At its last meeting, the Governor’s Commission on Brookhaven gave its final recommendations to members of the Brookhaven City Council.
Included in the report were suggestions on vendors the council could choose to provide municipal services and locations for office space and suggestions for executive search firms to hire a city manager.
Jed Beardsley, co-chair of the commission’s offices and facilities committee, announced the recommended locations for the city of Brookhaven’s temporary office and municipal court space.
Beardsley said for the administrative offices, the committee selected 200 Ashford Center North, suite 150. For Municipal Court, the committee chose suite 125 in Building Two of Corporate Square, at the intersection of North Druid Hills Road and Buford Highway. Beardsley estimated that the court space could be ready for use as early as February.
Beardsley said the committee negotiated a one-year lease for the administrative office space, which is in the Perimeter area.
“It’s a ground floor space and the parking is easy and free,” Beardsley said. “It’s move-in ready and mostly furnished.”
The only drawback is that it is located outside of the city limits, he said.
Beardsley said the group had trouble finding a suitable office building within the city limits that was comfortable having a city government as a tenant.
“They all said, ‘I’m sorry, we can’t allow a municipal use in our Class A office building,’” Beardsley said.
The commission’s meeting, held Dec. 9 at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, was just one day before the new Brookhaven City Council members were sworn into office.
The Governor’s Commission on Brookhaven officially dissolved after the Brookhaven City Council took their oaths of office.
Chairman Ben Vinson said he and attorney Bill Riley met with DeKalb County to discuss Brookhaven’s transition over the next year.
“We had a good meeting with (DeKalb Chief Operating Officer) Richard Stogner and several of his department heads,” Vinson said. “I thought that certainly the tone of the meeting was great. It was a very cooperative tone.”
Riley, who has worked on the incorporation of several other cities in the metro area, said he was extremely impressed with DeKalb County.
“DeKalb County could not have been more cooperative. Their department heads had been thoughtful and had already been looking at where there could be nuances and impediments and began suggesting solutions,” Riley said.
The Governor’s Commission on Brookhaven recommended the following companies be given contracts by Brookhaven City Council.
Finance & Administration Severn Trent Services – Information Technology Services
InterDev – Communications & Community Engagement
Jacobs Engineering Group is the preferred primary vendor to staff the department due to significant cost/price differential. The Collaborative should also receive a contract but no initial task order.
Municipal Court – Jacobs Engineering Group
Public Works – Lowe Engineers is the preferred primary vendor to staff the department due to significant cost/price differential. Jacobs Engineering Group should also receive a contract but no initial task order. No material differences in capability or quality between these two.
Recreation and Parks – Lowe is the preferred primary vendor to staff the department due to significant cost/price differential. Jacobs Engineering Group should also receive a contract but no initial task order. No material differences in capability or quality between these two.
Community Development – the Collaborative is the preferred primary vendor to staff the department due to significant cost/price advantages, including fully burdened labor cost, comparable FTEs, low profit percentage and the lowest escalation rate. Clark Patterson Lee should also receive a contract but no initial task order. No material differences in capability or quality between these two.
Source: Brookhaven Commission
Riley said he believes the productive meeting they had with DeKalb is a good sign. “I think this transition with the generous nature of the county is going to go really smoothly.”
In its report, the commission made recommendations for which firms should provide city services. The recommendations followed requests for proposals, in which the commission asked vendors to submit detailed bid packages explaining how they would offer different services.
The bids, which were collected Nov. 23, were then evaluated and ranked. Some of the companies recommended by the commission also provide services for nearby cities like Sandy Springs and Dunwoody. The recommendations are non-binding and it is up to City Council to award bids.