Alpharetta Council Declares ALS Awareness Month
By Jonathan Copsey / STAFF
 The Monson family received a proclamation from Mayor Arthur Letchas declaring May to be ALS/ Lou Gehrig’s Disease awareness month and honoring Bruce Baker Mason at last week’s Alpharetta Council meeting. |
Proclamations and grants and alcohol ordinances, oh my! Yes, last week’s Alpharetta City Council meeting had it all and then some.
The night began with a deeply personal proclamation. Mayor Arthur Letchas read a brief honoring Bruce Baker Mason and declaring May as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease) month. By his side stood Councilman John Monson and his family. Monson’s brother-in-law suffers from the disease, which is incurable.
The next proclamation was in honor of Mihir Chaudhary, a senior at Alpharetta High School. Chaudhary founded a club called “Schools for Schools” to help rebuild, refurbish and re-supply schools in war-ravaged Uganda. With the support of his school, Chaudhary partnered with and raised money for the Awere Secondary School in Uganda, for which he has since raised over $10,000 to provide clean water, teacher training and new books.
Finally, Councilman Jim Paine read a proclamation honoring the 10-year anniversary of the Alpharetta YMCA. Paine serves on the board of the YMCA.
Special Military Presentation
Tom McGaughlin, of the National Guard and Reserve, gave a special presentation regarding support for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, noting that the current call-up of troops is the largest since the Second World War. Recreation and parks director Mike Perry was awarded for being an “outstanding soldier serving with an outstanding employer.”
“I’m honored to receive this on behalf of all the employees of the city of Alpharetta,” said Perry, receiving the award. “I’d be very remiss if I didn’t recognize this body behind me [the council] who has gone above and beyond to make sure that our service men and women are taken care of when they’re not with us.”
McGaughlin asked Alpharetta to sign a statement of support for the Guard and Reserve, joining with cities such as Powder Springs and Atlanta.
Grants
City grants administrator, Amanda Day, then presented the Council with a series of potential grant applications. First was yet another toy for the Alpharetta Police Department in the form of a mobile breathalyzer van. This van would be able to provide court-admissible breath tests on the scene of a traffic stop and would be ideal for sobriety checkpoints. The city would be required to put up 20 percent of the cost for a total of $40,000. After some clarification discussion, Councilman Paine made a motion to approve and the application was approved five-to-one, with Councilman D.C.Aiken the only vote against.
In another grant application for the public safety department, 30 new bulletproof vests were to be requested as part of a federal program, with the city paying half of the cost. The application was approved unanimously.
The final grant application was for the improvement of a lake in North Park. The lake in question requires dredging, improved drainage and water treatment. Councilman Doug DeRito made a motion to approve and the council voted unanimously to apply for the grant.
Development
Diana Wheeler, the community development director, presented a contract with CORO Realty to renovate the downtown alley parking lot in conjunction with CORO’s building of a restaurant next door. The city will help pay for the renovation, which includes repaving and reconstruction of a detention pond, and the project will be allowed to be completed at the same time as CORO’s restaurant rebuilding, making for a simpler project. Councilman David Belle Isle made a motion to approve and the council voted unanimously to approve.
The North Point Livable Centers Initiative was unanimously approved after several months of debate and public hearings. Once the council was certain that the study would only be a plan and would not limit building or open the city to legal liability, they were all for adopting it. With the study approved, Alpharetta is eligible to apply for project grants from the Atlanta Regional Commission for up to $4 million per project.
Ordinances
A series of ordinances were presented regarding police concern over the new amphitheater. The ordinances clarified that scalping would not be tolerated, and volunteers serving alcohol at the venue would have to meet the requirements normal employees meet. They also clarified the definition of being “disorderly while under the influence.”
Public Works
The final item of the night was approval of the milling and resurfacing of Brookside Parkway. Apparently, when the road was originally built, it was of such a poor standard that the city refused to recognize it. The developer has since gone out of business but the road remains, as do the businesses on the road. The city now wants to bring the road up to spec and the current tenants are putting up over $100,000 to help with the renovations. A positive aspect of this work will be that the North Point Community Church, which is nearby, will be able to erect a long-sought bridge to bypass Brookside, relieving traffic on the road. Monson made the motion to approve and the resolution passed unanimously.
All council members were present at the meeting with the exception of Cheryl Oakes.