Dunwoody: The Week in Review

The Dunwoody City Council on Tuesday  heard from City Manager Warren Hutmacher, who said the city had renegotiated prices with ChatComm, one of two 911 providers the council has been considering, the other being DeKalb County.

The city has been weighing its options for more than a year. It currently has 911 services with the county, but the service has come under heavy criticism for call times and not having dedicated dispatchers or radio channels.

Over the past few months, the county has offered several concessions that could improve service for Dunwoody residents, including dedicating a radio channel and dispatchers for the city – two key issues the city has had with county 911 services. ChatComm, a private company that provides 911 services for Sandy Springs and Johns Creek, provides many beneficial features that the county does not, such as GPS tracking on police vehicles and dedicated call takers.

The ChatComm deal is a bit more expensive than DeKalb County, but Tuesday, the council was informed that ChatComm has sweetened its offer.

 ChatComm agreed to a price reduction of $125,000 on an annual basis through the contract, according to a memo from City Manager Warren Hutmacher.

Over a three-year basis, the DeKalb County option would cost $135,000 out of the city’s general fund, while ChatComm could cost from an estimated $777,264 to $1.1 million.

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A man lost control of his vehicle Wednesday evening while pulling out of the Mellow Mushroom parking lot, causing an accident on Chamblee Dunwoody Road.

The man was turning right onto Dunwoody Village Parkway, when he lost control of his vehicle, jumping over the median, then driving over the corner lot and into traffic along Chamblee Dunwoody Road.

His vehicle t-boned a vehicle heading north on Chamblee Dunwooody.

It appeared nobody was injured at the scene.

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The drive for Dunwoody being home to the Georgia Music Hall of Fame hit another roadblock Tuesday night, when the Dunwoody city council rejected an amendment to raise the city’s lodging and hotel tax in order to help pay for the museum.

The council rejected the amendment to the city’s excise tax  by a vote of 4-2. The amendment would have raised the city’s hotel and lodging tax from 5 to 6 percent to help pay for the hall of fame. Councilman Danny Ross, who leads the group making the bid for the hall of fame, recused himself from the vote.

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A Dunwoody police officer saved a 51-year-old’s life last week, with the help of the city’s new portable defibrillators.

Officer Dale Laskowski reported to a call of a person down on Mile Post Drive around 5:45 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 3.

When Laskowski arrived, he found the victim unresponsive and not breathing, according to the Dunwoody Police Department.

Laskowski applied the pads of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) – which were purchased for each officer in the department through local donations –  to the victim and began testing the patient’s signs, police said.

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While no new plans have been presented for Chick-Fil-A’s proposed restaurant at Dunwoody Club Drive and Mt. Vernon Road, it was the main topic of conversation Sunday night at the Dunwoody Homeowners Association meeting.

Sunday, the DHA presented the results of an online poll of its members regarding Chick-Fil-A issue.

Last fall, the restaurant chain began eyeing a corner parcel at Mount Vernon Road and Dunwoody Club Drive intersection, once home to a Blockbuster video store. But in order to allow a drive-through restaurant at that spot, the city would have to rezone the 0.77-acre parcel from 'neighborhood shopping' to 'commercial.

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The city of Dunwoody is looking for a new judge. The city's municipal court lost Judge Sherry Boston late last year, when former Gov. Sonny Perdue appointed her as Solicitor-General for DeKalb County.

The city has begun interviewing candidates for the part-time judge seat.