After being contrasted with Newport Beach, California’s police recruitment video late last week on The Agitator – which was linked to in FFAF – Decatur’s Police Recruitment video has gone viral and is now featured on the ever-popular Boing Boing blog.

Mayor Floyd passed along word on Friday that Decatur city staff members have been receiving positive feedback from random people around the country about the suddenly viral video.

Boing Boing h/t: Daren

Decatur Mayor Bill Floyd sent this note into DM, reporting that 1,500 Decatur properties will be reassessed by July 2nd and finally an explanation about what’s going on behind the volatile numbers.

The city manager and I met with several people from the tax appraiser’s office on June 5, 2012. The following information was given to us at that time.

1. There are 30 properties that were identified last week with errors. These will be submitted to the BOA for adjustment at their meeting on June 7th. Revised appraisals will be mailed after the meeting. Property owners will have 45 days from the date of the revised notice to file an appeal.
2. The appraisers office has identified an additional 1500 properties in the city that are being adjusted for any of several reasons
3. The list of 1500 will be submitted to he BOA at their meeting on June 21st for approval
4. If approved , these revised notices will be sent out the week of June 25th.
5. Current appeal deadline is July 13th.
6. If you receive an adjusted notice, it restarts the clock and you have another 45 days to appeal

Their Recommendation:

Read the rest of this entry »

At this year’s State of the City Address, you may recall Mayor Bill Floyd suggested that Decatur should alter its charter so that the mayor was elected by the city’s populace instead of being appointed by the City Commission.  But, how would the city commission go about making this change if they wanted to?

City Manager Peggy Merriss fills us in…

The City’s Charter would have to be amended by a local act of the General Assembly. Generally, the City Commission would forward a request (often through a resolution) to the DeKalb delegation who would have to introduce the legislation. Also, legislation changing the terms of office would not be effective until the next election after adoption of the amendment.

Since the Mayor’s State of the City this past Tuesday, there’s been a lot of buzz around the community about what he said about Walmart and a possible annexation of the Suburban Plaza site.  He was good enough to provide us with the text from that part of his speech for everyone to read in full.

I am not a big fan of Wal-Mart, but I do shop there occasionally, as I am sure we all do. But what Wal-Mart brings to Suburban Plaza is not the type of development I would have chosen. I think our community would like something that looks more like downtown Decatur: a mix of residential, retail and restaurants (as opposed to one business with 200 employees. Instead, 50 businesses with 4 employees each); a development where the owners, operators and employees are part of our community, and not only work here but also live and play here; owners who are concerned about our neighborhoods and how development surrounding them impacts their lives.

But the main problem with the property, if the Wal-Mart is built, is what might happen to the rest of the site. What might future developments look like? The owner of that property has shown little concern or interest in our community or anything outside of the property lines. Historically, empty promises are provided to make a development acceptable or palatable, but we have little or no reason to believe that any promises might come true. Those of us who live around that property will have no input into any future development on the site.

For these reasons, I believe that Decatur should consider annexation of both the Suburban Plaza site, and the commercial property at the intersection of Clairemont and North Decatur Road. I think it is in the best interest of all who surround those properties to make sure their concerns and opinions about those developments are heard and given consideration. I hope the City of Decatur will take steps during the coming year to make annexation of these areas happen.

As part of the approved revisions to Decatur’s alcohol ordinance at tonight’s City Commission meeting, the city will soon require a “sidewalk table plan” as part of the annual application process for an alcoholic beverage license.  Part of that ordinance revision includes the addition of Sec. 6.22.g.3…

Smoking is prohibited at tables included in a sidewalk table plan permit area and within five feet of any such area boundary.

The city commission voted in favor of the full ordinance, which means that the sidewalk smoking ban will go in effect for new alcoholic beverage license applicants on January 1, 2012 and renewing applicants on October 1, 2012.

At the commission meeting, Asst. City Manager Lyn Menne assured the commissioners that restaurant owners “know this is coming” and that it was “something we’ve been asked to look at”.

As noted at the meeting, this new ordinance will make it illegal to smoke along rather long stretches of Decatur sidewalks.  Based on responses to questions from Mayor Floyd, it sounds like the ordinance will be in effect 24 hours.