More than anything else, the Fairburn City Council retreat Jan. 28 was a glimpse into the future. It provided a path to create opportunities from which residents and businesses will benefit.

City Administrator Jim Williams began the meeting saying the challenge over the next few years is to upgrade or replace as much aging infrastructure as possible and bringing the standard as high as can be achieved. Recent residential and commercial development has been dynamic and, especially over the next two years, will be the period of greatest expansion, he said.

“If we don‘t do it now we’ll never be able to catch up,” said Williams. “Once the peak in development has hit, the big increase in city income will begin to diminish. So we need to apply our resources to infrastructure now. Then when the development peak is over we will be able to sit back and enjoy it.”

Exemplifying the city’s position on meeting infrastructure needs, Williams said recent projects have identified where city sewer lines are located and the size of those lines. Williams also advised the council to think seriously about an annexation and zoning policy, adding that neighboring municipalities should not influence those decisions.

“We should influence them,” he said. “They may come saying they need to annex. But the last thing we want to do is rush out and start annexing.”

Williams said that nearly all the development that has occurred during the three years was set in place prior to his arrival. Current development efforts, such as the recent approval of a small residential development on White Mill Road with homes slated in the $450,000-650,000 range and the planned commercial development on Ga. Highway 74, will help set the tone for the future.

“We’ve been top heavy with residential in the past few years and we’ve done a pretty good job with bringing industrial and commercial in,” Williams said. “If the Hwy. 74 development comes about it’ll probably be the salvation of the community. It’ll also be the symbol for the community. And it will provide the stimulus to invigorate the downtown area. So we need to have land and infrastructure ready for other development. It will come as Fairburn is discovered. The economic development program in the next two years should be spectacular.”

Referencing large development possibilities, Williams cautioned the council to forego the approach customarily used to attract big business. Major property tax increases expected by Fulton County should not serve as the impetus to open the door to developers by providing incentives that will eventually hurt the city, he said.

“The purpose of bringing business in is to have them be a part of the community, not to give your tax base away. So make things attractive by providing good fire, police and infrastructure. If we can’t do it that way then I say we don’t do it,” he said. “We need to have everything in order and they will come, and they’ll be the good ones. The ‘give me’s’ have already gone. This is a different economic development philosophy. We have significant development fees that some aren’t happy with. But there is tremendous profit in developments like residential. And the good developers will pay their own way and participate. Developers are in business to make profit. We’re in business to protect our city.”

Council members were told that city revenues from the commercial development along Hwy. 74 are expected to fund the city’s second firestation to be located on John Rivers Road. The new station, said Williams, would effectively be paid by developers rather than by raising property taxes. Echoing an earlier statement pertaining to quality development, Williams said that unlike the situation 10 years ago, user fees and other revenue generators, including those paid by developers, make up a significant portion of city income. Such practices, he said, do not deter development.

“The only developers that got scared away are the ones you don’t want in the first place,” he said.

Williams said the city should never be put in a position of financial vulnerability. Fairburn currently has $11-12 million in reserves and should maintain a five-year plan that will address current and future needs.

Addressing other service areas, Williams said the image of the city’s cable service is declining.

“People aren’t saying we should sell it. They saying we should fix it,” he said.

Williams said the city will have the capability to operate wireless Internet in the next two years. Such a move should be strongly considered and should be available citywide, he said. Also planned for 2006 is the anticipated opening of Chamber of Commerce office and Fairburn Welcome Center in the depot.

An issue on the horizon designed to bolster a renewal of the downtown area is the potential development of a Park and Ride location at the Hwy. 74 commercial development that will link to the downtown area and, by express shuttle, on to MARTA stations in College Park and Atlanta. Council members also discussed the idea of the city purchasing at least one piece of downtown property each year and selling it once needed repairs are made. Williams was adamant that the downtown area should be a first class-only environment.

Updates were presented by the city’s Public Works and Public Safety departments. Public Works Director Troy Besseche reviewed accomplishments for 2005, some of which included completion of a critical hydraulic model and comprehensive water supply study for a portion of the city, implementation of a radio-read water metering system, implementation of the city’s Stormwater Management Plan, replacement of more the 300 street signs, traffic control signs and markings, a draft of the first major revision to the Land Development Standards in a decade and the completion of pavement resurfacing projects on Smith Street, Pine Street and Fayetteville Road.

Goals and objectives for 2006 included items such as water main replacements on Strickland Street, Vickery Drive and Rivertown Road, various sewer improvements, completion of the U.S. 29 Signal Replacement Project, an Amnesty Day event for household hazardous waste and implementation of the I-85/Hwy. 74 right-turn lane project. One of the most significant projects for 2006 will be the reconstruction of Virlyn B. Smith Road from U.S. Highway 29 to Tell Road using the full-depth reclamation construction technique.

New Fire Chief Jody Weller, Police Chief Charles Long and Public Services Director Walt Brown also made presentations at the retreat. Weller updated council members on plans for the city’s second firestation at John Rivers Road and Hwy. 29. The new station, he said, will be outfitted with a back-up operations center that will be able to serve the community if the primary system were to become disabled. Plans for the city’s take over of fire operations beginning in April are going according to plan, he said, adding that the goal is to lower the ISO rating from its current 4-rating to a 2, thereby reducing insurance costs to homeowners. Weller also briefed the council on a new fire safety education program the department will be administering.

In his comments, Long reported that 22 percent of crimes in 2005 were a result of gas drive-offs from city service stations. Significantly, two-thirds of those occurred at only two stations. Long also requested two agents to work on drug and gang-related crimes and requested that council members consider establishing a second precinct office that would be strategically located.

Brown told council members the city’s E-911 services continue to be upgraded. The cost of those upgrades, he said, were born by fees collected on customer’s phone bills. Referencing the city court system, Brown said pressure needs to be put on judges to consider the nature and victims of crimes rather than responding to the pleas of parents who ask that their adult children be given early release dates.

Williams said city staffing from both the recent past and into the future falls into three categories. He identified those categories as visionaries, management types and those filling various staff positions. Changes in city hall beginning three years ago, said Williams, necessitated having individuals that fit in to each of the categories. Continued employment worked for some during that period but not for others, he said.

“That bewildered some people but we had no choice. An example of that was the Police Department,” Williams told the council. “The department three years ago was dysfunctional. However, the current Police Department will blossom into something you’ll be proud of. But to get to that point we had to make some changes. And today, throughout (city departments) we have some of the best professional staff you’ll find anywhere.”

Looking to the future, Williams said the next five years will critical in developing the staffing contingent that will carry Fairburn far into the future. During those five years staffing may need to increase in number prior to the city reaching the next level.

“We can’t do in the next five years what we need to do without the necessary people,” Williams said. “In the future we’re not looking toward bigger and bigger staff. The objective is to build things up with staff that can carry it forward, with as few people as possible, to carry Fairburn through for the long-term. At that point, those with vision will go somewhere else.”

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