Dr. Lewis meets with Dunwoody; Catching up with Ray Goff; Update from Councilman Shortal

A reminder DeKalb County School System superintendent Dr. Crawford Lewis will give his "State of the System" update at Dunwoody High School at 9:15 Wednesday. The update is sponsored by the Dunwoody Chamblee Parents Council. Have a question for Dr. Lewis? This is your chance to get it answered.
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I had a chance to catch up with former University of Georgia football coach Ray Goff on Monday. While many Bulldog fans cringe when they hear the name (and certainly his 46-34-1 record at Georgia was a disappointment to him as well), Goff is still one of the classiest guys around. He spends much of his time these days in the restaurant business - he owns a string of 11 Zaxby's restaurants - and flying (he's a licensed pilot). I asked the coach if he had any thoughts of opening a Zaxby's in Dunwoody, but he said the numbers just didn't work.
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The following thoughts are those of Dunwoody City Councilman Denis Shortal. The next city council meeting is September 14.

Fellow Citizens of Dunwoody - The following are a few update items of
interest:
1. Website - If you haven't seen our City's website lately I recommend you visit our website @ dunwoodyga.gov. I think our staff has done an excellent job of improving the content and ease of use. Let me know your comments.
2. Home Invasions - As you know we have recently had some home invasions in our city. A little over a week ago our police, in conjunction with another local law enforcement agency, arrested two individuals who had items taken from a Dunwoody home in their possession. Although they have not yet been linked to other home invasions it should be noted that since their arrest home invasions have virtually ceased. The point I want to emphasize is that the arrest was made possible by one of our citizens seeing a vehicle with suspicious individuals in the neighborhood, immediately calling 911 and being able to give a partial but accurate description of the vehicle. As I stated in my last update, to prevent crime in our city each one of us must be alert for suspicious vehicles and/or individuals around our neighborhoods, streets and our neighbor's homes. If you see something suspicious make a note of the description and, if possible, take a picture from a safe location ... then CALL
911 ASAP!!
3. Audit Firm - Our City Charter requires an annual audit of the financial records of the city by an outside independent firm. In addition to the requirement by the City's Charter I believe it is sound fiscal policy to have such an audit. A RFP (request for
proposal) was issued for this service and several firms responded.
After an evaluation of the firms responding, our city staff recommended the firm of Maldin & Jenkins CPA, LLP and at our August 24th meeting the City Council approved that recommendation.
4. City Court - Our original plan of having one court session / week proved to be inadequate. This was resulting in unmanageable volume at each court session and an unacceptable time delay to have cases adjudicated. Last month your City Council approved an additional court session / week. I attended the court session last Wednesday evening and can report that the extra court session has enabled us to lower the volume of cases / session thus enhancing the court operation, made the court more organized and reduced the time to have cases adjudicated by over a month. The end result is a city court that meets the quality standards of what we all should expect from the city of Dunwoody. It is expected that this will also be a financial enhancement to the city.
5. Park Negotiations - We are continuing our negotiation efforts with the County to obtain ownership and control of all our parks. These negotiations continue to move forward at a snails pace. As I have told many of you, the unresolved parks issue has been my biggest disappointment since becoming a city. Rest assured we will continue to pursue a fair and equitable conclusion to securing all of our parks. I will keep you update on this issue that affects every citizen in Dunwoody.
6. Convention Visitors Bureau of Dunwoody (CVBD) - This month we have established the CVBD. The purpose of the CVBD is to promote the city of Dunwoody by attracting folks to our hotels, restaurants, retailers and other businesses. The CVBD has nine members who serve without compensation and represent a cross section of our citizens and businesses. The CVBD is an independent entity but operates under the general oversight and guidelines of the City Council. The CVBD members will hire an executive director and possibly an administrative person to handle the day to day operations of the CVBD. It is important to understand how the CVBD is funded. The city receives a 5% tax from the hotels ... 60% of that 5% goes to the city's general fund and by state law the remaining 40% must be spent to promote/attract tourism to our city and it is these funds that will be used to operate the CVBD.
7. I best stop before I have to get a copy right. Please forward this update to all your friends and neighbors. If anyone wants to be added to my email list .. just let me know. My sincere thanks to all of you for your continued support and involvement as we "Build Our City Together." I look forward to seeing all of you at my Campaign Kick Off at Mudcatz (located in Dunwoody Village) this Tuesday, September 1st from 6:30 PM to 9:00 PM ... everyone is invited.


Denny Shortal, Dunwoody City Councilman
District One - Post 1/ Mayor Pro Tem