Smyrna Mayor: We will look at doing things smarter

Mayor Max Bacon is set to deliver his state of the city address Thursday and the economy is at the forefront of his mind.

Bacon has said before that he likes to give his state of the city speech when the most recent fiscal year has completed as opposed to sometime near the beginning of the calendar year.

“You’ll know when I give my state of the city how we’ve really done,’’ he told Patch. “It’s not like in January where you say here’s what’s going to happen. I say here’s how we’re doing.”

Bacon explained this week he doesn’t think the country in general and Smyrna in specific has seen the last of the current prolonged economic recession.

“You can be as positive as you want to be, and really I try to be, but I’m going to be honest,” he said. “I don’t want to tell you things are wonderful and everything’s going great. I still think we’re going to be struggling. We’ve got to continue to look at ways we can cut things and do things smarter. Even though our numbers may be up and building permits, the boom is not back and I don’t think it will ever be back.”

The City of Smyrna was able to present a for the 2012 fiscal year that began on July 1. The budget was balanced and done so without a millage rate increase, without layoffs, without furloughs, without closing facilities, without the utilization of reserves and done so with a new and improved bond rating.

Additionally, the city was able to expand or improve some services including improvements to public safety and parks and recreation. Bacon is proud that Smyrna was able to present a balanced budget that didn’t rely on furlough days.

“Here in Smyrna I would absolutely make sure that we had cut every bit of fat out of the budget and didn’t fall back on these furlough days,” he said. “Furlough days are bad for the employees. I think furloughs are just an easy way to balance a budget…We aren’t going to do that.”

But not all of the City's decisions have been well received by it citizens, including the acquisition of Hickory Lake Apartments. Bacon insisted that purchasing the crime-riddled complex was the best decision for Smyrna and its citizens both short-term and in the long run.

“You ask any law enforcement officer what they think about us doing Hickory Lake,” he said. “Calls have dropped drastically. Nobody ever printed it, but from the first of the year till all the neighbors were relocated or left, I didn’t have anybody come to my office and say, ‘Ya’ll are mistreating me. You’re throwing me out.’ The ones that ended up staying were those that had either not paid their rent or whatever. And we tried to relocate all of them.”

When asked about the current status of the Hickory Lake sale, Bacon explained that the asbestos removal bid has had to be recast because the original survey of the property miscalculated the surface area for removal. Bacon predicts that the new bid will be awarded in September and that actual demolition will begin the following month. A contractor has already begun removing items from the property not related to asbestos such as appliances.

Bacon said he hopes the 48-acre property will be sold all together, though he is not opposed to parceling the land if it doesn’t affect the sale of the remaining property.

Overall, Bacon said he doesn’t feel pressure to rush into a sale and thinks the new Windy Hill Road/Macland Road Connector will make Hickory Lake an attractive purchase.

“We’ve got three years before we have to start paying on Hickory Lake,” he said. “It could be any number of things. We’ve had people that have wanted to buy it immediately and tie it up. We’ve had some schools that wanted to tie it up for 10 years and we’ve said no. We want to look at all the stuff.”

Hickory Lake isn’t the only piece of real estate on Bacon’s mind. From stalled developments at Belmont Hills and Jonquil Village to the ongoing construction at The Crossings at Four Corners, the mayor understands that only time will tell the eventual direction Smyrna goes in.

Regarding the numerous vacancies at Smyrna’s Market Village, he explained that a number of private developers own the complex and there’s only so much the City can do to fill the stores.

“Everybody’s got vacancies,” he said. “We’ve gotten with the people that own down here and told them we will host a meet-and-greet. We’ll host something to bring in potential clients; people that are real credible tenants. They get a lot of calls all the time; people with this idea that they want to put this business there, but they want six months free rent or eight months free rent and they really don’t have a business plan. A lot of people do that.”

Check back with Smyrna-Vinings Patch on Thursday for full coverage of the mayor’s address.