By Maggie Lee / Staff

The Milton City Council began its year with one new member and very different budget prospects.

Joe Longoria, the sole new council member, who ousted incumbent Tina D’Arversa in November, opined after his first meeting on Jan. 6, “Historically, I don’t think the city has been business-friendly enough.”

“I think the retail and some of the smaller businesses that are quasi-retail are what we need to focus on,” he said, adding that he thinks there are too many empty storefronts along Ga. 9 and in Crabapple. 

Longoria said he would also like to see a Milton economic development body, as mentioned by Ed Trevillyan during the public comment period of the meeting. Trevillyan pushed the same plan during his write-in campaign for city council this year, but was defeated by incumbent Bill Lusk.

But for a healthy budget, the city must also look at its expenditures and make sure all services are cost efficient, both Lusk and returning Councilwoman Karen Thurman emphasized during the election.

Longoria also said that he’s a parks and recreation man and there’s much to do in that area.  “Milton’s got a lot of people and a great deal of land that we encompass but we don’t have enough when it comes to parks.”

Councilwoman Julie Zahner-Bailey is also thinking leafy and mentioned her excitement over the Milton Grows Green Committee, a volunteer city body that works on cleanup, grants, awareness and study of greener practices.  She added it’s only one example of one of something she cares about a lot: a group that “community members that care about everybody are engaged with.”

Milton’s midyear budget revision will probably reveal a very different financial picture, though it’s not clear if red or black ink will predominate. The city expects cost savings from the end of the city management contract with CH2M Hill, but the burst housing bubble will most likely mean shrunken property tax payments. It may take not only filled storefronts but also service cuts for a healthy city budget.

The midyear revision is due in spring; the city’s fiscal year runs from October to September. 

But at its first meeting, the council’s main business was swearing in 14 committees and commissions like the city’s Design Review Board, Zoning Board of Appeals and the Highway 9 Design Guideline group. Among the new faces is Paul Marsella, a lawyer with the bus company Bluebird, on the Board of Ethics.

Because of the council’s staggered election cycles, only three seats of seven plus the mayor’s office were up for grabs this year. Incumbent mayor Joe Lockwood and council members Thurman and Lusk kept their seats, and were sworn in for another four years each.

Email: mlee@beaconcast.com