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PTC has dismal record of finishing road projects

By PETER PFEIFER
Fayette County Commissioner

I have been writing recently to talk about the behavior of the Peachtree City mayor and council. This one is a little long, but I am sorry, it needs to be.

Let’s discuss roads. This is another area where the mayor and council accuse the rest of the county of being “unfair,” etc.

Roads are also another area where the current mayor and council have thrown away large amounts of our tax money. They have done this deliberately or by incompetence. I don’t know which and I don’t even think the which or the why is important anymore. I do know it has happened, it continues to happen and it must be stopped.

I’ll begin with TDK Boulevard. The county became involved in this project at the request of the Peachtree City government and at the request of the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce.

The county was also urged to participate by the Association of Fayette County Governments (AFCG) that is composed of the elected and staff leadership from Peachtree City, Tyrone, Fayetteville, Brooks, Woolsey, the Fayette County School Board, the Fayette County Commission and the state legislative representatives.

We agreed that this was a needed project and because it served an industrial and commercial area and connected directly to an adjoining county, that it was appropriate for the county to participate.

The county then signed a contract with Peachtree City that said the county would fund our half of the bridge across Line Creek and the road from the bridge to hook up to the existing TDK Blvd.

Coweta County would fund their part of the bridge and road, which is much longer than ours.

Peachtree City was to provide the engineering and design of the road and handle right-of-way acquisition on this side of the county line.

I had by this time become somewhat concerned about the city’s recent track record on projects and about some individuals’ true level of desire to do this project. I would have preferred that none of the control of this project be left in their hands to avoid any problems.

But, that was not the agreement that was reached and I was not yet sure enough about the city government’s attitude and performance to be insistent. I am now.

Because the right-of-way acquisition was apparently mishandled and was delayed, the original road placement had to be changed. The road is now longer than the original design and estimate. Longer equals more expensive. But, we agreed to build the road and we stand by that commitment.

Now, the city has unilaterally added requests that were not part of the original agreement. Among other issues, they wanted the county to add golf cart tunnels. To go from the golf course to the airport? (Would this have been another “path to nowhere”?)

They also want the county to finance more engineering and right-of-way purchasing, even though they signed a contract saying that they would do this.

The mayor and council have said publicly that they don’t want to spend another penny on this project; they have yet to stand up and take an official vote on the issue.

There is a need for this project. They have already spent hundreds of thousands of our tax dollars on this project. They signed a contract to execute this project. They have obtained county financial assistance on this project. Now they don’t want to finish the project!

I no longer believe that the mayor and council ever wanted to complete this. Will they really just walk away from the hundreds of thousands of our tax dollars they have already spent? For nothing? Is this a wise use of our tax dollars?

There is a project to install a turn lane at Cooper Lighting. Cooper is a terrific, and major, corporate citizen. I am very glad that they are here in the community.

But, when this project started out, the county was asked to provide funding for one-half of the total amount of Peachtree City’s portion of the expenses.

Again, because the commission is concerned about our tax base and industrial areas, we agreed to provide $18,750 for this project. That is one-half of what Peachtree City told us they were supposed to pay.

Now, they’ve come back. They asked for a new agreement that would obligate the county to pay one-half of the total Peachtree City cost, a cost that they no longer specifically define.

The estimates are up to $60,000 for one-half! That means their cost went from $37,500 to over $120,000! Taxpayers cost!

I do not know how this episode happened. But, I am certain that the mayor and council will have someone they will blame.

It’s beginning to seem like every time the current Peachtree City leadership becomes involved in a project, costs soar and more tax money is spent but it’s someone else’s fault.

Let’s look at Rockaway Road. Rockaway intersects with Ga. Highway 74 down near the animal shelter, the softball complex, Starr’s Mill High School complex and Redwine Road.

Someone, I don’t know who, proposed to realign Rockaway with the light by the Publix down there by Wilshire Estates. This would make a great deal of sense, improving a dangerous intersection and yet not adding another light.

Most of the road, if not all, would have been on city property so there would be minimal right-of-way acquisition costs.

The proposal was tied to a requested rezoning on Rockaway to rezone some industrial property to residential. The rezoning was turned down and, based on what I know about it, I would have turned it down as well.

But that leaves the realignment idea, which is still good. Was this road intersection included in the transportation plan and in the SPLOST? It was not.

Was it included in the Peachtree City projects that were part of the SPLOST? It was not.

Whose job do you suppose it was to include this on the project list? Do you suppose it was the mayor and council?

Now, let’s move up Hwy. 74 towards Ga. Highway 54, and Kedron, and the “West Village.” I’m going to talk about MacDuff Parkway.

How long has this one been listed as a local desire? Many years? When the current mayor won his office, he campaigned on his opposition to a “West Village” annexation.

Now, whether you favor or oppose an annexation here, you must recognize that the proposal that the current mayor fought against included an extension of MacDuff Parkway and a bridge over the railroad. They were financed by the developer, no tax dollars.

If you have ever crossed the railroad here in town or anyplace else, you will know that a bridge beats an at-grade crossing in convenience and in safety. Bridges are also expensive.

This project was dead when the Countywide Traffic Plan and the SPLOST were developed and proposed. Was this road included in the Countywide Plan or in the SPLOST? No, it was not.

It was not in because it was not important enough for the mayor and council to put it in. Now, they say, this road is very important to them. So important that they voted to spend $280,000 more of our tax dollars to engineer this road. $280,000 for a road that is now not even in Peachtree City, it is in the county!

They aren’t using our tax dollars to purchase votes from the folks who live off MacDuff now, are they? They estimate that the cost of this road will be $2.79 million to $6.13 million!

The mayor and council are touting a potential annexation at higher residential and commercial density and does not include a bridge but an at-grade crossing. Or, maybe, they suggest, the county will help them pay for it. This is because, they say, the county has plenty of money because the SPLOST was passed.

This is the same SPLOST that these guys fought against and tried to defeat! This is the same SPLOST that has a project list tied to it that does not include MacDuff Parkway!

This project list MUST be adhered to. We were not permitted to have a SPLOST with a less well-defined project list because the Peachtree City mayor and Council would not agree to have the SPLOST that allowed some more freedom for local projects and could have brought another $5 million to Peachtree City.

They insisted that they could blackmail the rest of us and get their way by defeating the SPLOST. They were wrong about that, weren’t they? I will remind you that the SPLOST won in Peachtree City because Peachtree City voters were not fooled by the arguments the mayor and council made.

Let’s look at the score listed here. Total number of projects started is four. Each project would help our traffic situation, improve safety and provide better connectivity in the community. The amount of tax dollars spent, so far, is in the hundreds of thousands, working towards millions.

The number of projects completed is zero. The number of complaints made about everyone else besides the mayor and council is equal to as many as they could think of and as fast as they could pronounce them.

Everyone else is at fault or everyone else should pay. The unknown is: are they ever going to complete even one project?

Do you see why I am so appalled by the irrational behavior of the mayor and council? Do you begin to see how they frivolously and carelessly throw away large amounts of our tax dollars?

Do some of you still question my insistence that these people justify everything they do that costs money or involves agreements and or participation with others?