Three City Mayors Discuss Post-COVID-19 iImprovement Plans Left to right, Mayors Mike Mason of Peachtree Corners, Lois Salter of Berkeley Lake and Craig Newton of Norcross.
hall, they planned to go a different route under ARPA, using the federal funds mainly for stormwater infrastructure work. She said that with the city having no stormwater fee and with a preponderance of trees and hills, stormwater costs have been significant. Norcross Mayor Newton was less definitive than his counterparts, outlining that the city has created a 12-member advisory group to make recommendations to the mayor and council on how to allocate funds. “So, we took the easy route. We turned it over to the citizens to help us decide how to spend some of this money,” he said.
Post-pandemic issues to consider
The mayors of Peachtree Corners, Norcross and Berkeley Lake shared their thoughts on improving the communities with American Rescue Plan money A trio of Southwest Gwinnett County mayors talked about several aspects and impacts of the COVID crisis during a recent panel discussion, including how they were looking at spending money allocated to their cities as part of the American Rescue Plan
Act (ARPA). They also focused on challenges and changes emerging from the pandemic. Mayors Mike Mason of Peachtree Corners, Craig Newton of Norcross and Lois Salter of Berkeley Lake fielded questions during a First Friday breakfast event hosted by the Southwest Gwinnett Chamber.
Plans for the cities Mason outlined how his city created a mechanism to support small businesses with grants after Gwinnett cities received federal money under the earlier CARES act. Each qualified applicant received an allocation.
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Photos by Rico Figliolini
Peachtree Corners Magazine ■ August/September 2021 ■ LivingInPeachtreeCorners.com
He noted that in addition to the grants, air filtration and other protective equipment was also tacked on at city hall. “With the ARPA money, we’ll do more of the same,” he said. Mason also said that plans are in the works to use some of the money to beef up broadband service in what are considered underserved areas of the city. He said some may doubt that a problem exists, but that it does. “We learned during the pandemic that kids couldn’t get schooling from home, because if someone was in the living room watching TV, there wasn’t enough broadcast left for the kid in his room. If we can fix that, we’re probably going to try to do that.” In contrast, Berkeley Lake Mayor Salter said that after spending considerable CARES money on sanitizing efforts and an air filtration system for city peachtreecornerslife
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Addressing a related issue, Newton told the chamber audience that “we are not quite out of the woods yet on COVID,” contending that while declining case numbers and reopening businesses show that the vaccine is working, Georgia, as a state with a low vaccination rate, could be vulnerable to surges. All three mayors agreed that the pandemic has been a longterm game changer. Several trends are important to consider in that regard, said Mason. He called for a show of hands and got a considerable response when he asked, “How many people are still working from home instead of going back to the office? That’s a trend.” Also, residents continue to order more goods online, in his view, and he spoke about challenges in the hospitality sector, noting that Peachtree Corners has more hotel rooms than any
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