Party Marks Opening of 911 Center

publication date: Jan 31, 2009

By Jonathan Copsey/ STAFF

Something big must have happened Monday night to warrant two fire trucks and police cruisers to come out in force, lights blazing, to the Alpharetta Public Safety Building. Turns out it was a party.Finally, after more than two years of planning and construction, Alpharetta’s Command and Control Center (C3) was officially opened with as much fanfare as could be mustered, with the doors flying open for guided tours of the new center complete with food hot off the grill. The foyer was packed with well-wishers and the curious eager to see the newest addition to Public Safety’s mighty arsenal. Housing all emergency functions for both Alpharetta and Milton, the C3 has the ability to track all police and fire vehicles within north Fulton and all Rural Metro EMS services, have direct video feeds from emergency vehicles and view traffic conditions through cameras at busy intersections. It truly is a one-stop-shop for emergency planning.

The ribbon cutting was attended by most of the Mayor and council, along with Fulton County Commissioner Lynne Riley and members of the City of Milton’s Public Safety Department. “Everybody said we could not do this for $500 thousand. We did it for less,” said Alpharetta Director of Public Safety Gary George. A proclamation was granted to George and his department by Governor Sonny Perdue, praising him for accomplishing such a feat.

‘Initiated by the City’

Who would have thought that there would be such confusion around four simple words? At last week’s Alpharetta Council meeting, Community Development Director Diana Wheeler presented a change to the Unified Development Code (UDC), the manual of how the city works. Those four words had Council split in the interpretation, leading to the item being tabled for further discussion. The UDC change largely outlined how changes to the code that are initiated by the city can be brought before Council, requiring that in the future, there must be two public hearings with the Planning Commission in attendance. After the two hearings, the Commission may make a recommendation on the change and present it to Council. While Council members all agreed that having at least two public hearings was a good idea, Councilman Doug DeRito raised issue with those four words: what does “initiated by the city” mean? Does it mean the Council? Does it mean the Planning Commission? Does it mean city staff? “

‘The city’ could be anyone in the city,” said DeRito. “I think there’s a real bright line between the policymakers of the city and the management of implementing those policies.”According to DeRito it would be possible for a member of staff – such as in the Community Development Department – to devise a change and present it to the elected officials without having it go through a public vetting process. Not only would that be cause for concern, but the very fact that they had presented a change was overstepping their role in the government. That power is reserved for elected officials. “I don’t want any employee of the city setting policy for the city,” said DeRito. “That’s not their role. That’s not their function.”

The other council members were largely confused by this thinking, arguing that even if a staff member made such a change, it would still have to come before both the Planning Commission and the Council for approval.

“We have to vote on it anyway,” said Mayor Arthur Letchas. “We hire these people to make recommendations. They can make their recommendation and we don’t have to accept it.”By and large, the other council members sided with the Mayor, although they said they understood DeRito’s concerns. Councilman David Belle Isle said that a change to the UDC was not the place to be having the discussion and made a motion to pass the originally presented change with a few minor modifications. DeRito was still not happy, and he made another motion to table the issue so council can discuss it further. That motion passed with all council members except for Letchas voting in favor. Councilwoman Cheryl Oakes was absent from the meeting.