 Tue, Jul 08, 2008 05:40 PM
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2008-03-21  Opinion | HATCHER HURD
Fulton commissioners on same page
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March 27, 2008 | 02:56 PM
It was a most ambitious plan -- $150 million – that the Atlanta Fulton Public Library Board of Trustees presented to the Fulton County Commission last week.
And the members were holding their collective breath. Library services have been in the past, well, shall we say a touchy subject at the best of times. I won't bore my readers with yet another rehash of the conflicts that boiled and simmered on previous boards. For those who weren't around then, just let it be said that no one could agree what was the best way to distribute services or who deserved them most.
That is all in the past. A new director was hired, John Szabo, and he came in with no baggage, just a job to do, and a new board to work with him. This Szabo and the library trustees set about to do. They hired the Sizemore Group to do a survey of existing facilities.
Not surprisingly, many were found wanting. So the board and its library staff went to work creating a master plan for the entire county – and this was probably the key. The plan addressed all the needs of the county and did not prioritize them.
When the Board of Commissioners first saw the plan in 2007, they loved it. Szabo then took the master plan on the road for 37 community meetings in which they heard from the public and began to tweak the plan in major ways.
Roswell residents stood up at their meeting to note that its 20,000-square-foot branch was the busiest in terms of circulation of all the 34 libraries in Fulton County, and demanded a second library west of Ga. 400. They were heard, and based on the staff recommendation the trustees added a 15,000-square-foot westside library to the master plan.
Long-suffering Alpharetta residents stood up at their meeting and demanded to know why Alpharetta, now a city of 53,000, must continue on with a 10,000-square-foot "shoebox" that is nearly as busy as its sister libraries that are two-and-a-half times its size.
Point taken, and the trustees added a replacement library of 25,000 square feet to the plan. Milton, of course already had its regional library in the master plan.
In the other areas of the county and Atlanta, similar tweaking was going on. The plan does have something for everyone.
And when the master plan came back last week for the Board of Commissioners' final approval, it was passed with hardly a hitch. As someone who was watched these commissioners pick apart a $20,000 grant request for more than an hour, this was a rare scene indeed.
But what drove the plan through so quickly were its thoroughness and its integrity. Everybody had their say, no one was trying to get more for one district over another and it was all done transparently. The commissioners saw all this, had good vibes from their communities and so wasted little time in approving it.
Of course, the final price tag and the method of financing still must be addressed. The project still could be broken up into two phases, for instance. How will the county pay for it?
I don't think anyone wants to make it a phased operation. That could quickly degenerate in the old partisan politics of old. As for the how, a bond referendum seems the most likely way. Since a SPLOST option is denied Fulton County, this is the best of remaining choices.
But there was more to that day in the Fulton County Commission chambers when this plan passed with little fanfare. It was not just the act of six commissioners who wished to act quickly that promised great improvements in their respective districts.
It was the act of a county that is willing to dare to be great again. And why shouldn't Fulton County dare to be great again. It is not like it had fallen any great distance. Atlanta is seeing an upsurge in development (current housing situation notwithstanding). North Fulton is nearly at its zenith with great schools, a strong economy and fabulous housing. South Fulton is at long last capturing the attention of the development community.
Why shouldn't Fulton dare to be great again?
- www.gwinnettherald.com
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