At last night’s city commission meeting, Public Works Manager David Junger informed the commission that the 30 mph speed limit recently approved by the commission had been rejected by the Georgia Department of Transportation and would have to be raised back to 35mph.

The resulting conversation revealed some interesting rules regarding setting speed limits.  First, local governments can put up speed limit signs that say whatever they want, but the only enforceable limits are those backed up by the GDOT.  Secondly, GDOT uses some sort of “85% rule” to determine road speed limits, though I must admit Mr. Junger was talking over my head at that point and yelling follow-up questions at my television went unnoticed.

So, the city commission begrudgingly approved replaceing the old 30mph signs with the old 35mph signs.  (The enforceable speed limit was never actually changed)  The move was made with the express intent that the city would now begin strongly enforcing the speed limit in the West Howard corridor.

City Manager Peggy Merriss reminded the commission – and those in attendance – that much of that strip of road is still a school zone with a 25mph limit during school hours.  According to Ms. Merriss, school zone fines are often in excess of $400 a pop.

How will Decatur, a city of just 18,000, make itself more appealing to Google’s “Fiber” project, which is looking for communities from 50,000 to 500,000 to shower with insanely fast broadband speeds?

Create a partnership!

At tonight’s city commission meeting, Lena Stevens, the city’s Resource Conservation Coordinator, announced a partnership that the city has created with four other DeKalb cities – Avondale Estates, Chamblee, Doraville and Dunwoody – to make up the “Atlanta Urban Area Partnership”, to boost the population count on the application and hopefully get Google’s attention.  Stevens says that the city is also currently talking with Emory to also get them on-board.

A Facebook page supporting the partnership will launch this evening – I’ll update this post once I have the address.  The city has also hired Decatur eLife’s Andrea Berry to produce a video to promote the effort.

UPDATE: The action item passed unanimously though a resident did stand and ask questions about the cost. Patti Garrett also mentioned several emails she received this afternoon about the cost.

One clarification: Decatur companies WERE solicited for the redesign according to Linda Harris.

The redesign has been in the planning stages for two years. Most of the commission members expressed frustration with the current website.

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On the agenda for tonight’s Decatur city commission meeting: a new city website.

City staff is recommending that the city pay Vision Internet $46,630 to develop a new website for Decatur.  Aside from informing us that decaturga.com gets on average 3,960 page views a day, Linda Harris’ note to the commission (page 57 of agenda materials pdf) details many of the proposed site’s new features…

The redeveloped site will be user-friendly and make it easier to complete tasks such as paying parking tickets online or finding out the sanitation schedule.  It will have a number of programs that will enhance the website including the ability to forward content on a webpage through email; print-friendly webpages; automatic news updates on the homepage using RSS feeds; a survey creator; a high functioning events calendar; an image library; interconnected pages that can be updated simultaneously, preventing fewer chances for out-dated content; and, sign-up options to allow citizens to receive e-newsletters about specific topics (late breaking news, retail and restaurant info, upcoming festivals, etc)  It will be a place where the community can gather online through integrated social media and electronic feedback.  It will also include a platform that will allow the city to add a streaming video component to provide real-time viewing of commission meetings online and technologies to produce webcasts.  And it will also include a mobile application that will allow users to download the site easily on any type of mobile device.

Over the January 29th-30th weekend, Decatur’s City Commission retreated to Smithgall Woods in Helen, Georgia to discuss the future of Decatur.

If you’re curious about what our mayor and city commissioners want Decatur to look like in 5 years and/or what their main goals & projects are for 2010, this is a must-read.

You’ll find the full report after the jump!

[h/t: DNO]

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After much recent noise – on both this site and around the community – the Decatur City Commission added new details to the city’s booting ordinance at its meeting last night.  These amendments look to deal with “issues of interpretation of certain portions of the ordinance in regards to signage placement and visibility.”

Here’s a summary of the four “amendments” (page 19 of the supplemental materials) suggested by the Decatur Police Department (by way of City Manager Peggy Merriss) and approved by the commission…

First, we want to address the issue of placing signs at both the entrance and exit to the parking deck so that persons who may not have seen the signs are given warning as the leave the lot as a pedestrian.  This should give the parker ample notice to return to their vehicle and either pay for the parking or remove their car.

Second, we want to make sure that the sign sare visible from each parking space so that parkers are also given notice when they pull into a space.  Previously this section was undefined and we were having difficulty enforcing a consistent standard.

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Also the “State of the Schools” address will be given by CSD School Board Chair Valarie Wilson.

Cheryl at the Decatur Minute writes…

The community is invited to join the Decatur City Commission for the annual State of the City Address delivered by Mayor Floyd and the State of the Schools Address delivered by Decatur Board of Education chair Valarie Wilson on Tuesday, January 26th at the monthly meeting of the Decatur Business Association. The reception begins at 5:15 pm and the program begins at 6 pm. The meeting will be held at the new Decatur High School Auditorium in downtown Decatur.

YES!  Sorry, I’m sure it had nothing to do with me, but I’m really excited to see the new auditorium being used in one of the ways I had publicly hoped.

During the city comission campaigns this past year, now-commissioner Patti Garrett brought up the issue of what would be done with remaining campaign funds after Election Day during a debate between the District 2 candidates.

We now have the answer.

According to December’s campaign disclosures obtained by DM, Ms. Garrett made a $500 donation to the parent organization of Decatur’s MLK Service Day Decatur Preservation Alliance with her remaining balance.  Of the $270 still left in the account, campaign chair Allison Adams explains that the campaign is leaving the funds in the account “in case something unexpected comes up.”  Ms. Adams also noted that there is still an outstanding loan of $750 to Garrett’s husband, Gary. (View full report here)

Ms. Garrett’s opponent, Kyle Williams also took to the act of donating, distributing every penny held by his campaign after expenses were paid to local groups.   During the months of November and December, Mr. Williams donated over $2,000 to various organizations in the Decatur and Atlanta area.  Donations were made to Decatur High School ($500), Decatur Seniors Helping Seniors ($964.56), Friends of Simone Bell ($400), and Neighbor in Need ($250). (View full report here)

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There was quite a crowd (30+) packed into the city commission room last night for Patti Garrett’s oath of office and first official meeting as a commissioner.  On a frigid night, the room was chock-full of Garrett supporters, family, big-wigs, and newsy reporters, all looking for a little warmth.

And they found it.

The mood was light and gracious, thanks to a night of appointments and honors, with both Garrett and District 1 commish Fred Boykin taking the oath of office.  (I noted the commissioners’ oath was longer than the Presidential Oath, but then reelected Mayor Bill Flood later mentioned that it was much shorter than Kasim Reed’s marathon oath of office earlier that day.)

With Jim Baskett still on vacation, commissioners Boykin and Kecia Cunningham acted as a sort of “formality tag-team” in nominating and reappointing Mayor Bill Floyd and Mayor Pro-Tem Jim Baskett to their leadership roles on the commission.

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Nothing says “Bring in the New Year!” like a good dose of oath-giving and contract renewals.

On Monday evening, Decatur’s City Commission will be dealing with both, performing many of the annual housekeeping items that define the structure of our city’s inner circle for the coming year.

Among items on Monday’s agenda (pdf), oaths of office will be given to incoming city commissioner Patti Garrett and reelected commissioner Fred Boykin and the commission will elect its mayor and mayor pro-tem from amongst its own ranks.  And if all goes according to plan, the city will reappoint Bryan Downs of Wilson, Morton and Downs LLC as the city attorney and reappoint all existing municipal court judges.

The first commission meeting of the year also means renewal of the city manager’s contract.

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As noted by TheDNO, tonight marks the last Decatur city commission meeting of 2009, which means that this meeting will be the last for commissioner Mary Alice Kemp before she retires from her post.  Incoming District 2 commissioner Patti Garrett takes the reins as of January 4, 2010.

Feel free to write your well-wishes below!