Councilman Mike King: Let’s set the record straight

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Letters to the Editor
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Having been in the middle of decisions made for Peachtree City for the past seven plus years, I would like to make just a few observations.

First, I will never state that your Council has been perfect, as we have stumbled from time to time, but we have come a considerable distance from the vitriol of previous councils. Gone are the letters to the editor denigrating fellow council members for merely differing. Gone are the days of sophomoric reading of a demeaning letter by a sitting mayor towards his successor. You get the picture.

First, Mayor Fleisch is, in my humble opinion, our only recent mayor who can be characterized as being successful. It’s public knowledge that two of the last three were not reelected, giving an exception to Mr. Logsdon for attempting a run at a statewide position. The other two were handily defeated in their effort for various reasons, but primarily for over-promising and under-delivering. Each can make their own excuses, but facts do not lie.

Mayor Fleisch ran on a campaign to improve our quality of life, and all one must do is to look around and see that the city is now maintained unlike seven plus years ago.

Accomplishments must include the Lake Peachtree Spillway/Dam, Drake Field with its awesome pavilion, MacDuff Parkway completed at long last at no taxpayer expense, property values are through the roof, the city being virtually debt-free as we are now paying cash for maintaining infrastructure that the city once paid via bond debt, and yet we have doubled the city’s cash reserves without once raising our milage rate.

It is my humble opinion to continue this trend of success is to elect both Kim Learnard and Dr. Phil Crane as your newest Mayor and Council Member. The simple fact is that both would best represent Peachtree City in a positive manner as compared to the negativity exemplified by their opponents. Fact is, three sitting councilmen have endorsed them both, and in the Post Four race we were each asked by their opponent and turned down.

The simple fact is that when I became the Post 2 Council Member our milage rate was 7.333, and by first reducing it to 7.100 by paying off the first bond, it was then reduced to 6.232 and we now have a rainy-day fund of over twenty million dollars — the best financial shape ever for our city.

This allows for us to avoid borrowing to simply maintain our infrastructure that we should be doing out of current revenues. Common sense says we need to continue this trend and not revert to debt-based financing as proposed by Mr Imker.

Much has been said regarding the experience difference of Dr. Crane’s opponent who has been less than honest with his campaign rhetoric. As an example, our Planning Commission just Monday evening took a vote, and who was it that said Council took that away? Who was it stating that Council had approved apartments when knowing the last apartments approved in Peachtree City was over a decade ago?

Further, it is only Dr. Crane’s opponent who has yet to attend any Council meeting over the past year. I could go on but suffice it to say that I wholeheartedly support Kim and Phil in their respective races as they bring much more to the table to move our city forward.

I ask that each citizen exercise their privilege and vote beginning Saturday, November 20th.

Mike King

Post 2, Peachtree City Council

Peachtree City, Ga.

8 COMMENTS

  2. All do respect Councilman King, you are incorrect. Somewhere along the years you’ve served us, you, along with the others on council, lost their way. Kevin Madden has been outvoted. Terry Earnst lost his candidacy for Mayor. PTC voting citizens are waking up. Dr. Phil Crane is a great person. However, his qualifications for council is very green. The right person is Frank Destadio. He has the qualifications needed. People will remember this action and not in a good light for several reasons.

  3. On this website, Mr. King demonstrated that he cannot differentiate the leadership effectiveness of George Patton and private Bone Spur. Keep that in mind when considering any of his recommendations.

  4. I was a fan of Mike King before he was elected to council, mainly because I agreed with his Letters to the Editor and his “conservative” position. That ceased when he became one of the proponents for putting a theme park in the middle of our city. Frankly, his endorsement seals my opinion. I’ll be voting for Dr. Crane.

  5. Mike King is either experiencing signs of dementia or is completely out of touch with what the Planning Commission does and what the Frank Destadio campaign has stood for right from the beginning. Frank has never stated the Planning Commission never votes. He has always been concerned the City Council removed the Commissions long time holding of a Public Hearing followed by a vote on a recommendation to the City Council.

    First of all, the Planning Commission has always voted on Landscape Plans, Conceptual Site Plans, and Design Concepts. What the City Council did was to remove their right to vote via Public Hearing. At the very meeting Mike is referring to, they did just that. They voted on what they could, but had to hold the limited and rather silly “Workshops” instead of a Public Hearing on several topics. Mike King and several other City Council members believe it is illegal to hold two Public Hearings. Interesting, since Fayetteville does just that. Fayetteville believes a recommendation from their Planning Commission is a valuable input to their Council’s decision-making process.

    Additionally, I know for an absolute fact that Frank Destadio does not attend the City Council meetings because they are held on the same Thursday’s when his Knights of Columbus meetings are held. I also know that he watches them on the PTC’s streaming video the next day. He and I have discussed many of the issues he saw that the Council discussed. He was willing to stop attending these Knights of Columbus Council meetings when he decided to run for Post 4.

    In my opinion, Frank Destadio is a truly honest and dedicated individual who has spent over 20 years working in and for this City, along with giving his time to many other organizations, councils, and committees in PTC & Fayette County. His opponent is a young man who claims to be born and raised in PTC, working while in HS, and returning after college to practice as a chiropractor. His only experience is being on a non-profit board.

    Early voting starts this Saturday so please get out and vote for Frank Destadio. A retired USAF Colonel, a strong leader, an 11-year Planning Commissioner, and a dedicated church and family man who listens to the voice of the people and will serve them faithfully on the PTC city council.