Johns Creek City Council Meeting - July 28, 2025
Johns Creek City Council Meeting - July 28, 2025
The Johns Creek City Council met at 7:13 p.m. on July 28, 2025, at 11360 Lakefield Drive. The meeting included a public hearing on the FY2026 budget, adoption of the FY2025 millage rate, approval of a zoning text amendment for cemeteries, a resolution opposing Fulton County property tax increases, and amendments to the tree preservation ordinance. Mayor Bradbury opened with remarks about ethics complaints filed against him, which he characterized as political distractions. The council approved the consent agenda as amended, with one item (tree preservation ordinance) moved to new business for separate consideration.
Consent Calendar
- Approved July 14, 2025 work session summary, millage rate public hearing minutes, and council meeting minutes (E.1) unanimously.
- Approved the meeting agenda after moving item G2 (tree preservation ordinance) to new business.
- Approved the consent agenda as amended, which included: Ordinance O2025-07-20 (FY2025 budget amendment), Resolution R2025-07-18 (signatories on Georgia Fund One), Resolution R2025-07-19 (amending employee fees), a $1,482,734 contract with TriScapes, Inc. for parks maintenance, a $513,265 contract with Michael Baker International for Old Alabama Road Bridges engineering, an intergovernmental agreement with Sandy Springs for fire station alerting equipment, and an intergovernmental agreement with Fulton County for conducting the 2025 election. All passed unanimously.
Public Comments & Testimony
- FY2025 Millage Rate Public Hearing: Mr. Fitzgerald addressed the council, criticizing council members for not keeping campaign promises to keep taxes low and opposing a $40 million performing arts center. He urged adoption of the rollback rate.
- No public comments were made during the FY2026 budget public hearing or the cemetery zoning text amendment hearing.
Discussion Items
- FY2026 Budget (First Public Hearing): Assistant City Manager Love presented the proposed $84,979,700 balanced general fund budget, which maintains current service levels, funds vehicle/equipment replacements, and does not use reserves. Revenue is driven by local option sales tax (35%) and property taxes (28%). Council members praised the budget; no public comments were received. The hearing was adjourned; further discussion will occur on August 11 and August 25, with adoption scheduled for September 8.
- FY2025 Millage Rate (M&O and Parks Bond): Council debated setting the M&O millage rate. Councilmember Coughlin initially moved to set the rate at 3.485 mills (splitting growth with taxpayers). Councilmember Elwood moved a substitute to adopt the rollback rate of 3.492 mills. Supporters of the rollback argued that it returns excess revenue to taxpayers and that surpluses come largely from expenditure savings, not revenue overruns. The substitute motion passed 5-2. The main motion for 3.492 mills then passed. For the parks bond, the council approved a rate of 0.25 mills (rollback is 0.242), with discussion noting that the surplus in the fund earns interest, making it beneficial to maintain the higher rate. The parks bond motion passed 7-0.
- Zoning Text Amendment A-25-004 (Cemetery as Accessory Use): Director Song presented a staff-recommended amendment to allow cemeteries as an accessory use to existing churches, temples, or places of worship in the Agricultural (AG) district, provided seven standards are met (e.g., minimum 20-acre property, 1,000 sq. ft. maximum area, 200-ft. setback, screening). The Planning Commission recommended approval. No public comments were made. Council approved the amendment unanimously.
- Resolution R2025-07-20 (Opposition to Fulton County Property Tax Increase): Mayor Bradbury introduced a resolution urging the Fulton County Commission not to raise property taxes, noting the county’s proposed full mill increase and the abandonment of a new jail project. Councilmembers expressed support for collective action. The resolution passed unanimously.
- Tree Preservation Ordinance Amendment: Director Song presented an ordinance to simplify tree removal on developed single-family residential lots. Key changes: exempting utility, road, and detention pond tree removal from permitting; allowing removal of any tree (regardless of size) on lots not in protected zones; increasing specimen tree size thresholds (hardwoods/softwoods from 24 to 32 inches, small native from 10 to 12 inches); requiring replacement planting for removed specimen trees in protected zones; and reducing the administrative guidelines from 86 to 46 pages. Council debated the balance between tree preservation and homeowner rights. The ordinance passed 5-2.
Key Outcomes
- FY2026 Budget: First public hearing held; no action taken. Next steps: work sessions on August 11 and August 25, second public hearing and adoption on September 8.
- FY2025 Millage Rate (M&O): Adopted at 3.492 mills (rollback rate) (vote 5-2).
- FY2025 Parks Bond Millage Rate: Adopted at 0.25 mills (vote 7-0).
- Zoning Text Amendment A-25-004: Approved (vote 7-0).
- Resolution to Implore Fulton County Not to Raise Property Taxes: Approved (vote 7-0).
- Tree Preservation Ordinance Amendment: Approved (vote 5-2).
- Executive Session: Council adjourned to executive session to discuss land, legal, and personnel matters.
- Adjournment: Meeting adjourned after executive session.
Meeting Transcript
Thank you, Mayor. We're recording. Sure. Welcome everybody. I'd like to open this meeting of the Johns Creek City Council this Monday, July 28th at 7.13 p.m. Thank you. At this time, I'll call roll. Please. Councilmember Chunky? Here. Councilmember Skinner. Here. Councilmember Aramelli. Present. Councilmember Coughlin. Present. Councilmember Debiasi? Councilmember Ellen. Thank you, Mayor. We have a quorum. Fantastic. Next item. At this time, I'd like to invite our scouts from Troop 2000 to come on up. Lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Everyone, please stand. I pledge allegiance to the flag to the United States of America. And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Thank you. Mayor's opening remarks. Yeah. Also, like I said, welcome everybody. And uh, if you've been here before, if you've listened to uh these mayor's comments in the past, you know, normally I've got something pretty cheery, but tonight I need to talk to you about a subject that I'll just say right up front, I consider it a distraction. Uh it's definitely a distraction probably from city business. Uh, but I'll say that it's a distraction because it was probably intentionally designed to be a distraction. Um, I have always advocated for transparency, and I always will. My goal for Johns Creek is that we will be the best city government in the country, and that means we must always be as transparent as possible. You probably also are aware that it's political campaign time once again. As anyone has the right, uh, someone has filed a declaration of intent to run for the office of mayor. Uh that happened on July 7th. In the spirit of transparency, I should let you know, however, that on that exact same day, an ethics complaint was filed against me for the first time in my career. It was about some of my campaign finance disclosure reports being filed late. All of my expenses, all donations have always been very forthcoming. Ten days later, I got a second complaint filed against me, uh, this time from Councilmember uh Skinner over mileage reimbursement over the last three and a half years that I've been your mayor. Uh these charges totaled uh $635.64 cents. And these are, of course, uh mileage where I went on city business outside of the city of Johns Creek. All city reimbursements go through a multi-tiered approval process ending uh with the city manager, both the current city manager and the city manager at Densmore before approved these types of reimbursements as the charter says that these expenses quote shall be reimbursed. I appreciate both of these issues being brought to my attention. I have nothing to hide. I am proud of the work I do for our city, and again, in the spirit of transparency, I'll be putting these complaints up on the internet for anyone that would like to review them in detail.
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