The AJC is oozing faux-surprise at the fact that the group organizing the push for Buckhead citihood is operating behind the opaque cover of blackout curtains. After all the non-profits behind the push for Dunwoody did exactly the same thing. And more. They established "task forces" that wrote reports never made available prior to the vote. Open? Transparent? Not in the least. In retrospect these committees were the incestuous love child between PR and diversion, getting folks pumped up into thinking they were insiders (they weren't) and keeping them from realizing what was really going to happen (they didn't). After the deed was done and they realized they had been hoodwinked there were some healthy servings of buyers' remorse at the Dunwoody City Buffet.
The prospects are even worse for Buckhead as they are abandoning a structurally better government for one that will, by design, disenfranchise the very residents that will vote for its creation. To pull this off the organizing group requires 100% opacity. No one, absolutely no one can actually see what is happening prior to the vote. No reports will be made public. IRS filings will be available no sooner than 23 months from acquiring non-profit status. This is actually legal, sad, but legal. Not subject to any other accountability there will be no open records or FOIA requests, something that also annoys the AJC.
But the real disaster is that the city charter will NOT be available prior to the vote and the vote will not be for that charter. It will be to form the city prior to penning the charter. After the vote residents may be surprise to learn that the council and mayor are mere bystanders to a city that will be run by a city manager. Yes, they will hire that manager but after that original sin the manager is in full control. The manager will build out a staff, and if Dunwoody is an indication it will spread faster than a California wildfire. The manager will craft contracts, including their own, with generous golden parachutes and impediments to firing or milder disciplinary action. And should mayor or council try anything, disciplinary or operational, the Georgia Municipal Association will step in. Sound familiar? Like the powerless school board members we elect who are also as worthless as teats on a boar. Remember when SACS stepped in on the Superintendent's behalf resulting in the governor firing half the board?
The folks setting up these cities know exactly what they are doing, who they are disenfranchising and who they are serving. And they will keep the voters in the dark because the current city government (Atlanta's) has a strong mayor and council. Currently, many residents may be disheartened by what they perceive as woefully inadequate services but they actually can elect people who actually can make changes. If they approve a city of Buckhead they will lose that forever and will be at the mercy of career bureaucrats and the powerful, monied interests they will serve.
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