MILTON, GEORGIA

'Milton' (population approximately 20,000) is an area of Fulton County, Georgia which became incorporated as a "city" (the only type of municipality in the state) on December 1, 2006. According to special legislation passed by the Georgia General Assembly in March 2006, and signed by the governor of Georgia in March 2006, it was created out of the entire unincorporated northwestern part of northern Fulton County, bounded by Roswell and Alpharetta on the south, Forsyth County on the east, and Cherokee County on the north and west. A referendum was held on July 18, and the citizens voted, with 86% in favor, to make Milton a city.
The main purpose of this action is part of the complete municipalization of Fulton County. Fulton includes most of Atlanta, and the county's dimensions stretch awkwardly across metro Atlanta from north to southwest. This shape because Milton and Campbell Counties were merged into Fulton. In recent years there has been growing animosity by those in the affluent north over tax revenue needed in the less-developed southwest, as well as over excessive land development and zoning, and other issues of local control. The city of Johns Creek was created at the same time further east in northern Fulton County for the same reasons.
At the opposite end of the county, the cities of South Fulton and Chattahoochee Hill Country have also passed the legislature and been signed by the governor, but will not vote until 2007(Chattahoochee Hill Country has voted to incorporate). Unlike Milton and Johns Creek there was in fact little or no local news coverage nor public push to create those cities — their only purpose is complete municipalization of the county and elimination of the county commission's control of zoning issues by default. This comes in the wake of 2005's incorporation of Sandy Springs, which was already a very developed city of over 85,000 people. All incorporations are using the same temporary suspension of state law which requires any new city's boundaries to be at least three miles (4.8 km) from any existing city.
Milton was not named for any of its historic communities, but rather because northern Fulton County (generally north of the Chattahoochee River) is almost entirely the former Milton County, which was in turn named for either John Milton or Homer V. Milton. It has been proposed that the county be re-created. Incorporation may be a step toward this or may simply be a means by which to minimize the impact of Fulton County government, including the Fulton County Commission.
Now-obscure communities within Milton's city limits include Birmingham, Field's Cross Roads, and others.

Contents

Incorporation

Geography

Demographics

Government

Officials

Services

Issues

External links

Incorporation

A citizen's committee was formed in 2005 to help determine the viability of incorporating unincorporated northwest Fulton County. This committee was led by George Ragsdale and included Cindy Hollingsworth, Gregory Mishkin, Chris Lagerbloom, Joelle Corcoran, Diana Wheeler, Vic Jones, Tina d'Aversa-Williams, Karen Thurman, John McMillan, Heidi Sowder, Jim Cheatham, and others. Through the efforts of Representative Jan Jones and this committee, the Georgia State House and Senate approved a bill creating the city of Milton on March 9, 2006. At 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 28, 2006, Governor Sonny Perdue signed the bill into law. In 2006, voters approved a ballot referendum on July 18 by more than 86%, which calls for general elections in November 2006 and activation of the city charter on December 1. Along with Johns Creek, this marks only the second time in Georgia history that a city was created by means of a voter referendum, the first being Sandy Springs.
On August 4, 2006, Governor Sonny Perdue appointed a five-person commission to serve as the interim government of Milton. This Commission was composed of Ron Wallace (Chairman), Gregory Mishkin (Secretary), Cecil Pruett, Brandon Beach and Dan Phelan.
Milton adopted the existing county ordinances on December 1, as Sandy Springs did at a midnight meeting when it was incorporated.
Some are concerned the tax base is too small to provide the state-required municipal services.

Geography

Milton is centered at (34.1321631, -84.3006660), as recognized by the USGS GNIS in December 2006. The elevation is about 298 meters or 978 feet AMSL.
As of April 2007, the USPS (per www.usps.gov) recognizes Milton as a valid alias for ZIP code 30004 which is served from the Alpharetta post office.
The City of Milton estimates its area to be about 23,000 acres (93 km²).

Demographics

The current census provides no information about Milton, as Milton did not exist in 2000, nor was it a census-designated place.
The city of Milton estimates its initial population to be about 20,000.

Government

Officials

★ Mayor: Joe Lockwood

★ District 1: Karen C. Thurman

★ District 2: Julie Zahner Bailey

★ District 3: Bill Lusk (elected in a run-off election)

★ District 4: Neal O'Brien (elected in a run-off election)

★ District 5: Tina D'Aversa-Williams

★ District 6: Rick Mohrig

Services

Most services are initially being handled by consulting firm CH2M Hill-OMI, while some are temporarily being continued by the county.

Issues

The Milton City Council has been divided on a 4-3 on a regular basis with much bickering among members of the city council and mayor. They have even looked into A group therapy session for the council, but had to call it off once informed a closed-door session would violate Georgia's Open Meetings Law.Atlanta Journal Contstitution, accessed 2007-07-11 The infighting on the board began around the time of the first meeting, when two female council members got into a verbal catfight over who was to act as Mayor Pro Tem. Councilwoman Tina D'Aversa had ingratiated herself to Mayor Joe Lockwood and felt she deserved to run meetings in his absence. However, a majority of the council voted for council member Karen Thurman, leaving the difficult D'Aversa and mayor seething.Atlanta Journal Contstitution, accessed 2007-08-5 More recently, City Manager Aaron Bovos revealed to the Milton City Council that the city could lose $900000 because of a paperwork error.Atlanta Journal Contsttution, accessed 2007-07-28 This obviously has angered many residents.

External links

★ City of Milton website

★ Access Milton

★ Milton incorporation legislation

★ Milton Herald