Councilman Shortal Message, TV

Hello All,

It's been a while since I last posted. Thankfully we have King John to rely on daily for news and updates in Dunwoody. I've been busy at home and work and all is well here. Good news is that I planted strawberries over at the Community Garden last weekend. Now I'll just sit back and wait until late March to eat them.

I've been in contact with some important people over at City Hall and have been planning a TV show for Dunwoody. It would broadcast out on the Comcast public access channel.

I have a talent search person on contract right now and he is working out appearances from some major Dunwoody stars. Hopefully Dunwoody Talk (the blog) will soon become Dunwoody Talk TV show.

Prior to my current job I taught sixth graders over in Cobb County. Back then I developed a closed-circuit TV show for the middle school, broadcasting live every morning at 9 AM. The show was called ECTV and the students did most of the work. Teachers submitted news items, as did clubs and admin staff. The show started the school day with the Pledge of Allegiance, morning announcements, skits, recognitions, etc. All live TV! We archived the footage and taped various segments in the hallways once a week during the year then put out a Yearbook DVD. All filming and editing done in house. Quite the project back in 1998.

Now on to something more relevant, Councilman Shortal has a few things to say, so please listen up.

Fellow Citizens ... The following are some updates on items of interest:

1. Schools .... Tomorrow night - Tuesday / 6 OCT - @ 6 PM there will public meeting to explain the planned renovation/enhancement of Dunwoody High School (DHS). Construction is slated to begin in MAR, 2010 with an estimated completion date of late fall 2011. This should be of interest to everyone as DHS is a community asset. I have seen the plans and I think the committee has done some very good work.

2. Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) .... The last scheduled CLUP meeting was held on 24 SEP. Over 40 citizens attended. Some very thought provoking questions and comments were brought forth. Acting on the CLUP Steering Committee's recommendation your City Council voted last Monday to spend an additional $18,500 on five additional meetings with each meeting focused on a specific area of our city .... those general areas are Dunwoody Village, Georgetown/Shallowford area, Jett Ferry Gateway, Tilly Mill Gateway and Winters Chapel area. The meeting times, dates and locations are still in the finalization stage. The plan is to hold each meetings as close to the area of discussion as possible to encourage max local as well as city wide attendance. The CLUP is the legal bases for future zonings and thus it is critical to get it right. As most of you know, in a poll of our citizens during the march to city hood, CLUP/Zoning was the number one reason why our citizens wanted to become a city. In this case I feel the extra expenditures are a good use of your tax dollars. When the specifics of the meetings are announced I would strongly encourage each of you to make max effort to attend. The CULP is the ground work of what your City will look like thru 2030.

3. Website .... The City Website ... dunwoodyga.gov .... should be your number one source of information for what is going on in our City. On the Home page, click on "Residents" then scroll down to "Calendar" and you will see the schedule of events for our City. I am seeking to get the "Calendar" moved up to the main topic line with Home, Residents, Visitors, etc. Please stay informed by checking the City Calendar often.

4. City Council (CC) Meetings ... As a reminder your regular CC meetings are held on the 2nd and 4th Monday of each month with a work session being held on the 3rd Monday of each month. Unless otherwise posted, all CC meetings start @ 7 PM at your City Hall.

5. 911 ... As a reminder if you see someone/something suspicious call

911 ASAP. Again, do not hesitate ... call 911 ASAP!!! By calling 911 ASAP you are enhancing the security of our City. We are all the "eyes and ears" of our police force. Call 911 while the information / description etc. you witnessed are fresh in your mind ... this is the best intelligence our police can receive.

6. City Staff ... There has been a few changes in our city staff. One of the most note worthy was the change in the Director of Community Development. The former director, Jennifer Peterson, resign on 4 SEP and Michael Tuller (Michael.Tuller@dunwoodyga.gov) was hired as her replacement. Michael started work on 28 SEP. Jennifer did an outstanding job in getting our City up and running. She resigned due to meeting the "man of her dreams" and will be getting married in NOV.

We all wish her much happiness.

7. Election ... As most of you know there will be no election for City Council in NOV. The reason is that all three of us - myself, Councilwoman Bonser and Councilman Taylor, were unopposed for reelection. I didn't know there was such a stipulation in Georgia law until the week of qualification (candidate registration) which ended 4 SEP. To paraphrase "Georgia Title 21. Elections", (in the event there is no opposed candidate in a precinct in a special or general election, no special or general election SHALL ( my point .. note the word SHALL) be held in such precinct unless more than one write-in candidate has qualified as provided by law or unless there are issues to be submitted to the electorate). In our case, no write-in candidate qualified and there were no other "issues" (things like bonds, referendums, etc,) to be submitted ... thus an election will not be held. On the financial side, not having an election saved approx.

$25,000 to $30,000 of your tax dollars that can be put to good use in several others areas. My personal sincere thanks to each of you for your support and the confidence you have shown in me. I will continue to work to justify your support every day that I am your City Councilman.

8. Convention Visitors Bureau of Dunwoody (CVBD) ... the nine member board of the CVBD is up and running. It will be functioning as a

501c(6) organization. The CVBD is currently in the search stage for an Executive Director who will run the day to day operations of the CVBD.

In simple language, the mission of the CVBD is to promote Dunwoody as a place where folks will want to come to use our fine hotels, restaurants and other places of business. The funds to run the CVBD come from a portion of the 5% Hotel Tax that we collect from the Hotels in Dunwoody. State law mandates that 40% (or 2 of the 5%) of the Hotel Tax be spent on attracting tourism to Dunwoody. The remaining 60% (or 3 of the 5%) of the Hotel Tax goes into the general operating revenue fund of our City. We have a 90 day notification clause in the contract that we signed with the DeKalb County CVB

(DCVB) last April to provide CVB services. I am happy to announce that the City gave the DCVB that 90 day notification on 30SEP09. Thus, on

31DEC09 the CVBD will take over all functions involved in the Convention Visitors Bureau. I hope you could follow all the above abbreviations ... there will be a test later!

9. Audit Committee and Audit Policy ... At our last City Council meeting we voted on and approved this policy which governs the City audit oversight committee. I voted against adopting the policy as written due to the stipulation that two members of the City Council would be on the five member committee. I believed then and I believe today that City Council members should not be assigned to this committee. IMO, this committee should be composed only of citizens who are not members of the city government or city staff. Your comments are welcomed.

10. I best end this before I have to get a copy right. Please pass this on to your friends and neighbors. If anyone would like to be added to my email update list just let me know and I will make that happen. My sincere thanks to each of you for your continued interest, support and involvement in our City. You are an important factor in our success!! Denny Shortal, Dunwoody City Councilman District One - Post 1/Mayor Pro Tem