Business View Magazine | November 2019

320 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE NOVEMBER 2019 the recent actions taken under the guidance of our Council are paving the way for the foreseeable future.” BVM: Are you basically a bedroom community in terms of the tax base? Donald: “Not necessarily. While the bulk of our City is residential, we are neighbors and potentially the future home to one of the largest industrial districts in in the Southeast United States in Fulton Industrial. We also have a very large commercial business corridor on Old National Highway which is complimented by other pockets of commercial development. Outside our boundaries, there are a variety of industrial districts supported by eight neighboring cities. “South Fulton is one of the fastest-growing cities in Georgia. We are currently the fifth largest city in the state, and third largest in Metro Atlanta/ Fulton County. Our population on the 2010 census was around 95,000; current estimates have us at closer to 110,000, but we think it is possible that we’re even a little larger than that. Our residential building permits have increased by 25 percent year over year, which would say we’re definitely growing quite a bit.” BVM: What projects and initiatives do you have on the go? Donald: “Customer service and community engagement are at the center of our current efforts. One thing we’re most proud of is our early successes in these areas. We operate the only 24/7, 365 days a year Citizen Response Center in Georgia. It’s a non-emergency call center where anything that is not public safety or emergency related can come through our mobile app, as well as a dedicated telephone number that transitions to 311 in January 2020. What’s really cool about this, is that it is connected to all of our transparency efforts. Everything from open government, to our Mayor’s Walk – where all the city leaders go into the residential and business communities to hear directly from our constituents and solve problems in real time.