Seeking

Post 1 in Tuesday's election for Fayetteville

City Council are Bill Talley, chief financial

officer for People's Bank in Pine Mountain, Ga..;

Clyde Avery, a broker for office management firm

Southeastern Properties Inc., and Paul Carter,

owner of two Jonesboro restaurants and

Fayetteville Family Billiards.

Clyde Avery

native of LaGrange, Ga., Avery grew up in College

Park and has lived in Fayette County since 1980.

After

a 32-year career in operations at Delta Air

Lines, he retired and has worked five years with

Southeastern Properties, a property management

and leasing firm. He is married and has two grown

children.

"Being

retired from Delta, I now have more time to give

back to the community," said Avery, adding

that he has been a youth minister at New Hope

Baptist Church for 15 years. "I've just been

seeing some things that I would like to see

happen," he added by way of explaining why

he decided to run for council.

"I

feel like the group down there has done a real

good job," said Avery, "and I feel like

I have some talents I could add to that."

Among

changes Avery said he would like to see:

Lower

taxes for senior citizens. "The general

population is getting a little bit older,"

he said. "I'd like to see some benefit from

the tax windfalls we've had recently go toward

the older citizens."

Hiring

of a traffic consultant. "I would like to

see a traffic expert come in and look for ways we

can improve things," he said. "DOT and

the clean air (restrictions) have got our hands

tied right now [when it comes to building new

roads]," he said, but a traffic expert, he

added, could address the possibility of making

more traffic lanes one-way at certain hours, and

perhaps come up with other solutions.

"There

are some real good traffic study companies out

there," he said, adding that he envisions

the task as a anytime consulting job, not a

permanent position at City Hall.

More

aggressive efforts to redevelop empty commercial

buildings. "We need to have a portfolio of

the grocery sites available, the Wal-Mart and all

the retail sites and the offices that are

available," he said. "Through

persuasion or incentive, when these folks are

coming to the city wanting to develop these big

boxes, we need to let them know what we have

available."

Avery

is opposed to bringing liquor by the drink into

Fayetteville, and would not vote to put the issue

on the ballot unless forced by a petition of

voters. "It would add another burden to what

[Police Chief] Johnny Roberts has to do," he

said. But, he added, "If the citizens vote

for it, I'm not going to be one to stand there

and continue to battle that."

There's

a place for high-density subdivision development,

Avery said, adding that he is in favor of a

gradual decrease in density as one goes outward

from the city center. The key to any increase in

density, he added, is to make sure surrounding

neighborhoods are brought into the process.

"I would make sure they have input into

what's being developed, especially if it's

changing density," he said.

He

doesn't favor annexation in most cases, Avery

said. "The county has tried to develop a

good land use plan.

Avery

said one of his strengths as a council candidate

is that he lives and works in the city. "We

need some people that are earning a living here

in the city," he said. "That way, they

can get a real feel for what the people are

talking about and what the people want."

Paul Carter

14-year resident of Fayetteville, Carter was born

in Scottdale, Ga. near Decatur, was graduated

from Southwest High School and served in the U.S.

Army in Germany and France, 1954-57.

He

worked as a printer for the Atlanta Journal and

Constitution and for a private printing company,

and has spent the last 20 years as a

self-employed restaurateur and owner of Fayette

Family Billiards. He plans to sell his businesses

and retire in March, he said.

He

has two daughters and four grandchildren.

Carter

said he is opposed to any more commercial

development, even as a way to lower taxes.

"You get a $10 decrease in tax, and that's

not a good trade-off for the increased crime,

traffic and other problems that come with the

shopping centers," he said.

"I'm

not against growth," said Carter, "but

how much is enough?"

Fayetteville's

empty Wal-Mart store, he said, "is just a

big white elephant sitting there. Everybody wants

to move to the new spaces. We need to concentrate

on utilizing the space we have now instead of

adding any more."

There

should be no more rezonings in Fayetteville, he

added, until Fayette's problems with traffic and

overcrowded schools are solved.

Carter

campaigned against liquor by the drink the last

time it came up for a vote in Fayetteville, he

said, but now he favors putting it on the ballot

again. "It's been four years since it was on

the ballot, and since the city has changed so

much, I'd be for putting it on the ballot and

letting the voters say whether they want it or

not," he said.

Personally,

he said, if liquor does come up for a voter

decision, he'll vote against it.

He

suspects that impact fees paid by developers for

infrastructure to support their developments are

not being used for their intended purpose, Carter

said. "If [impact fees] can't be used for

schools, I would put them toward buying some

green space in the city," he said,

"instead of all this pavement being put

down."

City

businesses are overregulated, Carter said. For

instance, he thinks the city should not have

forced Pizza Hut to abandon its trademark red

roof in favor of a green one on Ga. Highway 85,

he said.

The

city forced A&T Grocery to use brick on its

new building, but allowed the Holliday Inn to use

vinyl siding, said Carter. "You've got to be

fair," he said.

"You've

got to work with the businessmen," he added.

"They've got a hard enough time with taxes,

etc. i don't know how they stay in

business."

Bill Talley

ten-year resident of Fayetteville, Talley is a

native of Decatur, Ala. and holds degrees in

finance and management. He worked in banks in

Florida, then in south Atlanta before taking the

job as CFO for People's Bank nine years ago in

Pine Mountain.

Fayette's

reputation as a fine community drew him here, he

said.

He

has served five years on the Fayetteville

Planning Commission, two years as its chairman.

As

a planning commissioner, Talley said, "I've

been able to have a great deal of impact on

trying to implement the city's ordinances. Now I

want the opportunity to have some impact on

ordinance generation."

He

likes what the City Council has done so far,

Talley said. "They have a great team of

folks, and I think I would complement the

team."

Talley

is not opposed to all annexation, he said, but

any proposed annexation should be weighed based

on its benefit to the current city residents, he

said. "There needs to be a reason for it to

be annexed," he added.

If

elected, he said, he would push for more use of

existing, empty commercial buildings before

annexing more land for commercial development.

"There has to be a point where Fayetteville

says, `This is our city limits,'" he said.

"I don't wish to run Fayetteville and

Peachtree City or Fayetteville and Riverdale

together," he added.

He

said he is concerned with making sure the city

Police Department remains well-trained and

well-equipped.

Talley

added he is proud of the city's recently

strengthened development standards and believes

they should be "applied aggressively."

And

although he favors some incentives to bring

developers to the older, empty buildings, Talley

said he also favors working with those

redevelopment projects to bring them into

compliance with some new regulations, such as

required buffers and natural areas.

City

Council has done "a good job" of

cutting tax rates, he said, "but the tax

base has grown. Stopping short of promising more

tax cuts, Talley said, "i would want to make

sure we are using our funds as efficiently as

possible."

Fayetteville

should be "a place where people want to live

and work," said Talley. "There should

be pockets of residential development within the

city center so people can live and work and walk

in the city," he added.

And

while density can be higher downtown than it is

farther out, "I don't believe that

multifamily housing in large numbers is a good

thing." But a mix of single family homes and

small service-oriented businesses would be good,

he said.

He

is proud of the city's recent planning work on

the McElwaney property, a 110-acre tract being

developed in homes, shops, offices and a hotel

near the Courthouse Square, Talley said. More

"neotraditional" projects like that are

needed downtown, he said, to create the

pedestrian environment he envisions.

The

McElwaney plan includes several neighborhood

parks as well, and Talley said he would work for

"more of that on the neighborhood

level."

Talley

said he also would work for more communication

between the city, the county and the Board of

Education, especially in the area of planning.

"I think it would be helpful for them to

know what we're planning and vice versa," he

said.

He

would not vote to put liquor by the drink on the

ballot, short of a petition, said Talley.

"If that's the will of the people, that's

what we should do," he said. "It's

democracy in action." Talley added, "I

have never seen a city get better because of

poured liquor."

Fayetteville

should be directly involved in planning for a new

Fayette County Jail, said Talley, since the jail

is in the city center. "The city needs input

into that process," he said.

The

city also should move forward more quickly on new

technology, especially use of the Internet,

Talley said. "I would like to see the zoning

ordinances on the Internet, and there are a lot

of other ways we could use the Internet," he

added. "We could use it get citizen

input."

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