James_Sept-Oct_2025_web - Flipbook - Page 9
When the clock struck midnight
on December 1, 2005, history was
made in Georgia. In an unprecedented move, Sandy Springs held its first
city council meeting at 12:00 AM—
officially becoming the state’s first
new city since 1959. For Rusty Paul,
a member of that original city council and now mayor, it was a moment
that was decades in the making.
“I wasn’t the first mayor, but I
was on that first council,” Paul said.
“We held the meeting at midnight to
make sure there were no gaps— no
confusion— between Fulton County
and our newly formed city.”
Now, Sandy Springs is celebrating its 20th anniversary, with longtime residents reflecting not only on
how far it’s come, but on the extraordinary effort it took to get here.
A City 40 Years in the Making
The road to incorporation was
long and hard-fought. For over 40
years grassroots advocates pushed
to create a local government that
they felt would be more responsive to the people who lived there.
“There was this belief that Georgia
didn’t need more government,”
said Paul. “But that ignored how
disconnected residents felt from the
decision-makers in Fulton County.”
Paul said that back then, decisions about zoning, land use and
even basic municipal services were
made by a county commission with
little connection to Sandy Springs.
Paul explained that despite paying a 4.71 mill rate for services like
police, fire and sidewalks, residents
received few tangible benefits in
return. Incorporation, he explained,
was about restoring local control—
especially over land use and development— and ensuring tax dollars
were spent on the community itself.
The fight for incorporation was
never just about borders—it was
about accountability, transparency,
and a deep connection to community according to the pro-city
advocates and especially one of
their leading outspoken activists,
Eva Galambos (who later was
easily elected the first mayor.) “We
were paying for services we didn’t
receive,” said Paul. “We wanted to
control our own land use, and we
wanted to see our tax dollars working in our own neighborhoods.”
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