Live Blog: Informational Meeting on Brookhaven Cityhood

State Rep. Mike Jacobs introduced in March a bill that would allow Brookhaven voters to form its own city. This is the second of his town hall meetings held in the community to discuss the matter with local residents. 

7: 06 p.m. - Rep. Mike Jacobs welcomes the crowd to the meeting.

7:16 p.m. - Jacobs introduces Rep. Elena Parent, Tom Taylor, 79, State Sen. Fran Millar, Chamblee Mayor Eric Clarkson, Judge Jeryl Debra Rosh, DeKalb County Probate.

7:24 p.m. -  Jacobs: "There is a property tax increase that is coming soon. It's not fear mongering, it's just a fact."

7:27 p.m. - Jacobs introducing Carl Vincent institute representative to discuss the feasibility study.

7:29 p.m. - Jacobs: "Feasibility study will only study Murphy Candler, Silver Lake area neighborhoods. (yellow area on the boundary map). A second area that will be studied in Historic Brookhaven, Brookhaven Heights, Brookhaven Hills and the Lenox Park area. I would add Ashford Park to that mix, but I've heard some different opinions of where Ashford Park stands."

7:31 p.m. - Jacobs: "A third area we would study would be Ashford Park and Drew Valley. What we're going to do is potentially that area an option. This is not necessarily how we're going to structure the legislation, but we are going to study different scenarios to make it possible for neighborhoods to go in a different direction."

7:34 p.m. - Mallard Holliday, a Dunwoody citizen who was involved in Dunwoody's incorporation invited to speak. 

7:39 p.m. - Holliday: "One of the biggest misconceptions is that as soon as the legislation passes, that you're going to automatically going to be a city."

7:42 p.m. - Ted Baggett, Public Service Assistant/Local Government Program Manager of the Carl Vinson Institute at the University of Georgia speaks.

7:45 p.m. -  Baggett: "Parks, revenue, public safety, what's the potential revenue for an alcoholic beverage are some of what's studied to determine the feasibility of cityhood."

7: 47 p.m. - Baggett: "Potential revenue we'd look at would be potential franchise fees, cable, natural gas and electricity." 

7:52 p.m. - Sen. Fran Millar: "The study is a snapshot. The study is only so good, but it gets down to the individual situation." 

7:54 p.m. - Millar: "DeKalb County is a mess. It's not getting any better. We're going to finally look at changing the form of government." 

8:02 p.m. - Margaret McIntyre asked: "Are we doing the county a disservice by 'cherry picking' the formation of cities?"

8:04 p.m. - We're still determining what the studies are, said Baggett.

Jacobs said: The study will focus on the level of police service said Jacobs

8:10 p.m. - Baggett's presentation come to an end. Question and answer portion begins.