First, the Charter provides for six city council members and a mayor. Three of the city council members will represent our three districts as shown on our proposed city map. The remaining three members will be “at-large”, meaning they will represent all of our citizens.
Terms will be for four years and will overlap. In the initial election to be held on March 6th, three council members will be elected for an initial term of two years. These positions will represent Districts 1 and 3 as well as one at-large position. After that, all terms will be four years.
Elections will be non-partisan. This means that no one has to declare whether they are a Republican or Democrat. Most important, the City does not have to pay for additional elections for party primaries and party run offs.
The Mayor and Council members are required to be residents of Peachtree Corners for at least one year prior to the election and must maintain their residence in Peachtree Corners for their term of office.
All positions on the Council are part-time. The Mayor receives $9,000 and the Council members $8,000 per year. These salaries were determined by comparison to Cities of similar populations. Because these are elected positions, they are not generally eligible for benefits or pensions. For example, Norcross does not pay benefits or pensions to their Mayor and City Council.
The mayor will serve in a leadership role, presiding over council meetings and serving as spokesperson. The Mayor’s role is defined in Section 2.8. Otherwise, the mayor will vote with and serve on the council with the same rights as other members. That means there will be seven equal votes, with no extraordinary authority vested in a single individual.
Any member who has a financial interest in a matter being voted on by the Council must abstain from voting on that issue. Section 2.14 “Conflicts of interest; holding other offices.” is completely devoted to ethics of those who will make up our government.
Currently, we are represented at the county level by a single person. Lynette Howard is a great asset for us, but she has only one vote out of five. A single vote for over 200,000 citizens! In contrast, the city will have about 38,000 citizens. That works out to about 6,000 per city council person. That gives all of us in Peachtree Corners more representation that is close to home and responsive to us.
We will have local control, representatives who share our values and will be as impacted by their decisions as we will be, a government that prevents power from residing with a single individual, and strict ethical standards for our officials. We, the people of Peachtree Corners, will have the control of and responsibility for our own destiny.
Please e-mail us at blog@upcca.org if you have any questions about incorporation or suggestions for future blogs. You can also Follow Us On Facebook and Follow Us On Twitter. For more information about the city initiative, you can go to the Peachtree Corners web site.
