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Business owners want answers

By BEN NELMS
bnelms@TheCitizenNews.com

Questions and comments during the public comments portion of Union City council meetings often take the form of residents pursuing concerns about government accountability and transparency. The July 19 meeting was no exception.

Suni Patel, owner of Days Inn off Ga. Highway 138 near I-85, began her remarks stating that she had been in business for four years. She asked for information that would help her determine whether she should continue to operate a business in Union City. Patel asked how the hotel/motel tax her business pays has been used and what was being done to the city’s eight hotels and 600 hotel rooms.

“I would like to know if their are any plans for nice, sit-down restaurants with liquor licenses coming to the area. Right now we have to send our customers to Fayetteville or Newnan in order to get a nice sit-down dinner and drinks,” she said. “We haven’t seen anything in four years that promotes and supports the hotels we have.

Responding to Patel’s question, Mayor Ralph Moore said the city hosts the annual Mayor’s Bike Race at Shannon Mall.

“The city hosts the bike race using your hotel/motel tax. We use that (money) every year to benefit tourism and economic development.”

Event coordinators at this year’s event put the number of cyclists at 450 along with family members and others that attended. Moore said participants came from around Georgia and the Southeast.

Patel said there is a miscommunication between and city and the local hotel industry.

“When the city is planning an event like that we are not getting any communication. With that many people coming to Union City they might need a place to stay,” said Patel. “So with that said, I believe the city needs to communicate with the business owners a little bit more so we can plan better and provide better services for the guests that are coming into Union City and give them a positive image so they can become repeat customers for years to come. But the bike race alone is not generating the revenue to support businesses.”

Patel suggested the possibility of having some type of sign near the expressway exits denoting local businesses. Moore said he had suggested earlier this year that a portion of the hotel/motel tax be used to construct a sign to highlight the presence of area hotels. He also noted the recent passage of a maintenance agreement for the proposed beautification of the entrance and exit areas at Hwy. 138 and I-85. The overall aim of the project would be to make business offerings on Hwy. 138 more visible to expressway travelers while making the area more attractive. Funding for the project, Moore said, would come from contributions from area businesses.

Addressing Patel’s comments, recently hired City Administrator Terrell Jacobs said the local chamber of commerce might be able to address the concerns and work with her to benefit her business. Patel turned the issue back to the city, stating again her contention that nicer restaurants that serve alcohol are the types of establishments that attract the traveling public. It is that type of business, she said, that is not present but would be of a benefit to the city and other businesses.

“My question also states, and I don’t think I’ve been answered, is what is (the city) doing to support these businesses. Like if we have 50 percent of our rooms occupied they ask us where they can go with their children and have a beer or a glass of wine (with dinner),” she repeated. “So do we see anything in progress in the next few years or are things going to continue in the same way?”

Jacobs said that while the council is limited on certain types of business recruitment activities they can and are helping set an atmosphere to attract business. Business development, he said, takes the efforts of all involved. Polite but undaunted, Patel said that attracting new businesses is in part contingent on the way a city portrays itself.

Moore said new business construction is happening in various locations in Union City, though they may not be the type of business Patel is identifying as being needed. Patel agreed that construction is occurring, adding that recent blasting for construction has damaged her property. That damage, she said, is as yet unresolved. As for the larger picture, Patel said she, like other business owners, are responsible for making informed decisions about remaining in a given area or moving their business elsewhere.

“We just haven’t seen anything in four years and we need answers because, for us, this is an investment and a livelihood,” she said.

Patel was followed by long time resident Shirley Dean who, in her repeated questions to the mayor and council in several of the past few months, had surfaced similar questions about local business development and other issues. Her questions were historically met with few answers.

“I have turned the other cheek too many times. It’s time for us to get on with this matter. You can reprimand all you want and try to make me look like an ignorant fool, but I have my facts and I’m going on newspaper articles, past history and public knowledge,” Dean said. “The issues I have brought before this body since February 2005 have been skirted around and never fully answered or explained. No board on this board cares enough to research simple questions to give a citizen a simple answer. we need new blood and new horizons for a brighter future for Union City. We cannot have that as long as this body has their own personal agendas and self-promotion and not the city and its citizen’s best interest in mind.”

Dean was followed by comments by council member Helen Turner, Alisa King and others on one of Deans’ previous questions pertaining the past construction of a $33,978 retaining wall that has been the topic of some discussion in prior meetings. Yet during her statements, King said construction of the wall began prior to the council voting on the issue.

“About the wall, I was asked to vote over the telephone without any information about it. And I felt like I was being tricked almost because they never brought it to me before time and they did start building it before we even voted on it,” King said.

Turner supported King’s assertion and a discussion ensued. Moore reiterated his former position that the council’s move to have the wall constructed as part of a much larger transportation grant was appropriate and proper. During the discussion, Dean asked if an agreement by the council by telephone or email was legal. City attorney Dennis Davenport responded at Moore’s request.

“Quite frankly, as a general rule, when issues are taken up by this body they are on an agenda for this council to talk out ahead of time rather than try to give a knee-jerk reaction to a question at a meeting,” said Davenport. “These are the types of issues I believe do need some discussion by the mayor and council so that a decision can be given.”