Ward 2

* 2B, Dunleith Elementary School, 120 Saine Drive, and 2C, Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, 566 Whitlock Avenue, would be combined and known as 2B.

* Voters would use Hickory Hills Elementary School, 500 Redwood Drive

Ward 4

* The precinct boundaries of 4B, Tommy Nobis Center, 1480 Bells Ferry Road; 4C, Carriage Oaks Club House, 6 Carriage Oaks Drive; and 4E, Grace Community Church, 770 Kennesaw Avenue, would be changed.

* Voters in precinct 4A would use Grace Community Church, 770 Kennesaw Avenue

* Voters in precinct 4B would use the Tommy Nobis Center, 1480 Bells Ferry Road

* Voters in precinct 4C would use The Murray Arts Center, 2250 Stilesboro Road, Kennesaw 30152.

Ward 6

* The precinct boundaries of 6A, Lockheed Elementary School, 1205 Merritt Road; 6B; East Park Community Clubhouse, 1345 East Park Blvd; and 6C, Mt. Paran Church of God North, 1700 Allgood Road, would be combined into two precincts, 6A and 6B. Precinct 6C would be deleted.

* Voters in precinct 6A would use Lockheed Elementary School, 1205 Merritt Road, Marietta 30062.

* Voters in precinct 6B would use Mt. Paran North Church of God, 1700 Allgood Road

Concerns regarding the proposed changes may be sent to the Marietta City Clerk’s Office.

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On January 14, Marietta City Council adopted recommendations of the Marietta Board of Lights and Water to increase electric rates for all Marietta Power customers. The rate increase, which takes effect February 1, 2009, is necessary to recover increases in the cost of power that Marietta purchases from its supplier, the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia.  

Marietta Power’s costs to purchase power from its supplier are projected to be $72.2 million, an increase of $11.2 million over 2008. Even with Marietta Power’s efforts to minimize the impact to customers by reducing operating expenses and deferring some capital investments by 4.2 million, Marietta Power determined that adjustments to electric rates are necessary to recover the remaining $ 7 million caused by the increase in costs Marietta pays for power  

The change will result in an increase of $5.37, or 7.78 percent, to the monthly bill for the average residential customer who uses 850 kilowatt-hours per month. A customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours will see an increase of $6.32, or 7.96 percent. For customers using 2,000 kilowatt-hours per month, the increase will be $12.64, or 8.25 percent. Most commercial and industrial customers will receive increases ranging from 5 to 12 percent.  

This is the first time Marietta Power has adjusted rates in five years, and even with the increases, Marietta Power’s rates are lower than area providers, including Georgia Power and Cobb EMC.

Marietta Power knows rate changes affect customers’ budgets and will continue working to keep the impact as little as possible.

For more information, call Marietta Power at 770-794-5100.

Residential Rate Increase

They appointed John Holmes to Ward 7 of the Construction Board of Adjustment and Appeals for a five-year term, which expires January 31, 2013.

They reappointed Neil Bishop to the Board of Zoning Appeals for a three-year term, which expires September 8, 2011.

They reappointed Thomas McBrayer, Alice Summerour and Guy H. Northcutt, Jr. to the Marietta Museum of History Board of Directors for three-year terms, which expire October 31, 2011.

They appointed Stacy Simpson Brown to replace Vickie Thomas David on the Marietta Museum of History Board of Directors for a three-year term, which expires October 31, 2011.

For more information, call Marietta’s City Clerk’s Office at 770-794-5526.

According to the MDJ article, “Dunaway accused Goldstein of blindsiding him with the accusations when the media was present, rather than coming to him in private. Dunaway also said Goldstein had never complained about the affidavits he filled out before.“.

Here’s the full story – what are your thoughts?

What sparked the issue is when Goldstein objected to approving the minutes of a previous meeting because he said Dunaway failed to disclose improper discussions that took place in that previous meeting’s executive session.

As Dunaway rose to defend himself, Councilman Van Pearlberg, a deputy district attorney, gave him a warning.

“Mr. Mayor, before you comment, let me tell you something. What Mr. Goldstein is basically saying is a crime was committed. He hasn’t said it, but as I understand, isn’t that correct that it’s a misdemeanor offense?” Pearlberg asked City Attorney Doug Haynie.

Haynie said the offense, if it happened, is a misdemeanor.

“So, you know, if you’re going to talk, you’re going to talk at your own peril, so you may just want to say nothing,” Pearlberg advised Dunaway.

After each executive session, Dunaway, as presiding officer, is required to sign an affidavit listing what that executive session was about – real estate, for example – and if anything was discussed in the meeting in addition to that topic, Goldstein said.

Goldstein cited two instances, one on July 7 and one on Aug. 11, when he said Dunaway failed to list topics discussed in executive session that were not matters the council initially went into the closed-door meeting to discuss.

During the Aug. 11 meeting, Goldstein said the council entered executive session to discuss a real estate matter, but Dunaway failed to list on his affidavit other matters discussed in that meeting, such as questions about the budget, discussion of whether they were able to discuss a particular item in executive session, remarks about the Strand Theatre and Marietta Housing Authority member Bill Hagemann and discussion of real estate already bought.

“There were about four or five instances of issues that came up during the executive session that, from my standpoint, I don’t believe were appropriate and those should be noted on the affidavit,” Goldstein said.

Goldstein was so bothered by the improper use of executive session at the time, that he said he left the executive session meeting.

“At that meeting I became frustrated enough to leave and asked to be called back in the room when we were back on executive session topics, and I was out at least a couple of minutes before I was called back in and again none of these things were noted as being gone into or covered. The only thing that is noted on the affidavit is an executive session that we went in for real estate only to discuss the purchase of real estate,” Goldstein said.

“I have the same concern I had last month, which is if we stray from topics in executive session in the affidavit those things should be mentioned, whether you’re covering it in a broad sense or a more specific sense, they shouldn’t be ignored in a affidavit,” he said.

Councilman Anthony Coleman asked Haynie if Goldstein was correct in his charges, to which Haynie responded that he agreed with Goldstein on some points but not on others. Haynie said there were questions raised in the Aug. 11 executive session, such as the budget, but they were prevented from being discussed at length. Haynie said the proper remedy for dealing with improper conversation in executive session is to ensure that it stops immediately, which is what was done.

“I don’t recall any inappropriate discussion that was allowed to continue in that executive session,” Haynie said.

Dunaway accused Goldstein of blindsiding him with the accusations when the media was present, rather than coming to him in private. Dunaway also said Goldstein had never complained about the affidavits he filled out before.

“He’s now trying to hold me and the City Council to a standard that has never been put forth in my almost eight years as Mayor,” Dunaway said.

Dunaway said he agreed with Haynie that if a council member began discussing something in executive session that was inappropriate, they should be stopped from continuing.

“(Goldstein) never held anybody to that standard before until now, for whatever reason, for whatever purpose, and I do resent that,” Dunaway told the council, saying he plans to fully respond to the charges at a later time.