MILTON, Ga. — This year was an historic one for Milton, a city that others inside and outside the state were watching as it pulled itself away from Fulton County to run its own municipal election.
After more than a year of planning, from an idea that sparked in 2021, Milton did it with an estimated actual cost of $115,000. The city saved at least $100,000 in its decision to bring in-house operations of its municipal election.
But, city staff spent a significant amount of time on the project, creating standard operating procedures from scratch with state code as a guide; buying and setting up equipment; interviewing and hiring more than 50 poll workers; all while coordinating work between three teams of volunteers to help pull it off.
Appen Media calculated that time, in terms of salaries and hours, against an already-busy schedule for Milton’s top city officials. That cost was more than $190,000, and it caused several city projects to fall to the wayside.
A mock election was held mid-October, and a few days later, advance voting opened at City Hall and by mail for those voting absentee.
Election Day quickly came and went with clerks operating the polls across three locations, eventually transporting ballots to City Hall where they were counted into the early morning hours, and three new Post 2 councilmembers were declared.
Whether the city will do it again for 2025 is a decision for another day. City staff plan to present an assessment to the City Council in the next couple of months.
Reviewing greenspace
In September, Milton held public workshops on the city’s six greenspaces to help draft The Greenprint, a plan to help identify appropriate usage, management and possible improvement to the properties funded by the $25 million bond voters passed in 2016.
The Greenprint, which was scheduled for adoption by the end of the year, has not yet…
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