January 8, 2018

At tonight’s Milton City Council meeting, Laura Bentley and Peyton Jamison will take their oath of office and be officially seated on City Council.  The swearing in will be a wonderful moment for the citizens of Milton.  It is an occasion for celebration and the culmination of a citizen’s revolution that began over two years ago.  

I encourage citizens to attend tonight’s swearing in.  We need to show our support for our recently elected Council members.  Laura, Peyton, and Mayor Joe deserve our congratulations and well wishes.

I have gotten to know Laura and Peyton over the past few years.  Both exhibit the qualities that we seek in our elected officials.  They are honest, smart, and hard-working.  They are committed to clean and competent government.  They value principles over the privileges that seem/seemed so important to some members of our current/previous councils.  They are committed to reigning in the reckless development that is marring our fair city.  And I know that Laura and Peyton wish to serve because they genuinely care about citizens (not to feel good about themselves or look good to others.)  They want to shift power back to citizens . . . and away from the Special Interests that have exerted far too much influence over our city government for far too long.  Most importantly, Laura and Peyton have demonstrated the courage that we seek in our leaders.  In seeking office, both bravely challenged Milton’s power structure, which had inserted its tentacles deep in our City government, after 6 years without competitive elections.  It truly was a David-vs.-Goliath undertaking for both candidates.  Joe Lockwood showed courage in endorsing Laura and Peyton for the path of least resistance was certainly to endorse the status quo.

The biggest shout-out goes to the fine citizens of Milton.  Once again, you demonstrated why Milton is the Number 1 community in Georgia.  Milton’s citizens educated themselves about the issues and engaged politically to effect change.  Citizens realized that we can only maintain our quality of life by making our government best-in-class–a government that is clean, competent, courageous, and citizen-centric.  Citizens endorsed this aspiration by electing Laura and Peyton.  So let’s celebrate tonight and show our support for our recently elected city council members and Mayor.

Tonight’s city council meeting commences at 6 pm in City Council Chambers in Crabapple.  Joe, Laura, and Peyton’s oath of office is the first agenda item, so citizens will have plenty of time to get home and settle in for the tonight’s college football championship, which begins at 8 pm.

Tim Becker