Politics & Government

Hot Topics Discussed at Council Work Session

Talk of the future use of a parcel on Mitchell Road, Sunday alcohol sales, city policy on land purchases and more made for an involved work-policy meeting.

Hot topics took the floor at last night’s work-policy meeting at City Hall. The mayor was not in attendance so Pro Tem Mayor Ross Kaul sat at the head of the table, guiding an active discussion. 

Councilmember Craig Newton brought up the idea of using a city owned parcel off Mitchell Road as a dog park, though community members and other council brought up the Parks Master Plan, which doesn’t seem to spell out this use.

Since Lillian Webb Park is so close to the parcel, he said it would be a “unique opportunity” to clean up the land with a potentially minimal investment by the City.

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Community member Meryl Wilkerson said that she agrees that the area is an eyesore, but that going against the Master Plan would be a waste of study and resources. She cited that fact that a dog park was not listed as a priority in the survey done in tandem with the Plan.

Ultimately, Newton resolved to follow up with staff about the possibility.

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Newton also brought up the possibility of renaming Cemetery Street to make it more marketable for development. Of the possibilities brought to the table, continuing the name Holcomb Bridge Road to Buford Highway seemed to rise to the top.

Councilmember Andrew Hixson brought the idea of putting Sunday alcohol sales on a ballot to the meeting, since he said many citizens had inquired about the idea.  City Manager Rudolph Smith mentioned that there are mostly convenience stores in Norcross, so the change would mostly affect beer sales. Stores would be required to carry 51 percent foodstuff in order to sell alcohol, he also mentioned.

In the public comment time, Bob Wilkerson commended Hixson for the move, saying that the current ban on Sunday sales reflects a religious bias in the law.

Councilmember Charlie Rheim suggested an amendment to the current real estate policy. He said that in the past years, several circumstances have changed in the city staff, namely that there is now a Community Development Director and a licensed real estate broker on the payroll.

Rheim suggested “taking the emotion out" of the land procurement process by letting the city staff and the DDA handle negotiations.

“The only deals that elected officials have pulled off are Alaska and the Louisiana Purchase,” said Rheim, “The rest are suspect.”

He said it may seem that handing over the responsibility to the city staff or another authority would be giving up power, but in his mind delegating the task to a more qualified party would help the city save money—and potentially stay out of hot water.

The idea seemed to be generally greeted warmly by other members of the Council and the Mayor Pro Tem.

Finally, a difficult discussion took place at the close of the meeting about elected officials serving on boards and authorities. Currently, there seems to be discord in the city ordinance and the city charter about whether elected officials should serve on boards, including whether they should be voting members, and there’s some debate about whether the Council can vote an official off of a board or authority.

Several options were presented for bringing the two into harmony, but ultimately the discussion will continue.

Mayor Bucky Johnson resigned from the NDA when he discovered the discord. Councilmember Rheim currently serves as a voting member of the Downtown Development Authority. 


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