Bruce Garraway Article in the AJC

I'm posting this here even before I've read it myself...that's just how up to date we are here in Snellville LOL

Snellville is in need of cooperation, continuity to handle vital ...
Atlanta Journal Constitution - GA, USA
By BRUCE GARRAWAY The next few weeks and months could be a perilous time for Snellville. Critical decisions await city government action. ...

Who won the Snellville Mayoral and City Council elections?

Jerry Oberholtzer has won re-election as Mayor of Snellville. It was a very close race - Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer had 1,101 votes and Bruce Garraway had 1,082.

For Snellville City Council Post 1, Kelly Kautz was the victor, with 1,230 votes. Marilyn Swinney had a decent showing with 951 votes.

If you would like more data, as well as election results for other counties, see this LINK

The Mayor's race was so tight that there could possibly be a recount. Here are some recent articles about the Snellville election:

Snellville Mayor retains his seat - AJC

ELECTION 2007: Recount likely in 19 vote win - AJC

Trivia tidbit: Snellville has 11,000 registered voters and only 20% showed up to vote

Of note: Loganville voters approved the liquor by the drink referendum. LINK
"I feel that the public has spoken about what they want," said city councilman Chuck Bagley, who has helped to rally support for the referendum. "They really saw it as an economic issue, not an alcohol issue.".....

..... "Neal Byrd, a realtor, said he was relieved that the grassroots fight against it didn't work this time. He stood on a corner rallying votes for the "economic development tool" early Tuesday morning.

Already, there is talk of new restaurants moving to Loganville now that the referendum has passed, said Byrd."

Ask the Candidates Meeting - Snellville

"Ask the Candidates"
Presented by the Hickory Hills Homeowners Association

Monday, October 29th

7:30 pm - 8:30 pm

at the

Masonic Lodge

(on Lenora Church Road across from the Library)

On Monday night, October 29th, candidates running for the Snellville offices of Mayor and our City Council Seat have agreed to attend our homeowners' association meeting to answer OUR questions about the issues in Snellville.

After providing each candidate a brief opportunity to present their platforms, we will then open up the floor for YOU to ask questions of the candidates!

Come and take advantage of this opportunity to become more informed about the candidates and their stances on the issues.

If you have already voted (via absentee ballot), or have already decided on a candidate, then this will be an opportunity to become better acquainted with your candidates of choice.

The meeting will end at 8:30pm. There will be an opportunity afterwards to visit informally with the candidates.

Two of the four candidates WILL be representing you on City Council. So take this opportunity to get to know them. All four candidates have agreed to be present on Monday night.

Candidates for Mayor:

Bruce Garraway

Jerry Oberholtzer

Candidates for City Council:

Kelly Kautz

Marilyn Swinney

What goes on

This information is from this page of the Atlanta Journal & Constitution's website, and is a bit dated. It's dated 3/25/2007. But the information on how the city works and how the citizens can be involved in meetings is good. Some people may no longer be serving. I have noted in red any who have left. I have also changed the @ in email addresses to [AT] so those dang email harvesters intent on spamming won't hassle anyone. If you need to email, just remove the [AT] and replace it with @.
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SNELLVILLE

PLANNING COMMISSION

The Planning Commission makes recommendations on zoning matters to the mayor and City Council. Members are:

Chairman Tod Warner, twarner[AT]snellville.org

Vice Chair David Foster, dfoster[AT]snellville.org

Ray Mokhberi, rmokhberi[AT]snellville.org

Joe Williams, jwilliams[AT]snellville.org

Ida Graham, igraham[AT]snellville.org

Patricia Port, pport[AT]snellville.org

Phone messages also can be left with John Dennis of the Planning and Development Department at 770-985-3514.

CITY COUNCIL

The mayor and Snellville City Council make the final decisions. Members are:

Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer, 678-898-2659, joberholtzer[AT]snellville.org

Robert Jenkins, 404-281-0567, Rjenkins[AT]snellville.org

Mayor Pro Tem Bruce Garraway, 770-982-9843, Bgarraway[AT]snellville.org

Barbara Bender, 770-972-3435, Bbender[AT]snellville.org

Kelly Kautz, 770-972-7441, kkautz[AT]snellville.org

Warren Auld, 770-972-3693 wauld[AT]snellville.org (corrected 27 October 2007)

MEETINGS:

The Planning Commission discusses zoning matters at 7:30 p.m. the fourth Tuesday of each month.

After the commission makes a recommendation, a public hearing is held by the mayor and City Council for final action. Those hearings are at 7 p.m. the fourth Monday of the month, unless alternative dates and times are necessary. Meetings are held in the City Hall council chambers at 2342 Oak Road.

AGENDAS: Agendas are generally available two weeks before the meeting. To view an agenda, visit the city's Web site, www.snellville.org, or go to City Hall. To automatically receive agendas and other planning and zoning information, sign up for the city's e-mail distribution list available to any resident. E-mail Planning Director Jessica Roth at jroth[AT]snellville.org.

NOTE : Jessica Roth has resigned her position.

Acting Planning Director Jason Thompson can be reached by email at
jthompson[AT]snellville.org (corrected/added 27 October 2007)

IF YOU'D LIKE TO COMMENT: Public comment is allowed at Planning Commission meetings after presentations from the planning staff and applicant. You must give your name and address for the record. The process may be a little different when the mayor and council allow for public comment. If it's a big case, the mayor will allow each side to speak for 30 minutes, which encourages residents to get together and make a more formal presentation. Written comments are accepted and can be sent via e-mail to jroth[AT]snellville.org or to City Hall, 2342 Oak Road, Snellville, GA 30078.

ON THE WEB: The city's Web site, www.snellville.org, provides blank zoning applications, staff reports, maps that show the location of the property in question as well as meeting minutes and agendas.

NOTE : If you have Firefox, you will find that the city of Snellville's website doesn't seem to like it, so the site is best viewed in Internet Explorer.

AT CITY HALL: At the Planning Department at Snellville's City Hall, 2342 Oak Road, you can view zoning applications. You'll need to provide the general location of the land in question. Copying fees are 25 cents per page.

Many thanks to Tod Warner for the corrections dated 27 October 2007

Snellville's Election Campaign as Viewed by a Loganville Resident

Looking for Snellville Election Results 2007? CLICK HERE

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Excerpt of article by Sharon Swanepoel of the Walton Tribune:

"......we [in Loganville GA] haven’t seen the usual personal attacks but it’s certainly a welcome change. Maybe it will allow the different factions time to heal and that can only benefit the city.

However, the same can’t be said for Snellville. Wow — I think they’ve even got some of the previous Loganville elections beat this time around. The mayoral race between incumbent Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer and challenger former councilman Bruce Garraway is a doozie. You would think politicians would learn the citizenry doesn’t really care about their personal differences and gets pretty tired of hearing about them. How about just focusing on what’s good for the city?

I saw a recent flyer that Garraway sent out with a picture of Oberholtzer holding a “drink” with a caption that read something like “have you had enough?” For all we know the “drink” could have been a coke but the inference was pretty obvious (why does that ring a bell?). How about just sending out a flyer telling citizens what you the candidate are offering them and not a personal attack on your opponent — now there’s a novel concept.

Garraway has also had to duck a couple of darts from another former Snellville councilman who in all probability would like to see the current mayor stay in office. Garraway has had to defend his alleged preferential use of the city’s police force by calling them to unlock a car when he and another Snellville councilman had locked the keys in it while having a meal together. Apparently this was viewed as an abuse of power because they were outside the city limits and it was a service that wouldn’t have been offered another resident had they asked for it from outside the city limits. The result is the service has now been taken away from all Snellville residents. Was it petty for the resident to complain — probably? Would it have come to light had it not been an election year — probably not? However, those rules are set up to make sure nobody in power abuses them at all. Weren’t there some Atlanta politicians taken down a while back for using city employees to work on their rental properties?

If you are looking to run for public office, you had better be very careful about anything that is viewed as improper because it is certainly going to come back and bite you in today’s election process — from the presidential elections down."

---see entire October 26, 2007 article here: LINK