Congratulations to Peachtree City for doing its part in passing the SPLOST. The total county percentage was 69.5 percent voting Yes and 30.5 percent voting No. For full disclosure, one must include the fact that only 11 percent of the 76,737 registered county voters voted.
Regardless, Peachtree City voters clearly understood the value of the SPLOST. They voted an astounding 78 percent Yes and only 22 percent No.
City Council and city staff are to be specifically congratulated for developing a winning product for the citizens to vote on.
Clearly the main components of the SPLOST for Peachtree City are greatly enhanced road and cart path maintenance along with several road intersection improvement projects and 16 new cart path projects. All of this will be executed over the next six years.
It is now incumbent upon our elected officials and city staff to continue to keep the citizens informed at regular intervals of the progress of each project of the SPLOST. It is understood some projects will not get started for several years to come.
The timeline and costs for all projects must be clearly visible to the citizens. Perhaps use the city main page website for progress updates. Consider using the weekly “Updates” email newsletter to tell us when an update to the website has been made.
I look forward to seeing the starting definition of all the projects, their costs and schedules shared in an easy to view (one-page type) format that is understandable to all. Then we can all monitor the progress to make sure what we voted on is 100 percent what we’re getting.
This is critical to maintain the trust the citizens have given the city and its governing council. We cannot, must not, have a repeat of the county’s management of the 2006 SPLOST. Keep us informed and we’ll be more apt to trusting our city government again in the future.
Eric Imker
Peachtree City, Ga.
[Imker is a former City Council member.]
