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New cities get Senate OKMon, 03/13/2006 - 9:41am
By: Ben Nelms
It’s another step along the way. It is one that many said could not be done. Yet it sailed through the Georgia Senate on a 49-0 vote. Keeping to his word, Sen. Kasim Reed introduced bills designed to give residents of unincorporated South Fulton County the opportunity to control their own destiny by voting to create the new cities of Chattahoochee Hills and South Fulton. If approved by the Georgia House and signed by Gov. Perdue, those votes will come later in 2006 and no later than 2007. The Senate move followed a similar one a week earlier to approve a public referendum in the John’s Creek community in North Fulton. Though Reed made no detailed mention of the perhaps historic vote during Thursday’s meeting of the South Fulton Chamber of Commerce, he, along with Fulton County Commissioner Bill Edwards, continued what has become a familiar scene in locales around South Fulton in recent months. As in the many town hall meetings conducted all over unincorporated South Fulton, they continued to state their rationale for supporting citizens right to vote incorporation up or down. Reed told the audience the town hall meetings showed him that residents of unincorporated South Fulton wanted local control, that they wanted to slow down and have time to make a decision and they wanted to keep the tax burden as low as possible. It was during the time frame of those town hall meetings that Fulton County Commission announced a three mill increase to property owners in unincorporated South Fulton. Outlining a four-point process that encompasses the current incorporation discussion, Reed said the first is the legislative process in the Senate and House. The second step is providing the time to review and debate the issues between now and November. The third step is the time for action, the public referendum. And the fourth step, he said, will be the time after the election, when we begin to govern. Edwards, who along with Reed has conducted multiple town hall meetings in recent months, stressed that the community conversation on incorporation must continue. The decision that will determine the future of South Fulton must be one based on a consideration of all the variables. “We’re faced with a decision. My job was to make sure each and every citizen has the information they need before making the final decision,” Edwards said. “We have to talk about incorporation. We have to talk about annexation (by existing cities). And we have to talk what happens if we do nothing.” An issue specifically on the minds of the existing cities of South Fulton, said Reed, is that of potentially being landlocked if the public vote for the cities of South Fulton (also known as Campbell) and Chattahoochee Hills meets with success. Reed told the audience he will do anything in his power to be fair. “I won’t let these bills become a divisive issue between the cities,” he said. Reed explained the rationale for his comment after the meeting. “I couldn’t come here today and give a policy speech and ignore them,” he said. “What was developing was that their anxiety level was going up so high that they were getting concerned. At the end of the day that’s a fair concern for a city leader.” After the meeting, Reed reflected both on the accomplishment of having the Chattahoochee Hills and South Fulton bills pass handily in the Senate and the remaining work ahead. “I feel good about it. But I think that it’s not done,” he said. “It’s not going to be done until we get it through both chambers, so my focus right now is on two things. We have to keep holding this county together and not let anyone divide us and we have to have the passage of these bills through the House. I’m not thinking about anything else. I think we are finally, as a community, moving this process in the right direction and controlling it.” login to post comments
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