National Night Out to be Held on August 2nd

August 2, 2011
4:00 pm	to	6:00 pm

The City of Sandy Springs and Target have teamed up for the 28th 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 2, 2011, from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. at Hammond Park at 6005 Hammond Drive. The free event will include food and refreshments; 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 goal of National Night Out is to create a safe and healthy community, so we involve residents and public safety personnel. We do this while also creating a unique crime and drug prevention event that takes place right in our neighborhood,” said Police Chief Terry Sult. Read more

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Sandy Springs Fire Department Offering CERT Training

August 6, 2011
8:00 am	to	12:00 pm
August 13, 2011
8:00 am	to	12:00 pm
August 20, 2011
8:00 am	to	12:00 pm
August 27, 2011
8:00 am	to	12:00 pm

Have you ever wanted to help in an emergency?

If your answer is yes, we need you to be a part of CERT!

The Sandy Springs Fire Department is offering CERT training to our community. The goal is for SSFD to provide training on basic response skills to members of neighborhoods, community organizations, communities of faith and businesses. CERT members are then integrated into the emergency response in their area in times of need.

Each CERT member will learn basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization and disaster medical operations. Using the training learned in the classroom and during exercises, CERT members can assist others in their neighborhood or workplace following and event when professional responders have not yet arrived on the scene.

CERT training is divided into four classes, and to become a CERT member you must attend all four classes. The classes are offered on Saturday mornings throughout August, with the first class on the first Saturday in August and the fourth class on the fourth Saturday.

If you have any questions, please contact Logistics/CERT Coordinator James Laudermilk at 404-368-6490 or by email at james.laudermilk@sandyspringsga.org.

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City of Sandy Springs is Purchasing Flood Damaged Homes

Using state and federal funds, the City of Sandy Springs plans to purchase six houses that were damaged in the 2009 flood. In fact, the city recently closed on the first one. Not only will these efforts help the current homeowners, but they will positively affect the Sandy Springs real estate market in general by eliminating unsellable lots.

After purchasing the homes, the city will demolish them and then level the lots. The six homes in question all have substantial damage from multiple floods. The city received $2.7 million to complete the project, but as part of the program, the homeowners must agree to pay 15% of the demolition costs.

The first property is located on Pine Forest Road and was purchased for $400,000. The second home, located on Hitching Post Trail, should be closing soon and was sold to the City for $385,000. The remaining four homes are also located in the same area. It is expected to take up to a year to complete work on all homes. Read more

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Sandy Springs to Improve Fire Stations

Great news for Sandy Springs fire stations 1 and 2 as they are set for some safety improvements. The city’s fire rescue service has received the Assistance to Firefighters Grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and they have decided to use the money by installing sprinkler systems in these two stations. Now the city’s firefighters will be better protected at work, allowing them to perform their duties with peace of mind.  The award period of this grant is February 18, 2011 to February 17, 2012, with approved amounts of $49,500 for station 1 and $60,500 for station 2.

A program of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, grants are awarded to fire departments to enhance their ability to protect the public and fire service personnel from fire and related hazards. Three types of grants are available: Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG), Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grants (SAFER) and Fire Prevention and Safety Grants (FP&S).

For more information on the City of Sandy Springs or Sandy Springs Fire Rescue, visit www.sandyspringsga.org or call 770-730-5600. For more information on the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program, visit http://www.firegrantsupport.com/.

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Sandy Springs Implements Hot-In-Place Recycling

With the new asphalt pavement preservation that the City of Sandy Springs utilizes, you have yet one more reason to be proud to call Sandy Springs home. Considering all of the benefits of this technique it is a wonder that Sandy Springs is the first place in the southeastern US to begin the project, which is called Hot-In-Place Recycling. Hot-In-Place Recycling is a process of correcting asphalt pavement surface distress by softening the existing surface with heat, mechanically removing the pavement surface, mixing it with a recycling agent, possibly adding virgin asphalt and/or aggregate and replacing it on the pavement without removing the recycled material from the original pavement site.

The procedure may sound complicated, but it actually is a  pretty simple process. Residents’ inconvenience will be minimal as it takes only one day to recycle and then one day to micro-surface. In addition to the environmental benefits, Hot-In-Place Recycling is economical and produces a smooth, durable surface that will last many, many years. Some of the streets in the program include Aerie Court, Franklin Road, Helmsley Drive, Lackland Court, Marilyn Place, Morganshire Place, Mountain Brook Lane, Tanglewood Court, Tanglewood Trail, Valemont Drive and View Hill Court.

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Sandy Springs Commemorates Arbor Day by Planting Trees

Arbor Day is probably a holiday that passes you by without you even realizing it. In fact, the holiday falls on the third Friday in February every year. For those of you who didn’t even realize February 18th was Arbor Day, you can rest easy because the City of Sandy Springs celebrated for you in the most ideal way to honor the holiday – planting trees. On Friday, February 18, 2011, at 11:30 a.m., the city held a special tree planting ceremony at the corner of Sandy Springs Circle and Cliftwood Drive

Council members planted a total of eight White Oaks, which are shade trees and will increase the tree canopy in the City. Shade trees provide a great environment for growing other plants or just relaxing. There’s no doubt that these eight trees will be great for Sandy Springs’ environment, especially at this intersection so close to the school.

The event was held in conjunction with Trees Sandy Springs, a community initiative that is funded by private donations. Trees Sandy Springs is committed to watering and mulching the trees throughout their early years so the City doesn’t have to take on this expense.

This celebration is just one more example of how city officials do whatever they can to make the city a great place to live. Happy Arbor Day!

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Life is Good in Sandy Springs

Need yet another reason to relocate to Sandy Springs? Well, we’ve got just about the best reason around; simply put, life is good in Sandy Springs, or at least that is what 83% of residents believe. At the end of 2010, Sandy Springs conducted The National Citizen Survey™ (NCS), in which 83% of residents rated their quality of life as “excellent” or “good.” As if those statistics weren’t impressive enough, Sandy Springs’ ambulance service ranked number one out of 47 comparable cities in the survey. NCS is a collaboration between the National Research Center, Inc. and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA).

Other highlights from the survey include:

• Fire services: rated as “excellent” or “good” by 94% of respondents (#2 of 50 comparable cities)
• Police services: rated as “excellent” or “good” by 89% of respondents (#3 of 56 comparable cities)
• Overall Direction of the City: rated as “excellent” or “good” by 76% of respondents (#3 of 41 comparable cities) Read more

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Melanie Noble-Couchman Receives 2011 Humanitarian Award

Congratulations to Sandy Springs resident, Melanie Noble-Couchman, as she is the 2011 recipient of the Humanitarian Award. This is the fifth time the City has given the award that embodies the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and recognizes an individual for his or her humanitarian contributions to society and philanthropic work. A volunteer committee made the selection.

Melanie Noble-Couchman began her career as a technical writer for a major bank in Buffalo, N.Y. As a single mother on public assistance and food stamps, she raised two sons. By realizing the importance of education, she did everything she could to obtain a BA from SUNY at Buffalo. In 1978, she moved to Atlanta to work for a major software company. Shortly thereafter, she moved to Sandy Springs. In 1983, she married David Couchman, and in 1986, they started a telecommunications company that went public in 1999. Read more

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Sandy Springs Utilizes Smart911

Sandy Springs is once again proving to be on the cutting edge of technology and safety by being the first city in Georgia to purchase and use Smart911. Smart911 is free to residents and makes placing an emergency call much more efficient and effective. With Smart911, residents are able to enter critical information they want to make available during an emergency through a secure website. Whatever information is submitted through the site is then automatically delivered to the 9-1-1 operator and to emergency responders when a 9-1-1 call is placed.

City officials are encouraging all residents to register since entering critical information online before an emergency will help ensure that first responders are better prepared to serve you when you call 9-1-1. In fact, Sandy Springs is not only encouraging Sandy Springs residents to register, but anyone who is interested, whether a resident or not. Anywhere there is a Smart911 system, a registered user’s information will appear to call takers.

While there is a minimum data set users must enter, additional information may include a child’s photo, medical conditions, emergency contacts, disabilities or other rescue-related information. The service enhances response and supports improved incident outcomes by providing responders with critical information. Two common use cases are for locating a missing child – a recent photograph of the child can be immediately available to responders; or, a medical emergency – an individual’s pertinent medical history would assist medical responders in developing a treatment plan.

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Will Sandy Springs Become a College Town?

City officials are hoping that one day Sandy Springs will indeed become a college town. Now, when we say “college town” we are not referring to places like Athens, GA where the whole city revolves around one of the state’s largest universities. No, in Sandy Springs’ case, the city will  welcome a satellite campus for Gwinnett Technical College. In a public town meeting held on January 18, 2011, Mayor Eva Galambos and other city officials approved a proposal to bid for the new campus with a 4 – 3 vote. It was a close call, but after the heated debate, Sandy Springs is officially in competition with Alpharetta and Roswell to become the new location of a Gwinnett Tech campus.

It will be a while before we find out which city is chosen, but the addition of a college campus could mean great things for the local economy. It would bring more jobs to the area as well as a myriad of daily consumers. Sandy Springs is offering land at the North Springs MARTA station for the campus. Read more

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