Meet the 2023 Roswell City Council candidates

OCTOBER 2023

ELECTION GUIDE

2 | October 2023 | AppenMedia.com/Municipal_Elections

ROSWELL ELECTION GUIDE

Roswell council candidates lay out platforms ROSWELL, Ga. — Nine candidates are running for Roswell City Council seats in the Nov. 7 election.

After soliciting input from residents, Appen Media sent questionnaires to the candidates.

They were asked the same questions and given equal amount of space to provide answers.

Readers can see their responses, along with a short self-provided biography, below.

POST 1 Roswell City Councilwoman Sarah Beeson is running to hold the Post 1 seat and will face Jason Miller for the second time in the past year. Beeson and Miller were two of four candidates vying in last year’s special election to fill the same position after Marcelo Zapata resigned for medical reasons.

Beeson and Allen Sells, another candidate who is now running for the Post 2 seat, went on to a Dec. 6 runoff where Beeson secured 52 percent of the vote.

Profile: BEESON: I’ve been proud to call Roswell home for most of my life: It’s where I grew up, it’s where I run a business with my family, it’s where I’ve served on City Council for the past 10 months, and it’s where my husband and I are raising our two kids.

MILLER: I am an accountant, an entrepreneur and an owner of a technology company based here in Roswell that I grew from 2 to 32 employees – all built from scratch.

I will bring my 27 years of business experience to our city and use my skillset to work to make our city better.

Question 1: BEESON: Admittedly, I was the only candidate who did not support the three bonds on the ballot when I ran last year. I love the project list, but I was and remain concerned about rising interest rates, rapidly increasing project costs (I work in the engineering industry), taxpayers incurring that much debt at once, and the lack of senior exemptions.

I’d prefer to adequately budget to address ongoing maintenance to keep our parks at the gold standard, execute a public-private partnership to address the need for parking in the Historic District, and initiate a single bond to address public safety needs.

MILLER: Bringing our city into economic balance is one of my priorities. Presently, about 75% of

our revenues as a city are derived from residential tax bills. By attracting, creating and sustaining new high-quality job opportunities within Roswell, we will begin to shift this burden more to commercial BEESON property owners and related business taxes rather than homeowners. By working to build economic balance, coupled with my extensive audit and expense management background, I strongly believe MILLER I am the best candidate to balance our tax base and properly manage city project expenses to ensure our tax dollars are spent efficiently and effectively.

Question 2: BEESON: As stated in my response to a similar question at the RWC debate, I take issue with how the terms “affordable housing” and “multifamily housing” are often used interchangeably in Roswell. Affordable housing is federally defined and not market rate. Multifamily housing can benefit residents at a variety of income levels and at different stages of life. I take issue with the government restricting any specific housing type, including multifamily housing, as they are necessary for live/work/play developments and for housing young professionals, independent seniors and a variety of other residents — which helps residents and businesses alike to thrive.

MILLER: Affordable housing is a hot topic across our region and much of the country. With rising inflation and for -profit developers, anything considered affordable is tough to find. With rents at historic highs and interest rates rising, good high-paying careers are the best opportunity to balance our local economy. If the current trend in development continues, any new type of multifamily development will be built as luxury apartments with higher than current market rents.

These new developments generally drive up the unaffordability factor.

Questions Profile: Tell readers a little about yourself.

Question 1: How do you envision the balance between lower property taxes and the expense of city projects?

Question 2: A big topic in Roswell right now is the rising cost of living and the lack of affordable housing. What role, if any, should local government have in promoting or restricting affordable housing, which may include multifamily housing?

Question 3: The City of Milton is conducting municipal elections apart from Fulton County this year. Roswell considered doing the same but backed out in March. What is your position on Roswell running its own elections in the future?

Question 4: One topic we often hear about at the paper is walkability. How important to you is improving Roswell’s walkability? If important, please speak a bit about what those improvements could look like.

Question 5: In your mind what is a city government’s role in promoting local businesses?

Local governments do serve a role with regards to affordable housing, especially with zoning and planning.

Question 3: BEESON: I’d support Roswell administering our own elections if we can: allocate time to properly plan, have fair and qualified staff to oversee our elections, execute the elections efficiently without undermining integrity, ensure a lower cost to taxpayers compared to Fulton, and we don’t make it cumbersome for any resident to vote.

MILLER: Locally hosted municipal elections are worth considering, especially if they make fiscal sense. In Roswell alone, we are spending quite a bit of money on the election this year to Fulton County – estimated to be about $60 per anticipated voter this year. Of paramount concern, however, is security and the integrity of the elections themselves. I would be interested in gathering voter opinions to determine interest and to see if it is something worth pursuing.

Question 4: BEESON: As the only councilmember with city planning experience, walkability is a concern.

While I support the robust expansion of our pathway network, walkability is more than a sidewalk: it’s the ability to access amenities on foot. This requires a city to not only create and maintain sidewalks, but also design safer streets, require adequate tree canopy for shade, and encourage live/work/play developments to vary amenities reachable on foot — all

improvements I support in Roswell.

MILLER: Walkability is extremely important to me. The sidewalk gap study that was completed indicated many areas that need to be addressed, and we will continue that work. We must focus on providing various means of transportation (pedestrian, bicycle, etc) that are safe for our residents to move around, to, and through our wonderful city. There are a lot of great projects, including the new Ace Sands Park, that have broken ground recently and will contribute to better walkability along our riverfront, too.

Question 5: BEESON: The city should recruit/ retain businesses to stabilize the local economy, create community spaces, provide amenities, generate jobs for our workforce and diversify our tax base. Supporting businesses means ensuring owners have the tools they need and making it intuitive to open a business here. Currently, business owners who don’t live in but own a business in Roswell cannot comment at meetings — a policy I fought against as the only councilmember running a Roswell business.

MILLER: I believe city government plays a significant role in promoting local businesses – whether that is promoting our city’s culture to attract new enterprises, providing a means for local businesses to advertise or promote themselves, and even more importantly, driving ways to create a “live here/work here/buy here” sense of community.

ROSWELL ELECTION GUIDE

POST 2 Three candidates are running for the Roswell City Council Post 2 seat, currently held by Councilman Mike Palermo.

- Marisa Pereira - Allen Sells - Michael Dal Cerro Profile: PEREIRA: For the past 27 years I have called Roswell home, raising my daughter as a single mum since she was 9 months old. She thrived in Roswell’s public schools and just graduated from Georgia law school. I’m eager to use my project management and process improvement skills to help Roswell thrive.

SELLS: I’ve lived in Roswell 28 years. I’m a CPA and financial executive. With Turner Broadcasting/ CNN, I led Acquisitions/Business Development for 10 years. The last 20 years, I’ve been an equity investor in dozens of businesses, board chairman and entrepreneur. Roswell needs economic revitalization and that is my expertise.

DAL CERRO: I am a lifelong Roswell resident, moved here as a kid and graduated from Roswell High School. I live in Habersham Downs with my wife Marineli, where we have raised three sons. We run a Roswellbased, family-owned small business that specializes in real estate and recruiting services.

Question 1: PEREIRA: With property values going up, the city stands to gain extra revenue if the same millage rate is applied. This could seem like a windfall; however, this has to be considered within the reality of current economic conditions where infrastructure project costs have risen between 20% to 40%. In our personal lives, we have to moderate our wants with our daily reality; our government has a special obligation to work within responsible parameters to ensure we get the maximum return for the people’s money by adhering to a competitive bid process and ensuring zero wasteful spending.

SELLS: Lowering residential property taxes requires increasing the number and raising the quality of Roswell’s businesses. Residents carry a disproportionate share of the tax burden because Roswell has more apartments and fewer strong businesses than neighboring North Fulton. Roswell can and should attract more employers to our commercial nodes, and not more sketchy parlors and vape shops. My

opponent’s support of standalone apartments will not contribute to economic vibrancy. Highdensity apartments consume more services and infrastructure than they pay in taxes.

With the improved PEREIRA revenue of business growth, Roswell can comfortably invest in our infrastructure, parks and public safety.

DAL CERRO: I am also the only candidate who attended the Georgia Academy of Economic SELLS Development. I must do a better job at our economic development. If we want lower property taxes in addition to wellfunded municipal projects and services, the only answer is to recruit and retain quality businesses that DAL CERRO can contribute to our tax digest.

Let’s have more mixed-use (aka Live, Work, Play) for residents, workers and families. Roswell is falling behind to neighboring communities like Alpharetta, Woodstock and Cumming.

I am the favored candidate of Roswell’s small business community because I understand what needs to be done.

Question 2: PEREIRA: Affordable housing is a complex national issue caused by multiple factors, including Airbnb, REITs and foreign corporations buying up the affordable housing stock for rentals. The recent surge in highdensity apartment construction in Roswell, and possibly future high-rise developments if others are elected, unfortunately, won’t address the issue of affordable housing. New apartment rental prices continue to outpace the means of the workforce and lowincome residents, primarily because of the escalating construction costs, land values, and the expenses associated with parking facilities. Thankfully, Roswell is the only North Fulton city that has a Housing Authority that truly addresses low income/ affordable housing.

SELLS: My opponent and I are on the exact opposite side of this issue.

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When the City Council moved to require a mix of commercial, retail, entertainment and residential in any new apartment development, my opponent pleaded with the council to continue allowing standalone high density apartments complexes. I support mixed use but not standalone apartment development. My opposition advocates for increasing housing supply specifically to reduce the cost for new residents, which comes right out of the value of your property.

Why is that good for you? Your city government’s first duty is to the residents of Roswell.

DAL CERRO: I want smart controlled growth. Roswell needs to be proactive in finding redevelopment partners that respect the smalltown atmosphere that we are famous for. Our current restrictions for developments in terms of commercial space requirements are not realistic.

We need a more welcoming brand. We need to change the culture at City Hall, streamline processes and take a look at our Unified Development Code.

We have an opportunity to be more realistic for modern-day mixed-use (aka Live, Work, Play) development opportunities.

Historic District to make it a broader destination that puts City Hall at the center. Through thoughtfully orchestrated redevelopment, we can aim to create a vibrant Town Center that seamlessly integrates living, working and leisure.

SELLS: We can improve walkability where it benefits the most people by supporting multipurpose development and not standalone apartments.

Roswell is 42 square miles and largely developed, and our focus should be thoroughfare connectivity. Therefore, I support including bike and pedestrian pathways on the Dogwood bridge and Big Creek Parkway bridge, completing the sidewalks on Holcomb Bridge and the connecting pathways from Downtown to the river, and up to Holcomb.

DAL CERRO: Safety of our people is most important. Walkability is a major concern for me. I want more options for people to be able to get to where they need to go. We need to complete Roswell’s publicly accessible sidewalk network, especially in East Roswell. I propose we assess the rule that 100% of a neighborhood’s residents must agree to sidewalks before the city begins the process.

Question 3: PEREIRA: I made my way to the U.S. almost 40 years ago, so I hold the act of voting in high regard and consider it a truly sacred privilege. If Roswell can show a comprehensive plan that ensures these rights and privileges are protected while saving taxpayer money, I would consider the idea of conducting our own elections through an open public process.

SELLS: As a good steward of Roswell’s tax revenue, we owe it to the Roswell residents to try to reduce cost anywhere we can. Fulton County is inefficient and unresponsive to our needs about the number and location of polling places. And it seems entirely reasonable that we, like of our North Fulton neighbors, can manage our elections at a lower cost and be more responsive to our Roswell residents.

DAL CERRO: Voting is a sacred right. Integrity is paramount. I am open and willing to explore this, but this has to be done right. I see we have more work to do to see if we can even get there: costs and our capability to deliver with excellence.

We’ve got to this get this right.

Question 5: PEREIRA: A city government plays a crucial role in promoting local businesses by creating a positive environment that supports economic growth, simplifying regulations, fostering entrepreneurship, and ensures the overall well-being of our community. Roswell homeowners bear the largest share of the city’s tax burden, it’s in our best interest to encourage a business-friendly environment to help level-set the taxes.

SELLS: A vibrant local business market requires more midmarket companies. These larger employers bring in customers every morning who shop, eat and patronize Roswell’s local boutiques and businesses. After stopping in for a beer on the way home, these temporary taxpayers leave the local businesses more robust and resilient for the benefit of Roswell residents.

DAL CERRO: I choose “Business over Blight.” To start, we can: Listen, Recruit, Collaborate, Enable and Empower. We need to target new businesses and industries, but we absolutely must retain and expand our current businesses. I am the only candidate in my race who has attended all of the meetings at City Hall and spoken up about the proposed promenade on Canton Street. We need to allow taxpaying businesses to speak at council meetings. Today they can’t. That’s “Taxation Without Representation.”

Question 4: PEREIRA: I’m the only candidate with a vision for a Roswell Town Center that will maintain our small town character, but is much more than just a single block along Canton Street. Imagine a walkable Town Center that extends, connects, preserves and improves upon our

4 | October 2023 | AppenMedia.com/Municipal_Elections

POST 3

Roswell City Councilwoman Christine Hall is seeking to hold the Post 3 seat against challenger L yndsey Coates.

Profile: HALL: My family and I are long-time residents of Roswell and members of St. Peter Chanel Church.

Professionally, I am a CFO with an MBA. As Councilmember Post 3, I fight daily for our residents for a safer, more fiscally responsible, economically vibrant city while protecting what we love about Roswell.

COATES: I am a visionary leader, poised to bring fresh ideas and effective solutions to Roswell City Council. My combination of business acumen, dedication to community service and commitment to transparent governance make me ready to champion the interests of all residents and work tirelessly to ensure Roswell will thrive and prosper.

Question 1: HALL: As a fiscal conservative, I led the new budget process that cut wasteful spending and rolled back tax rates two years in a row to lower levels not seen in 20 years.

City operations are being reorganized for more business-like performance.

Operating more efficiently means more funding for resident priorities like best-in-class police and fire, road paving and sidewalks. Looking ahead, my goal is to further reduce the tax burden on our residents, as current inflation pressures are hard on everyone’s budget, particularly on our senior citizens and young families, especially those on a fixed income.

COATES: Balancing lower property taxes and funding city projects requires a delicate approach. It involves optimizing revenue sources, prioritizing essential projects, and fostering economic growth. Roswell should explore alternative funding mechanisms like public-private partnerships to spur commercial economic growth which will help reduce the burden on property taxes. Prioritizing infrastructure and services that directly benefit residents’ well-being is crucial.

Promoting economic development can boost tax revenue without increasing rates. Striking this balance involves careful financial planning, community engagement and transparent decisionmaking to ensure sustainable funding for essential city projects while keeping property taxes reasonable for citizens.

Question 2: Hall: I differ sharply with my opponent who has publicly

advocated for more standalone apartments and high-density housing in our established neighborhoods that increases traffic and clear cuts trees while costing the city tax dollars in HALL increased services and stress to our infrastructure.

I have fought to protect our neighborhoods against high density, while my opponent publicly promoted abolishing these protections to allow for high density. I COATES have been fighting for the vision of Roswell residents to revitalize the old strip malls into true mixed-use activity centers that are focused strategically on business and fun, family-friendly destinations.

COATES: I think there is more nuance to this debate than what is presented in this question. I don’t believe it’s centered around more affordable housing, but more housing in general. We have a national housing crisis, and that is reflective of what is happening in Roswell. We are missing housing suitable for first-time buyers, young professionals who want to buy or rent, or retirees looking to downsize. Government’s role should be to work with developers to bring projects here that will address that.

Law of Supply and Demand states that increasing supply will help lower the cost of existing supply.

Question 3: HALL: It is a matter of fiscal responsibility to research a more efficient, less costly, carefully considered plan of action.

COATES: I would like to keep voting with Fulton County. I haven’t seen any evidence from previous elections held by Fulton that there should be concern. As referenced in Appen, Milton based the decision to host their own elections on a reshaped feasibility study that didn’t look at the whole picture. If they had the entire report as city staff originally provided, maybe a different decision would’ve been made.

Question 4: HALL: My support of community enhancing mixed-use projects instead of standalone apartments is

ROSWELL ELECTION GUIDE directly related to my fight for more walkability. Roswell’s infrastructure is aging, so our recent investments in funding more sidewalks on roads like Old Alabama, Hardscrabble, Riverside near Martin’s Landing, Chaffin, King, Pine Grove is vital to enriching the quality of life for all our residents. These projects produced more pedestrian and bike connectivity in the last two years than in the prior 10. I have worked with several resident groups successfully implementing improvements to their neighborhood pedestrian safety. I will continue to champion walkability with infrastructure upgrades.

COATES: It’s extremely important to me to provide a more connected community for walkability and bicycling. It promotes sustainability and reduces the environmental impact. I’d like to follow the Roswell Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan created in 2019. Allow sidewalks in neighborhoods, complete current network, and build out the Roswell Loop that would act as a backbone for most other bike/ped projects.

Question 5: HALL: A prime role is creating an environment and recruiting more strategically productive businesses to increase city revenues. This is good because businesses producing higher paying jobs have employees who visit Roswell during the day and spend money here to the benefit of both residents and local businesses. I disagree with my opponent who wants more standalone apartments that hurt the city’s bottom line because apartment complexes actually cost the city more money in services provided than tax revenues received.

COATES: It’s a crucial role of any city to foster economic development.

That’s why it was such a big deal when the mayor and my opponent decided to close Canton Street without speaking to residents/ business owners. My opponent went as far as to admonish them when they were concerned. Once elected I look forward to building back our relationship with the business community, and streamlining our processes to welcome more.

POST 4 David Johnson and Jade Terreberry have qualified to run for the Post 4 seat. Incumbent Peter Vanstrom announced his resignation in July, citing personal challenges.

Profile: JOHNSON: My wife Nicole and I have three children, and I work as a certified anesthesiologist assistant at

Northside Hospital Forsyth. As an HOA leader in one of the largest neighborhoods in East Roswell, I have regularly stood up to City Hall to fight for my fellow citizens. I am ready to return citizen-focused JOHNSON leadership to City Hall.

TERREBERRY: I’ve been in Roswell nine years and bring 20+ years of corporate and private sector executive career and leadership experience in problem-solving, negotiating & TERREBERRY collaborating to achieve results.

I’m a bridge-builder, communicator, and independent thinker working tirelessly for YOU to overcome divisiveness and make Roswell the BEST – for residents and businesses.

Question 1: JOHNSON: Roswell property owners currently carry too much of the tax burden. We need to expand our tax base to reduce the tax burden on homeowners. To do this, we do not need to tax our businesses more – we need more businesses paying taxes.

That’s why I will make it a priority to attract family-centered economic development and destinations. Instead of our families spending their money in surrounding areas, we need to keep our tax dollars in Roswell. I will also work to hold the city government accountable by making sure our tax dollars are spent efficiently – not on pet projects or shady contracts.

TERREBERRY: Reducing the tax burden on residents is critical to Roswell’s future. With bond debt servicing upon us, expenditures must be properly allocated to drive efficiencies and commercial revenue to improve our economic imbalance and competitive deficit.

Desire for a holistic approach to financial stewardship in budgeting, prioritization and execution is a primary driver of my running for office. In my corporate and HOA presidency experience, the RFI/P/Q, vendor selection, and negotiation processes for optimal terms are among my strongest skillsets. I’ve owned/managed numerous business acquisitions, vendor partnerships, integration negotiations for worldrenowned private and publicly traded companies.

ROSWELL ELECTION GUIDE Question 2: JOHNSON: There is a need for housing options that families can afford, particularly for police, fire, teachers and nurses, but our city government cannot control house prices. However, we can attract familycentered destinations that include family-oriented businesses as well as more affordable housing options that both enhance our quality of life. This does not mean massive apartment complexes, but right now there are plans to build a medical center complex in the city with no plans for housing. So where exactly are the phlebotomists or nurses going to live?

TERREBERRY: Annual revenue under my corporate umbrella is 5 times Roswell’s yearly operating budget. I have deep understanding of valuations for both residential and commercial property and improvements. Before using words like “affordable housing,” we need to define what we mean, what problem we are trying to solve, and ensure our roads, social services, public safety, schools, etc. can support the proposal.

I’m a strong advocate of Mixed Use

Live, Work, Shop, Play, Stay familyfriendly economic stimulation.

However, protecting property values for existing residents must remain paramount as we define who Roswell wants to be – currently at 2,200 residents/sq. mile, we have traffic, parking, school, and safety issues to address immediately.

Question 3: JOHNSON: We have all seen the ongoing issues with Fulton County elections, so I would be open to exploring Roswell controlling our own elections, but it all depends on cost.

I am more concerned about bringing transparency to City Hall to hold the city government accountable and protect taxpayers.

TERREBERRY: Transparency and adherence to sunshine laws, local, state and federal charters, and governing frameworks are imperative to the integrity of government. I have not been exposed to data, cost analysis or trade-offs necessary to take a formal position for Roswell today. However, in theory, I believe we should pursue taking over our own

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elections.

one-of-a-kind City of Roswell!

Question 4: JOHNSON: I have been an outspoken proponent of improving pedestrian safety. After two women in my neighborhood were mowed down by a car, I went to work. I spoke in front of the City Council, surrounded by 50 of my neighbors, advocating for an investment in sidewalks and other improvements. On the City Council, I will be an advocate for investing in our neighborhoods’ walkability. Instead of secret $1 million deals, pet projects and shutting down Canton Street, we can prioritize the safety of our citizens.

TERREBERRY: Walkability is very important. We must invest in this area to keep focus and prioritization on what a KEY DIFFERENTIATOR our Bike and Pedestrian Master Plan is for our city as we carry it through execution to fruition. As we #FutureFocusRoswell together, connected pedestrian and biker experiences are a key piece of my vision for the wellness, recreational, lifestyle, and safety aspects of our

Question 5: JOHNSON: Instead of shutting down ribbon cuttings, delaying permits, raising their taxes and proposing ideas like shutting down Canton Street without speaking to businesses, we need to start treating them with respect. We need to attract new family-centered economic development, but we will not be able to do this if we have a reputation for being anti-business. On the City Council, I will work in partnership with our existing businesses and those looking to open businesses in our city.

TERREBERRY: Local business is the lifeblood of a healthy balanced economy where residents and businesses alike can thrive financially, sustain and grow together. City government plays the PRIMARY role in making it “hard” or “easy” to open a business AND grow a business.

Roswell has failed in this area for many years, and I intend to change that, and I have the knowledge, experience and real-world know-how to make it happen.

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6 | October 2023 | Alpharetta-Roswell Herald | AppenMedia.com/Municipal_Elections

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