At last night’s Fayetteville City Council Meeting, city manager Ray Gibson recognized the city’s new communications director, Lynetta Griffin.  Griffin is an alumnus of Georgia Media Academy and has ten years of experience as a communications manager in Clayton County.   Griffin stated that she is committed to upholding a high standard of communications in Fayetteville: “I take this job very seriously because this is where I chose to raise my family.  This is my home.  So, I want not only the citizens and the employees and everyone around here to know how amazing the city is, but beyond, I want the world to know how amazing the city is.”

Interim Police Chief Robert Mask similarly recognized three employees of the City of Fayetteville Police Department.  Mike Francis, Dylan Bell, and Jack Bell graduated in Class 601 in the Northwestern School of Police Staff Command (SPSC), an intensive leadership development program for success in senior command positions for experienced law enforcement professionals- and a program from which Robert Mask himself graduated.  Captain Mayers took the podium to honor recent graduates of the police academy.  Jeremiah Johnson, Cameron Gay, and Seth Edger completed 809 hours of both hands-on and classroom training, and graduated June 2 as members of the local police force.  Captain Dunn then acknowledged three new candidates who will be attending the police academy.  Caleb McDonald moved here from Maryland after hearing about the department from an employe and is currently a military police officer with the army. Este Langford is entering the police academy after a career in childcare (“someone to babysit some of you guys”, Mayor Ed Johnson joked), and Nikki Ravati is originally from New York, having spent most of her career in the Marine Corps.

Charter Amendment 25-O-12, an ordinance increasing the salary of the city council members and the mayor in the future- was presented at the last meeting and brought up again for discussion at this meeting, although no questions were brought up when it was presented by the City Attorney.

Ordinance 25-O-13, concerning a development at the Rosewood Mixed-Use Center on West Lanier Avenue, was also discussed, and would appear to have been the most controversial aspect of the meeting.  A hotel component has been added to the proposed project.  Additionally, the applicant would like to remove a mixed-use building, several condominium units adjacent to West Lanier Avenue, and a parking deck- replacing the latter with a redesigned surface lot.  The proposal describes the planned architecture in great detail- “A single hotel building is envisioned adjacent to West Lanier Avenue with primary access from the internal surface parking lot. It is understood details of the proposed drop-off and guest parking will be refined as a part of the site plan approval process.  The building height shall be limited to no more than five (5) stories in height with four-sided architectural features. The ground-floor fronting on West Lanier Avenue and adjoining streetscape shall be treated as an extension of the building. The architectural character of the hotel shall be similar to the creative flavor established for the mixed-use buildings as shown in Image “2” below.  Stucco will only be permitted as a decorative element and not used as a primary façade material.”  Parking would seem to be the main issue here.  The City of Fayetteville has a maximum parking requirement, asking that places not be inundated with parking lots that remain largely unused.  Enormous parking fields create opportunities for gasoline and antifreeze leakage, as well as environmental toxicity, a supporter of the plan pointed out.  Although it may seem that the hotel does not have enough parking (assuming some rooms accommodate groups taking more than one car), the site plan has been approved by several hotel parking experts and should not, according to the ordinance’s supporters, cause a problem for hotel guests.  And, even should the parking become a problem, “No one is going call Ray Gibson about parking,” the presenter of the ordinance pointed out, noting that any complaints with the parking at a private hotel will be lodged with the hotel’s owners, not the local government.  Parking is a business issue, not a government one- businesses must find their own way to accommodate clients while operating within the confines of the law.  The presenter also pointed out that most hotels do not have full occupancy at any given time so having one parking spot per room is not as sparse as it may sound, especially given that many travelers choose to carpool.