Mold Remediation in South Fulton, GA

$85K a year for South Fulton's part-time mayor?

Residents of South Fulton are criticizing a proposal put out by the mayor to double his own salary. Some showed up to Tuesday night's City Council meeting to voice their opposition.

A request for a raise that would double the salary of South Fulton’s mayor raised some concerns for residents.

"Being a mayor of 100 square miles and 110,000 people is a full-time job," said Mayor Kobi, City of South Fulton.

On Tuesday, city leaders began discussions about the proposal by Mayor Khalid Kamau, who now goes by the name Mayor Kobi, to increase the pay for his role from $47,000 to $85,000.

"$86,000 to me in a part-time capacity seems to be a bit much," resident Alvin Reynolds told FOX 5.

"We do not agree with an $86,000 raise for the mayor," another resident said during public comment.

That amount was $25,000 over the recommended salary from a pay study in January.

The mayor told FOX 5 he believes the increase was justified by a raise members of council approved for themselves that was 44 percent higher than what was recommended in the pay study.

"To be clear, I believe council deserves every penny," he said.

District 3 City Councilwoman Hellen Willis says despite working well beyond part-time hours, she maintained their roles are currently classified in the state charter as part-time elected officials.

"To get paid full-time pay and we’re classified by the state as part-time is going to be problematic…it’s not fiscally responsible," she told FOX 5.

The proposed increase wouldn’t go into effect until January of 2026, after the mayor’s current term ends. He said he hasn’t decided whether he’ll run for office again.

"I’m actually trying to raise the next mayor’s salary, whoever that is," Mayor Kobi stated.

While some agreed it was time to talk about salary increases for officials in the city still in its infancy, resident Alvin Reynolds said he believes their focus should be on initiatives that benefit taxpayers.

"We just want to make sure we’re using our money efficiently and most of that money is going toward taking care of our city and our residents," he added.

Several council members said they felt the move was premature and that they should first petition state lawmakers to reclassify their roles as full-time positions.

No action was taken on the proposal. Members of council will take it to a vote on Nov. 12.

This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Atlanta|Local Event

Wed, Dec 4, 2024 at 5:30 PM

5440 Fulton Industrial Blvd SW, Atlanta, GA, 30336

The City of South Fulton invites the community to join us for a festive new tradition! Join us on Wednesday, December 4, 2024 at 5:30 pm for our inaugural City Hall Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony!

Guests will enjoy carols, hot cocoa, cookies provided by Great American Cookies, and a spectacular 30-foot Christmas tree! Your family won't want to miss this!

City Hall, 5440 Fulton Industrial Boulevard, South Fulton, GA

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South Fulton votes on HOA accountability

In an effort to end overreach and inequitable enforcement of some home ownership associations, the City of South Fulton is voting on new measures which would hold HOA boards more accountable. Here's the latest.

The Brief

SOUTH FULTON, Ga. - A proposal to hold homeowners associations more accountable in South Fulton failed to come up for a vote in a city council meeting that lasted late into the night. The measure would have established a task force to collect complaints from residents and curb what one councilwoman calls predatory activity.

Patricia Wise, a resident of a South Fulton subdivision, says her community lives with an absentee HOA board member.

"It’s a problem," Wise said. "We have a member of the board who allegedly doesn’t live in the community. But is on the board."

Wise said that makes it hard to hold the HOA accountable.

"When you’re paying for a home in a subdivision and your board is supposed to be comprised of homeowners, and then you have someone who doesn’t live there, it’s like a betrayal," she said.

Councilwoman Linda Becquer-Pritchett, (District-7), says some boards are hitting homeowners with frivolous fees and intimidating residents.

"It’s egregious, it’s terrible, Pritchett said. "It’s to the point that people are getting fined, liens on their homes, even the threat of foreclosure."

Pritchett tried to propose a task force to hold HOAs more accountable.

"The citizens can talk about the issues they are experiencing and the abuses that are happening within their communities," she said. "We can provide recommendations to the state."

Pritchett says council members left throughout the meeting, leaving the panel without enough members to have a quorum to vote. Pritchett says it is not clear if it will come up for a vote will ever come up for a vote.

Councilwoman Helen Willis says she supports HOA accountability.

"A lot of the declarants running HOAs are rogue," Willis said. When asked if Pritchett’s proposal would hold HOAs accountable, Willis responded "I think some of the language will, but I think we need to go deeper."

Willis says she supports another proposal to hold HOAs fiscally responsible.

"We already have something on the table called the HOA transparency ordinance," Willis said. That proposal, she said, would "make them have to do audits. They have to have a certain amount of percentage in the bank account for residents, make sure that the common areas are inspected in good condition before they turn the HOAs over."

The Source: FOX 5 Atlanta original report.

Ariel HartThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution(TNS)

Grady Health System has won state approval to build a freestanding emergency room in south Fulton County, clearing a major hurdle, according to documents filed by the Georgia Department of Community Health.

“It’s great news for south Fulton County,” Fulton County Chairman Robb Pitts said.

Patients facing medical crises in Fulton County south of I-20 have been without a full-service hospital in that area since Wellstar Health System closed Atlanta Medical Center-South in East Point in 2022. Grady announced its intention to build the ER in April, but that still left a crucial step.

No hospital can open unless the state grants what is known as a Certificate of Need, agreeing that the service is actually needed there. Even large hospital chains have on occasion been denied a certificate if their competitors oppose the plan.

“We knew that this was a hurdle, and you never know what could happen,” said Shannon Sale, Grady Health System’s chief strategy officer. “We’re just thrilled to get that accomplished.”

In this case, the patient population was not a lucrative one drawing competitive hospital bids. Patients in south Fulton County are less likely than in other parts of the state to have good insurance that pays for their medical care.

Grady has opened two new clinics in south Fulton since the AMC closures, and Wellstar has given temporary funding to another clinic. But a clinic typically can’t offer the same level of expertise and machinery as a hospital emergency room. An ER can offer the quickest intervention for patients needing urgent care, such as for heart attacks or strokes.

“It can take 45 minutes from south Fulton to get to Grady right now,” Pitts said. “Every minute can be critical in an emergency situation.”

The new ER will be located in Union City and is expected to hold 16 patient bays inside 20,000 square feet. It will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and be fully staffed with board-certified physicians, nurses and other clinicians, Grady said earlier this year.

The facility is expected to cost about $38.9 million to build, according to state documents. Pitts said Fulton County would fund about $19 million of the cost to build it. He said Grady would fund the ongoing operating costs without the county. Sale said Grady expects the facility to bring in enough revenue from patient care to be self-sustaining.

One doctor who works at both Grady and Emory health systems said the step is a moment to celebrate but leaves much undone.

“There are a variety of health emergencies where the time it takes to get you to an emergency room can be the difference between life and death,” said Dr. Mark Spencer, assistant professor of medicine at Emory.

However, Spencer said, “We should not lose sight of the need for more robust investments in the social determinants of health across south Fulton neighborhoods.” Social determinants of health are things that cause people in some neighborhoods to get sick and are more common there than in wealthier neighborhoods.

After Wellstar closed AMC-South and the much larger AMC in Atlanta, patients who used to go to those emergency rooms for care swamped other hospitals’ emergency rooms.

On Monday afternoon, a service tracking metro emergency rooms’ capacity listed Grady Memorial Hospital’s ER as “dangerously overcrowded,” advising ambulances to call a diversion hotline before delivering patients to Grady. Likewise, Piedmont Atlanta’s ER was listed as “severely overcrowded” and Emory University Hospital’s was “dangerously overcrowded.”

In April, Grady CEO John Haupert issued a statement saying “the residents in this area deserve the same level of quality care available in other areas, and Grady is proud to take this major step toward fulfilling that need.”

Grady’s statement at the time specified that the ER is for patients with “serious injuries or life-threatening conditions.”

With 16 bays, it won’t have the space to treat people seeking care for minor illnesses. One of the complaints Wellstar had about running an ER in East Point was that the majority of patients who came there could have been seen in an urgent care clinic and did not require hospitalization.

This story was updated to include comment from Grady Health System Tuesday morning.

©2024 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Visit at ajc.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — After announcing plans to open a new emergency department in south Fulton County in April, Grady Health confirmed to Channel 2 Action News that the state had officially approved the plan.

According to a Grady spokesperson, the freestanding emergency department will be built in Union City just south of Interstate 20 and will be open 24/7.

“We are pleased that our certificate of need to build a freestanding emergency department in south Fulton County has been approved. This freestanding emergency department, built in partnership with Fulton County, will be located in Union City and open 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Grady said in a statement shared with Channel 2 Action News.

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The hospital system said the new emergency department should open in fall 2026 and will be “fully staffed by board-certified physicians, nurses, and other clinicians, allowing us to serve a community that has seen an increased demand for access to health care.”

Channel 2′s Candace McCowan reported in April that the new emergency department was meant, at least in part, to fill a gap left open after the closure of the Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center in November 2022.

“We knew and have known that there was a healthcare desert in South Fulton County,” Fulton County Chairman Robb Pitts said at the time.

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In previous comments, Grady President and CEO John Haupert said the department will “have 16 bays emergency treatment bays, it will be for adults and pediatrics.”

The location is a 40-acre site along South Fulton Parkway and Campbellton Fairburn Road, next to the Fulton County Elections Hub and Operations Center.

“It could be lifesaving. If someone is having chest pain, their loved one brings them there they can be more quickly assessed than if someone had to drive them all the way up to Grady or all the way to Piedmont Hospital South of Fulton County,” said Haupert.

While the department will provide emergency care, Grady officials said it is not going to be a trauma center, and traumatic injury patients will still need to go to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta.

“There is a huge demand for emergency pediatric services within that service area. Right now if you have a sick child and need to go to an emergency room you have to come up to Hughes Spalding or go all the way up to CHOA,” Haupert said. “We will have stabilization there for mental health as well.”

The overall project is expected to cost $38 million, and Pitts told Channel 2 Action News in April he expected Grady to request $19 million from the county to bring the new emergency department to fruition.

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