About The champion newspaper. (Decatur, GA) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (July 28, 2016)
LOCAL Stone Mountain City Manager Gary Peet to retire by Carla Parker carla@dekalbchamp.com Gary Peet, who once served as a Stone Mountain city councilmember and mayor, will retire from his city manager post on July 31. Peet has served as city manager since November of 2012. He was on the city council from 1998 to 2001 and served as mayor from 2002 to 2009. Peet said his overall tenure with the city has been successful. “I think every small town has challenges, particularly in the metro area because we’re competing with larger cities,” he said. “It makes it more difficult to hire, to compete for staff. But all and all, I’ll say that my tenure has been successful.” Peet said it is the people he has worked with that he will miss the most. “Everyone has been a delight to work with,” he said. It’s like family.” At the end of the July 18 city council work session, Peet’s last meeting as city manager, city councilmen Richard Mailman and Steve Wells praised Peet for his work ethic and bringing the city out of financial woes. “I’d like to thank Gary for all of his efforts and hard work working for the city, not only as city manager but as mayor before that,” Wells said. “I’ve worked with Gary when I worked for the city and [Peet] was paid $300 a month and he probably worked 60 hours a week. At that point in time the city Stone Mountain City Manager Gary Peet will retire July 31. Photo by Carla Parker was in pretty bad financial shape based on some issues that we had and I think a lot of credit goes to you for pulling us out of that issue.” “The most important person to me, who showed me what we need to be doing and showed me how to read these things and understand these things has been Gary,” Mailman said. “I will miss you. Peet said he will now get plenty of rest, but plans to stay involved. “The mayor has asked me to continue on the committee that looks at annexation issues,” Peet said. “I’ll be attending meetings and try to play an active role as a responsible citizen. “I’ll try to live a healthy lifestyle and get an adequate amount of rest,” he added. City Clerk ChaQuias Miller-Thornton will serve as city manager beginning Aug. 1. IGA Continued From Page 10A don’t think they’ll be on the up-and-up,” Fleming said. O’Connor said she agreed with DeKalb Commissioner Nancy Jester and Dunwoody officials in requesting the IGA’s language be cleared up and the situation made clear before asking cities to sign anything. “If we really wanted to do this right, we would have fixed the language ahead of time on this,” O’Connor said. “There’s a lot of confusion.” Jester has written via her blog and email that “HB 596 serves to suspend the homestead valuation freeze currently in effect in DeKalb County if the new HOST and a SPLOST are approved in the November election. Upon the expiration of the HOST, the homestead valuation freeze would be reinstated in DeKalb County.” Spangler, O’Connor and Fleming all cast nay votes for the IGA while councilmembers M.D. Naser, Shannon Hillard and Robert Patrick voted favorably. Mayor Pittman ultimately cast a yes vote. ICHAMHOM July 28 - Aug. 3, 2016 • Page 13A Utility Chief Revenue Officer Chris Lindenau has two DeKalb County officers demonstrate BodyWorn’s features during a press conference. Photo by Horace Holloman Decatur company making big impact for police by Horace Holloman horace@dekalbchamp.com Utility, a venture-capital company based in Decatur, is making strides in the body camera industry. Recently, the company announced a partnership with the DeKalb County Police Department (DCPD). The DCPD will wear 600 of Utility’s BodyWorn wearable body cameras. “We call DeKalb County home and are honored to announce that the DeKalb County Police Department will be deploying BodyWorn,” said Utility CEO Robert McKeeman. McKeeman and DeKalb County interim CEO Lee May held a press conference July 20 to announce the partnership. To date, Utility has contracted with 20 police departments including Lilburn, Marietta, Clayton County and the Atlanta Department of Corrections. McKeeman, a graduate of Southwest DeKalb High School, said the business hires locally and provides services locally. “No one is more committed to body camera success for DeKalb County than I am,” McKeeman said. “Integrating the body camera into the officer’s uniform means the camera can’t fall off.” During the conference, Utility Chief Revenue Officer Chris Lindenau demonstrated some of BodyWorn’s unique features such as policy-based recording. The camera, which operates on a 4G-LTE smartphone, slides into the officer’s uniform rather than being mounted. Depending on the situation, the camera also records automatically rather than the officer manually recording. See Cameras on Page 14A FREE Responsible 2S& Training For any alcohol server, vendor or owner. For mor& information Call (770) 285-6037 or E-mail beyondthebell@comcast.net Learn the laws regarding responsible sales and service of alcohol that will keep you and your establishment legal and problem-free Aug. 11: 10am-12pm or 2pm-4pm C. E. Steele Community Center 1040 Oakland Ave. Conyers, GA 30012 w A- «o THE BELL % Trainer: William Lord, Training Institute for Responsible Vendors, Inc.
