InTucker Magazine

From The Mayor – March 2023

Public Works Update

In November of last year, Tucker citizens voted overwhelmingly to authorize the City to assume responsibility over stormwater and road maintenance. In doing so, we also voted to allow an increase in the millage rate cap from 1 mil to 3 mils in order to pay for these services (or course, your tax bill will reflect reductions in the corresponding line items). We don’t expect to use the full 3 mils, but it gives us some room in case current inflationary increases continue. The City’s actual millage rate and the fee for stormwater services will be set during our budget process over the next few months. Taking on new services, taxes and fees is not something we take lightly. These are big jobs with a lot of money at stake, and we are grateful for your confidence in us.

As we covered in publications and public meetings in the months leading up to the referendum, there are multiple steps we need to take to stand up the Public Works department and I’m happy to report the first one was approved in the first Council meeting of February. The City conducted our normal bid process, this time advertising a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to manage the new department. This kind of request allows the respondents more latitude than usual to provide guidance on how they would implement a new department instead of just pricing for a proposal we specified. To review the proposals we received, we put together a selection committee made up of two Council members, Anne Lerner and Cara Schroeder, two expert residents with extensive engineering and public works experience, our City Manager, Deputy City Manager, City Attorney, and myself. I am grateful to the committee for their dedication and time to this process. It was complex, and we took our time, spending many hours in analysis and discussion. In the end, the committee recommended the contract be awarded to Lowe Engineering and the Council approved the contract to start March 1. Lowe has named Ishri Sankar as our Public Works Director and Jeff Mueller as Deputy Director. Both bring to Tucker an incredible amount of expertise and experience in standing up a Public Works department, and we look forward to introducing them to you soon.

The Council and I also awarded another very important contract at the February meeting that we had talked about last Fall. This one is to develop an inventory and assessment of every stormwater facility we’ll be inheriting. DeKalb is an old county, with lots of infrastructure in the ground, and it comes as no surprise that many of the records and maps are inaccurate or missing altogether. So, as promised, we awarded a contract to perform a Stormwater Inventory & Condition Assessment, and this one went to Atlas Engineering. This is integral to our understanding of what will be ours to maintain and provide planning guidance for the future both in maintenance and improvements. Atlas has named Alan Chapman as the project manager and he brings decades of experience in both private and public practice.

The next few months will be busy with building the new budget for July 1, which will include these services for the first time. We invite you to attend the various Council and other public meetings and hearings. We’ll also do our best to keep you informed as each decision is made and implemented. You can always follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Nextdoor for updates, but as always, our website is always the most complete source for all information.