The Dunwoody City Council’s “road show” at Dunwoody High School on Jan. 22 was deemed a success by organizers and attendees.
More than 100 students, parents, and faculty attended the meeting and watched as the council heard about several measures, including a second reading on a change to the sign code that would allow inflatable displays in residential areas. The amendment is expected to be passed at the next council meeting
The remote meeting took hours of setup and planning, according to Dunwoody City Spokesperson Jennifer Boettcher.
“We needed DeKalb’s help with audio and a direct internet connection for Zoom,” Boettcher said. “[The high school’s] Youth City Council did a great job of getting the word out.”
Dunwoody Mayor Lynn Deutsch complimented city staff and specifically the IT department for “a tremendous effort to make this happen.”
During the meeting, the council was briefed on the 2023 citywide pavement condition assessment, with a preliminary look into the annual paving plan for the next five years.
Public Works Director Michael Smith, in a memo to the council, said the assessment “consisted of traveling every city-maintained street in a van equipped with cameras, lasers, and other sensors to evaluate the extent and nature of cracking, rutting roughness and other factors.”
The 2023 overall paving condition index rating (PCI) for all roads was 75, an improvement from earlier years. In 2009, the PCI rating was 69, the 2013 rating was 64 and the 2018 assessment was 69, he said.
“The city’s paving backlog, which is the percentage of pavement area in poor or worse condition, has decreased from a high of 36% in 2013 to a low of just under 15% in 2023,” Smith said. “Over 65% of the city’s roads are in satisfactory or good condition with another 20% in fair condition.”
Although Smith prepared an overall repaving schedule for the next five years, he said specific details will be released at a later meeting with the official paving schedule for 2024.
In other action, the council:
- Voted 6-1 to approve a plan to divert $2 million in unused funds to other projects, with the net impact of zero as it regards to city budget. Councilman John Heneghan was the dissenting vote;
- Heard from Dunwoody resident Joe Hirsch, who has filed a lawsuit against the city regarding its handling of public records. After calling several of the city’s staff members “liars,” he said the city is “good, but it can be better.”
- Awarded a one-year contract with Action and Adventure to manage Brook Run’s Skate Park concessions.