Creating the New City of Sandy Springs

About the Book

This book relates the story of the implementation of the new city of Sandy Springs, Georgia. The author played a key role in the creation of the new city which was the first to be incorporated in Georgia in fifty years. Sandy Springs was a city of almost 90,000 people at birth, making it the seventh largest city in the state. The city of Sandy Springs had the rare opportunity to start with a “clean sheet of paper.” The book describes how, when given this freedom, a team totally composed of volunteers sought to make the most of the opportunity. The implementation of Sandy Springs was unique in a number of ways: •It was necessary to create new laws to enable the incorporation. •The time to implement the city was less than a year. •The organizers had no authority, funds nor staff. •The city was created by volunteers in a major exercise in democracy. • The services of the city were assigned to private industry in the broadest such contract in the nation. The innovative use of private industry, through competitive contracting, to provide the widest possible scope of community services could well become a model for the twenty-first century city in America. The author has attempted to relate, in easily-read terms, the rather amazing implementation of a wholly new form of municipal government, under very difficult constraints of time and absence of authority. This book is intended to serve as a potential guide for those who may be considering the formation of a new municipal government and also to those in existing cities who may wish to consider the use of private industry in providing services for their city. The Sandy Springs experience will be of value to anyone who has an interest in the developing trends in contemporary local government.

About the Author