This year’s Sandy Springs Festival will be held September 25-26, 2010. This year’s festival includes the Doug Kessler Lightning 5K/10K race, an artist’s market, business and civic expo, children’s park, Porsche North America’s Collector Car Show, Kiwanis Pet Parade, heritage crafters, live entertainment, food court, Whole Foods Heritage Homegrown Market, Saint Joseph’s Hospital health and wellness area and more.

The Sandy Springs Festival is proud to be a pet-friendly Festival!

The Sandy Springs Festival is a fundraiser for Heritage Sandy Springs, a non-profit organization dedicated to building community through preserving and promoting the historic and cultural identity of Sandy Springs. The City contracts with Heritage Sandy Springs for the operation of the park.

Sandy Springs Festival is held at Heritage Green, 6075 Sandy Springs Circle, Sandy Springs, Ga., next to City Walk and the surrounding area. Festival hours are 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Shuttle service will provided by Cooper-Atlanta Transportation from Century Springs East and West Parking Lots located at the corner of Lake Forrest Drive and Hammond Drive to Sandy Springs Circle throughout the Festival weekend.

Admission is $5 for adults, $2 for youths aged 6-17 and children 5 and under are free.

For more information, visit the Festival Web Site www.sandyspringsfestival.com, contact the Festival staff at 404-851-1328 or e-mail at info@sandyspringsfestival.com.

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The City of Sandy Springs and Target have teamed up for the 27th Annual National Night Out (NNO) in an effort to create a safer and healthier community. A children’s (ages 14 and younger) celebration will be held on Tuesday, August 3, 2010, from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. at Hammond Park, 705 Hammond Drive.

The event will include car safety seat checks; information on how to sign up for or start a Neighborhood Watch program; the Fire Safety House, which provides a hands-on learning environment; fire trucks and police cars; meeting police officers and firefighters; and information on how to be safe in an emergency.

The nationwide event involves citizens, law enforcement agencies, civic groups, businesses, neighborhood organizations and local officials from more than 11,000 communities in all 50 states. Target gives away 5 percent of its income to communities every week, which is more than $3 million per week. This year’s local sponsors include: Publix, FastSigns, Pig-n-Chick and Kroger.

If you would like more information on the City of Sandy Springs or this event, call the Citizen Response Center at 770-730-5600

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The City of Sandy Springs is a runner up in the Pioneer Institute’s 2010 Better Government Competition Awards. Nominated for its public-private partnership, since its incorporation in 2005, the City of Sandy Springs has operated with the majority of staff employed by the private company, CH2M HILL. The result is the lowest per capita ratio (1.51 per 1,000 residents) of municipal employees in the state of Georgia. Now in its 19th year, Pioneer’s Better Government Competition showcases innovative ideas and programs to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of government.

The award will be presented on Friday, June 18, 2010, at the 2010 Better Government Competition Awards Dinner in Boston. Copies of the compendium of winning entries will be available that evening. The keynote speaker is Massachusetts U.S. Senator Scott Brown.

The 2010 BGC Winner and Runners Up were chosen from numerous entries submitted by businesses, government officials and citizens from across the United States. This year’s panel consisted of:

• Katherine Craven, Executive Director, Massachusetts School Building Association
• Andrew Davis, Managing Partner, Overall Capital
• The Honorable Kerry M. Healey, Former Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor
• Keith Hylton, Professor, Boston University School of Law
• Wendy Lane, Chairman, Lane Holdings
• Avi Nelson, WRKO Radio
• John O’Leary, Fellow, Ash Institute, Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government

Pioneer Institute is an independent, non-partisan, privately funded research organization that seeks to change the intellectual climate in the Massachusetts Commonwealth by supporting scholarship that challenges the “conventional wisdom” on Massachusetts public policy issues.

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Keep Sandy Springs Beautiful is sponsoring a Hazardous Waste and Electronics Recycling Event on Saturday, June 12, 2010. This event will provide Sandy Springs residents a safe way to dispose of unwanted hazardous waste and electronics.

Event Details

When: Saturday, June 12, 9:00 a.m.- 2:00 p.m.

This event is open to City of Sandy Springs residents who are not businesses or contractors. Preregistration is required. Please click here to register for the recycling event.

Where: Former Tom Jumper Chevrolet Building, 7200 Roswell Road, Sandy Springs.

The following items will be accepted

Paint, Varnishes, Stains, Lacquers, Kerosene, Acetone, Aerosols, Pesticides, Herbicides, Oil, Antifreeze, Propane Cylinders, Fire Extinguishers, Batteries, Pool Chemicals, Computer Monitors, Microwave Ovens, Stereos, Laptops, Copiers, Printers, Disk Drives, VCRs, Laptops, Camcorders, Telephones, Cameras, CD players, Portable Radios, Fax Machines, Cell Phones, Projectors and Scanners.

The following items will not be accepted:

Yard Debris, Medical Waste, Smoke Detectors, Ammunition, Console/Projection TVs, Refrigerators, Washers, Dryers, Ovens, Freezers, Humidifiers, De-Humidifiers, Power Equipment, Tires and Household Trash.

Note: There will be a $10 charge for each television.

For more information, please contact Keep Sandy Springs Beautiful at 770-551-7766.

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Sandy Springs homeowners and home buyers beware. The City of Sandy Springs recently passed an ordinance that now requires all new commercial and residential irrigation systems have a rain sensor shut-off and/or freeze sensor shut-off valve installed.

The goal of the ordinance is to promote water conservation by establishing water rules for year round water conservation, to promote the efficient use of water, to reduce or eliminate the waste of water in the City and to enable implementation of the City’s water shortage contingency measures.

The Mayor and Council recognize through water conservation and efficiency, other cities have achieved significant reductions in water use, and the City can benefit from setting water conservation benchmarks and goals.

A “rain sensor shut-off switch” means an electronic device that detects and measures rainfall amounts and overrides the cycles of an irrigation system so as to turn off the system when the predetermined amount of rain has fallen or the temperature has fallen below 32 degrees Fahrenheit (zero degrees Celsius). This does not apply to irrigation systems of golf course or any other systems dependent on a nonpublic water sources.

Inspections for the sensors will be conducted at the final site inspections of permitted projects. Residential and commercial properties installing new irrigation systems will need to submit a plumbing permit.

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Have you completed and returned your census form?

As of April 27, 2010, 66 percent of Sandy Springs Residents have returned their census form. To ensure the City receives its fair share of tax dollars, complete and return your census form today. If you have not received your census form, please call the questionnaire assistance center at 1-866-872-6868.

Information shared with the Census Bureau is completely confidential. By law, the Census Bureau cannot share respondents’ answers with anyone, including other federal agencies and law enforcement entities.

To date, the City of Sandy Springs has received more than $2 million in federal funding based on census data for transportation, road construction and Community Development Block Grants (CDBG). The 2010 Census will also be used for redistricting at the local, state and federal levels. In addition, census data also has an impact on school budgets, specifically the distribution of Title I and special education funding.

The most efficient way to respond to the 2010 Census is to complete the form as soon as it arrives and return it in the postage-paid return envelope. Census workers will visit households that do not return forms to take the count in person costing an average of $61 per household visit.

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The North Fulton Mayor’s Association will be holding a debate for the Democratic candidates for governor on Thursday, April 29, 2010 from 7-9pm. This is the second debate. The first debate was for the Republican candidates for governor, which took place on Thursday, April 22, 2010.

Thursday’s debate will be held at the Roswell United Methodist Church, located at 814 Mimosa Blvd., in Roswell, Georgia.

Confirmed candidates include: Thurbert Baker, Carl Camon, DuBose Porter and David Poythress.

The event is sponsored by Mayors Mike Bodker, Eva Galambos, Arthur Letchas, Joe Lockwood, Jim Still and Jere Wood. The moderators are the mayors of North Fulton County.

For more information on this event, please call the City of Sandy Springs at 770-730-5600.

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Members of the Sandy Springs Police Department will be available at Sandy Springs City Hall on Wednesday, April 28, 2010, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. to discuss the Department’s strategic objectives and partnership goals as the Sandy Springs Police Department enters its fourth year of police service.

The meeting will include public comments and discussion on the Department’s efforts to continue a high level police service to the residents of Sandy Springs.

The meeting will be held at Sandy Springs City Hall Council Chambers, 7840 Roswell Road, Building 500, Sandy Springs. Members of the business and residential communities are invited to attend and comment during this meeting.

For more information on the City of Sandy Springs or the Sandy Springs Police Department, please call the Citizen Response Center at 770-730-5600.

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Deadline quickly approaching for Sandy Springs homeowners to file for their homestead exemption. You can apply for exemptions year-round by mail or in person; however, you must apply by April 1st to receive the exemption for that tax year.

If you purchased a home in 2009 or earlier, you have less than a week to file for the Georgia homestead exemption in Fulton County. If you purchased this year, you can file at any time this year, but the homestead exemption won’t take effect until 2011.

Applications not filed by the deadline constitute a waiver of the exemption for that year. Your closing attorney does not apply for you.

Fulton County Homeowners will receive a $25,000 exemption for tax year 2010 and by 2011 the basic exemption will increase to $30,000. For those homeowners currently receiving a homestead exemption, no further action is required to get the increased exemption, unless there is an ownership change or if you become eligible for an additional exemption.

First time Fulton County homeowners or those applying for an additional exemption, have until April 1st to file. You can access the application at the Fulton County’s Tax Commissioner site.

To qualify you must own, occupy and claim the property as your legal residence on January 1st of the year for which you apply. The applicant’s name must appear on the deed to this property in order to qualify.

Exemptions are automatically renewed and you need not reapply if you refinance your home.

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The 2010 Census has begun and the City of Sandy Springs is working to ensure that every resident is counted.

Beginning this month, census questionnaire forms will be mailed or delivered to households across the Country. The questionnaire asks only a few simple questions of each person: name, relationship, gender, age, date of birth, race and whether you own or rent household. By law, the Census Bureau cannot share an individual’s personal information with anyone, including other federal agencies.

Households should complete and mail back their questionnaires upon receipt. Residents that do not respond may receive a replacement questionnaire in early April and census workers will visit households that do not return the forms to take a count in person. For people who own more than one residence or who have been displaced from their homes due to natural disasters or other reasons, complete the form for where you reside most of the time.

To date, the City of Sandy Springs has received more than $2 million in federal funding based on census data for transportation, road construction and Community Development Block Grants (CDBG). The 2010 Census will also be used for redistricting at the local, state and federal levels. In addition, census data also has an impact on school budgets, specifically the distribution of Title I and special education funding.

By completing and returning your census form, you can ensure an accurate resident count for the City of Sandy Springs.

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