Crowds swamp Dunwoody charter talks | www.myajc.com

Barely 5 years old, Dunwoody’s style of government is showing wrinkles.

Like many of the newly formed metro Atlanta cities, charter reviews are required after five years, so residents can decide whether any modifications to the city’s bylaws are necessary. But while previous charter commissions in other new cities barely drew attention, crowds have grown so large in Dunwoody that meetings are now being shifted to larger and larger meeting rooms.

At issue is how much power the Dunwoody City Council should have without referendums. That matter, paramount at the city’s founding, has reignited the same passions raised when the city broke away from DeKalb County five years ago.

The current controversy centers on whether the City Council should be allowed to take over fire services from DeKalb County without a vote of residents. The current charter allows local fire protection, but it doesn’t allow for what it costs.

Local discontent has been building for a while.

Two years ago, voters overwhelmingly rejected two $33 million bond issues the city proposed to use for parks. More recently, yard signs popped up all over town protesting the city’s approval of a $425,000 multi-use trail through Brook Run Park, a $1 million roundabout near Dunwoody High School and a $2.3 million redesign of Dunwoody Village Parkway.

Now, residents are expressing themselves at regular meetings of the Dunwoody Charter Commission.

via Crowds swamp Dunwoody charter talks | www.myajc.com.