Friday, June 24, 2005

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Council candidate urges need for compromise

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

Dan Gibbs, who announced last week he will run for the Peachtree City Council, wants to bring his bargaining experience to the table.

Gibbs, 40, will run for the Post 4 seat currently held by Murray Weed, who has indicated he might not run for re-election because he is considering a bid for “higher office.” Gibbs said he chose Weed’s seat simply because no candidate had yet announced for it, and he wants to make sure residents have a quality candidate to choose from for each seat.

As an attorney and information systems manager for a private bankruptcy firm, Gibbs is familiar with the give and take necessary to iron out a compromise, and that’s something he thinks the city is currently lacking.

“I see there are a lot of places where we have more in common than we have differences,” Gibbs said. “It seems we’re only focusing on the differences now.”

The city’s reputation has suffered, at least among the business circles Gibbs is associated with, and that’s one of the catalysts that convinced him to run, he said.

“We have an opportunity to project an entirely different image of how we tackle issues than we currently project,” he added. “Somebody should help smooth the road a little bit.”

Gibbs, a 14-year resident of Peachtree City, said it is important for the city to work well with Fayette County along with adjoining counties and cities. He wants to be elected to preserve the quality of life that he has enjoyed since coming here.

Gibbs said he is in favor of settling the lawsuits against the Development Authority relating to the tennis center expansion. The suits have distracted the authority from dealing with it’s main goal of attracting and expanding local businesses, Gibbs added.

The city needs to evaluate what it paid for with the facility and try to find some middle ground with the plaintiffs, Gibbs said. Peachtree National Bank is suing the authority and the city council for the unpaid loans on the facility, amounting to roughly $1.04 million, and both construction company Group VI and Foley Design Associates are jointly suing the authority and the city for unpaid bills upwards of $416,000.

Gibbs argues that the authority is losing precious time it needs to focus on projects that could take between five and 10 years to come to fruition.

“I think there probably is some middle ground between paying the full amount and not paying at all,” Gibbs said.

Among other important issues facing the city, Gibbs referred to the development of the next comprehensive plan, which he said “is a great time to look at Peachtree City, what we’ve done and where we’re going.”

In terms of transportation, Gibbs sees the completion of the TDK Boulevard extension into Coweta County as important, in addition to the realignment of Rockaway Road. He also is in favor of extending MacDuff Parkway to Ga. Highway 74, but he has some reservations about the safety of using an at-grade railroad crossing so close to the highway. Gibbs would prefer seeing a bridge used to allow enhanced safety for motorists.

Gibbs said MacDuff needed to be extended whether with developer funds or city funds, because residents in the area need another ingress/egress point for safety reasons.

Gibbs was non-committal about whether or not he will support the annexation plan being developed by John Wieland Homes that would go in north of where MacDuff currently ends. Gibbs said he hasn’t seen the final proposal yet, and he thinks all annexations should be judged on their individual proposals instead of rejecting all or approving all.

“We need more people who start at the point where they don’t know all the answers and are open,” Gibbs said, to all possible alternatives.

One of the main issues with annexations involves the increased cost of servicing the newly annexed land, Gibbs noted. He added that he agrees with the new procedures installed by the city for considering annexations.

In addition to attracting more business to the community, Gibbs said he wants to attract an extension campus to further local educational opportunities. Peachtree City residents are well-educated and understand the value of enhancing their education, he argued.

Gibbs also wants to look at encouraging special developments for seniors, perhaps some that feature several seniors living in the same home. He also wants to see more facilities designed to take care of seniors “until the end of life.”

“I don’t want my mom and dad to have to move from Peachtree City just because we don’t have the right facilities,” Gibbs said.

The planned expansion of the Gathering Place and the planned new building for Fayette Senior Services are both much needed, he added.

Gibbs also thinks the city can do more to maximize the use of its outstanding recreational and entertainment facilities such as the hosting of more regional tournaments to help encourage tourism.

Gibbs declined to delve into other issues which he thought should’ve been handled differently by the city council. What in the past can’t be changed, he indicated.

“My campaign slogan, if I have one, will be to ‘look forward and embrace the future,’” Gibbs said. “I don’t think it does any good to analyze past actions.”

Gibbs has been an active member of Peachtree Presbyterian Church for more than 10 years. He and his wife, Virginia, had a daughter, Morgan, 9 and a son, Harrison, 7.