Brookhaven Reporter www.ReporterNewspapers.net
JUNE 26 — JULY 9, 2015 • VOL. 7 — NO. 13
Inside
Perimeter Business
What’s the plan? Q & A with District 80 candidates COMMUNITY 2
Overcoming hatred Churches respond to S.C. shootings PAGES 7-11
FAITH 15
Doing a backsplash
PHOTOS BY PHIL MOSIER
Joel Brock, 12, flips Davis Chasman, 11, off his shoulders during a pool party at Briarwood Park on June 19. The city’s Parks and Recreation Department sponsored a screening of “The Lego Movie,” shown on a big screen on the pool deck.
City promises transparency after public embarrassments
Soccer club and city reach deal on use of Blackburn fields
BY JOE EARLE
BY JOHN RUCH
After a series of public embarrassments, Brookhaven city officials are looking for ways to restore public confidence in the city. “My job right now is to right the ship, to make a course correction,” new Mayor Rebecca Chase Williams said at the start of a special council meeting called June 19 to hire the new city attorney. “We’ve had some stum- Q & A with new Mayor Rebecca bles. Some mistakes were made. ... We have Chase Williams, page 4 to learn from the mistakes and move forward Commentary: How city can “It’s been a hard week.” Indeed, much happened over the course of handle a PR crisis, page 6 the new mayor’s first days in office. So much that within a week, the city had a new attorney, the mayor was promising to hold fewer closed-door council meetings, the council was considering the public release of documents from previous closed-door meetings, and the council had approved a new document disclosure rule that one member approvingly said went far beyond the requirements of existing state law. Williams had been elected by her fellow councilors June 9 to succeed the city’s inaugural mayor, J. Max Davis, after he resigned to run for a seat in the state House of
Concorde Fire Soccer Club has gained control of the Blackburn Park’s multi-use fields in a $10,000-a-year deal signed by the city in May. The youth soccer club will pay to rehab and maintain the two fields. In exchange, it gains the use of the formerly open-use fields—and the surrounding parking lot, playground and other areas—for much of the day during eight months of the year. The fields will still be available to the public at other times. Four years ago, Concorde Fire ignited intense controversy with a plan to build a soccer complex on South Johnson Ferry Road. In the wake of that failed plan, the soccer club began exploring public-private partnerships with local parks, then owned by DeKalb County. Only now is that coming to pass in Blackburn. Brookhaven City Council inked the Blackburn deal on May 26, granting the club the right to start its season there Aug. 1. On June 1, the city announced the closure of the heavily worn fields for renovation. “Renovations to the fields in their entirety are being completed at the expense of Concorde Fire Soccer Club,” city Parks Manager Gary Schussler said in an email to Reporter Newspapers. “The exact cost of the renovations have yet to be determined. “Knowing the newly formed partnership, the fields will see an increase in use due to Concorde Fire’s play,” he added. Attempts to reach representatives of Concorde Fire were not successful.
SEE MAYOR, PAGE 5
SEE SOCCER, PAGE 19
joeearle@reporternewspapers.net
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