September 17, 2008 Update
Dear Friends and Neighbors:
On Monday, September 15, by a vote of 4 - 3, with Council Members Julie Zahner Bailey and Tina D'Aversa joining me in opposition, the Milton City Council voted to extend sewer service in our city. Please see relevant AJC article: "Bitter issue: Milton council agrees to extend sewer lines".
As a reminder from my previous newsletter, the mayor and council members did not receive the proposed Sewer Service Area map until last Friday afternoon, and we did not receive the proposed Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with Fulton County until after 2:00 a.m. last Sunday morning. Council had very little time, therefore, to review these documents before the meeting last night. In addition and perhaps equally (if not more) concerning, neither the map, nor the IGA, were posted on the city web site to allow the public any opportunity to review and comment on the items in advance of the meeting.
Dozens of citizens were in attendance at the meeting, and the overwhelming majority of these citizens asked the mayor and council to postpone consideration of these items to allow for an opportunity to review them. Despite this, a motion put forth by me to remove consideration of these items from the agenda and instead postpone their consideration for one week failed.
I also want to point out to you that there is erroneous information in an article on the City of Milton's web site. Despite what is stated in the article, sewer service was indeed extended with the 4-3 vote Monday night. See article by clicking here. Our city attorney stated into the record that the inclusion of tracts of land in the Crabapple area (colored red on the proposed Sewer Service Area map) as part of the motion to approve the map and IGA was indeed sewer extension.
The map and IGA must now be approved by Fulton County before the contract and the ability for Fulton County to provide sewer service can legally go into effect. According the Fulton County's web site, the Fulton County Board of Commissioners (BOC) plans to vote on the proposed map and IGA during its September 17 regular meeting. Click here for agenda.
Despite what I believe to be a violation of the spirit of open and transparent government and a blow to many citizens' trust in their city's government, I remain eager to get down to the business of making our city a better place for us all to live, work, and play. I only want you to be accurately informed about the facts of this issue.
As always, I consider it an honor to serve you. Your comments and suggestions are always welcome. I encourage you to let me and the other council members and mayor know how you feel about this and any other issue. Public comment is allowed during all of our meetings. In addition, our e-mail addresses can be found by clicking on the link below.
Best regards,
Alan Tart
Council Member, District 6 (At Large)
Milton, GA
AlanTart4Milton@comcast.net
678-464-8550 (cell)
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12 comments:
Alan, winning or losing is not the point here. You don't need to pick sides. It is a majority decision that is most important.
No one wants growth, only the best way to control growth and avoid lawsuits. Remember, everyone still has to live in Milton. Growth hurts everyone equally.
Dear "No one wants growth"
Could you please be so kind as to explain how we can not have growth and be financially sound.
Let me explain......
We will NOT be financially sound without growth, but still no one LIKES growth and the additional traffic.
Thank you
Although I agree with you that no one likes traffic. The traffic problems in Milton are for the most part caused by Cherokee and Forsyth County people traveling through Milton.
We need the growth to increase our tax base so we can pay for services [like police protection] to slow down the traffic.
And we have to be financially sound to survive.
Unless of course you want higher taxes, which tends to drive out the large rural landowners anyway.
Way to go Alan! Keep stirring the pot Mr. "I promise to be a team builder".
Can you imagine as the city trys to hire a good manager and he surfs the web? His thoughts will be "Wow, do I have to deal with a nutcase like this"? No thanks!
Why did we elect Tart?
On the one hand is an elected official who communicates well, reaches out to residents, volunteers for his community and has educated himself on the community's issues.
On the other hand are bloggers who use school yard bullying tactics to communicate, can't accept others' opinions and strike out by calling names.
Anyone who stumbles on this blog will figure out who the real "nutcases" are.
On the other hand you get a weak, inexperienced council member who drank some koolaid and now he cant think on his own.
Just look at the record of the scripts he reads.
There is also green koolaid for the inexperienced instead of red koolaid out for blood and running off a city manager working while he was still in kindergarten.
When we have sewer spills, we'll all be drinking brown kool-aid.
Sewer spills???? thought this was all about density. Whine, whine, whine! MOVE ON!
Hey, "thought this was all about density" blogger,
If the issue boiled down so simply, you'd be the mayor. Then again, maybe you are the mayor.
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