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Former Decatur Mayor Picks Lavista Hills to Move Forward


Former Decatur mayor pessimistic about annexation chances this year

 Posted by Dan Whisenhunt  January 26, 2015

The Georgia Assembly is in session and there are currently no bills regarding annexation or cityhood under consideration.

Bill Floyd, former
Decatur Mayor
Bill Floyd, Decatur’s former mayor, who is now Executive Director of the DeKalb Municipal Association, told Decaturish that he doesn't think any annexation plans will move forward in 2015.

“I think the chances of it happening are probably not very good,” Floyd said. “The county’s obviously going to oppose it. I don’t think the DeKalb delegation is going to be very much in favor of it because of that. So it’s going to be hard.”

However, he’s much more optimistic about proposals for creating new cities.

Floyd attended DeKalb County CEO Lee May’s State of the County Address last week and answered several questions about the move to incorporate all of DeKalb County. Floyd resigned in 2013 to take a job with a consulting firm, saying that the new job could create a conflict of interest with his duties as mayor. Last year, Floyd participated in mediation between the cityhood movements of LaVista Hills and Tucker. Ultimately, the boundaries for those two proposed cities were decided in December by a legislative panel.

In response to those proposals, the cities of Decatur and Avondale Estates each passed their own annexation plans for consideration this year.

Floyd said that may have been jumping the gun.

“As far as annexation, I’ve said all along that I thought they ought to wait and see about the two new cities in the middle of DeKalb,” he said. “If those bills get done, and have a referendum and they pass, then you can start talking about annexation.”

Floyd said the cityhood movements have been promised a hearing this year, at a minimum. He thinks both would have a good chance of being approved by voters.

“If I had to pick one, I would think LaVista Hills is probably a pretty sure thing,” he said, adding that he is only speaking for himself.

For more, read the full story on Decaturish.com here.

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