempted to impose a "tax improvement district," where targeted businesses in a certain geographic area would have to pay additional taxes. You took this action without first asking the affected businesses whether they were in favor of your proposal. Fortunately, thanks to the rational thinking of Annie McMenamin and Kathy Cox, your effort to impose more taxes on local businesses failed.

If you had been successful in your efforts, the unfortunate result would have been to drive small business out of the tax district or force them to close altogether because they could not afford to do business here. The effect would be that the larger businesses would benefit. Ironically, it is these very businesses (Wal-Mart and Home Depot) against which you voiced your strong opposition to their location in Peachtree City.

3. For many months this year, the Chamber of Commerce devoted an inordinate amount of time in support of completion of the TDK Boulevard extension. We did our homework. We surveyed many businesses along Ga. Highway 74 and Crosstown Drive which were overwhelmingly supportive of the project. Peachtree City identified this area as a necessary road project almost 10 years ago.

Many studies have been made at great cost to the city. As traffic continues to worsen along Ga. Highway 54 (particularly after the opening of wal-Mart and Home Depot), the necessity of extending TDK Boulevard into Coweta County becomes even more obvious. Your own studies have concluded that this project will alleviate traffic congestion on Hwy. 54 by providing an alternate route. For concerned businesses, the road extension would allow easier access for their employees and customers.

Fayette County and Coweta County are fully supportive of this project and have even offered to pay the bulk of the expense. Jim Pace, the incoming Chamber chairman, spent numerous hours with you on this project. You told him that you were fully supportive of the project. Our local state senator, Mitch Seabough, had a lengthy discussion with you and promised to assist you on other road projects in exchange for your promise to make the TDK Boulevard extension project a priority. The city council, led by you, voted 5-0 to support the TDK project.

Then, after other road projects had been approved, you broke every promise you made regarding the TDK Boulevard project, stating that you lacked the funding, despite the fact that the funding was in the original city budget. It is interesting to note, however, that while you allegedly do not have the funding for a necessary and long due road project, which would relieve unbearable traffic congestion, you somehow have the funding for other prospective projects such as a dog park, a graffiti wall and a $800,000 expenditure on a tract of land of questionable use in front of Wynnmeade subdivision.

4. Following a city council meeting where I was invited to speak in my capacity as chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, you informed me that I did not have the right to speak because I was "not an elected official" and that the inclusion of my name on the agenda was a "typographical error." The message you sent to me and the business community was that you were unwilling to discuss our concerns or accept our assistance.

5. Recently, you informed a local bank that you would default on loans unless certain members of the development authority, your development authority, resigned. You have sent a message to all businesses not to do business with Peachtree City because you will not honor your promises. More importantly to the citizens of Peachtree City, how will the city be able to get loans or funding from other sources if the city's credit rating is adversely affected in light of your threats to default on loans?

6. You claim that the cost overruns at the tennis center were unacceptable. These expenses, however, were necessary for the completion of the Fayette Center for Higher Education, which will benefit businesses and citizens for many years to come by providing classes to local business owners, managers, employes and citizens right here in Fayette County. The facility is first class and the Center has had an initial enrollment three times the projection. Eventually, the Center plans to offer graduate level courses.

7. Since you have become mayor, the city planner, city manager and city attorney have all resigned. The impact of these resignations on the quality of life in Peachtree City will be soon felt.

In light of your actions, businesses are now deciding to stay or to move. If businesses leave, revenue diminishes. If business tax revenue diminishes, then property taxes of Peachtree City citizens must be increased, which has already happened this year. Your actions affect the livelihood of businesses and the quality of life in Peachtree City.

Your conduct is somewhat contradictory because even you have acknowledged that city revenue is down in large part due to lost tax revenue from businesses in the industrial park which have closed. How will you replace that revenue when prospective businesses perceive that Peachtree City is not a business-friendly environment and that your promises will not be honored? How will the resignations of the city planner, manager and attorney be perceived?

In the end, it is the citizens of Peachtree City, and of Fayette County, who will be most affected. Loss of tax revenue means diminished services, increased property taxes and increased costs for amenities.

If the Chamber of Commerce had to give you a grade, you would fail. We remain optimistic, however, that you will change your philosophy with regard to the necessity of a strong and viable business community and how such directly affects the quality of life in Peachtree City and Fayette County. Peachtree City is what it is because of the business community, not in spite of it.

In order for us to move past this year and to build a better relationship, we expect you to be ethical, honest and professional in your dealings with business leaders and with other elected officials. We also ask that our voice be heard, particularly on issues affecting local business. Due to the damage caused by your actions this year, we first need to build a base of trust and mutual respect before we can move forward.

We will remain critical of your actions so long as a negative business climate remains in Peachtree City.

Michael J. Hofrichter

Chairman

Fayette County Chamber of Commerce

[Hofrichter is a Fayetteville attorney.]