Wednesday, June 4, 2003

To members of the Peachtree City Council:

This Thursday at the City Council meeting there is an agenda item concerning the TDK Boulevard extension. There is also an agreement regarding that extension which was brokered by state Senator Mitch Seabaugh and Fayette County Commission Chairman Greg Dunn and signed by Peachtree City in February. The reason for Sen. Seabaugh and Commissioner Dunn's involvement seems to be a lack of leadership and commitment by the City Council of Peachtree City.

The purpose of this letter is to urge those of you that are capable of taking a responsible leadership role in moving this project along to do so on Thursday. It takes one of you to make a motion, another to second and a total of three of you to approve that motion.

Hopefully, the motion will be to direct City Staff to proceed with their responsibilities under the agreement signed by the mayor in February with no further delays. To be clear, that does not mean splitting the engineering fees; it means following the terms of the February agreement without further embarrassment to Peachtree City. The new city manager can (and should) oversee this process with no additional input from mayor or council.

Anyone who has reviewed the traffic problems in western Peachtree City and is realistic about the available solutions easily recognizes the advantages of the extension of TDK Boulevard for both traffic enhancement and economic development. The agreement is of great benefit to the businesses in the industrial park, their employees, residents of Coweta and Fayette counties, and most of all to the residents of Peachtree City. In fact, the residents of Peachtree City have an additional benefit: Our financial participation is limited to only a fraction of the total cost.

Since it is obvious to the leadership of Direct PAC that the TDK extension benefits all residents of Peachtree City, we feel compelled to advise you on your role as a member of City Council.

When you are elected in Peachtree City, you represent 100 percent of the people, all 33,000 of them. This means nonregistered voters, those under the voting age, those that voted for you (usually fewer than 10 percent of all citizens) and those that voted against you.

Representing everyone is a form of public service and that means pursuing what is best for everyone in Peachtree City. Public service does not include grandstanding for personal or political advantage, renegotiating agreements after they are signed or writing some of the embarrassing letters and e-mails regarding the TDK extension that have recently been released.

As a member of City Council you have one of four votes and the power to stop inappropriate and embarrassing behavior by the mayor or any other council member. Please use that power on Thursday to get the TDK extension moving again.

P.S. There is another consideration relative to the delay of the TDK extension and that is the amount of state and federal funding and grants that are being put at risk by this inexplicable delay. Direct PAC will be requesting information from the city and other sources to determine the cost that may have to be passed along to the taxpayers in Peachtree City.

Rick Schlosser

Vice-Chair, Direct PAC

A Political Action Committee in Peachtree City

www.directpac.org