Sixes Road Termination Imminent?

effective Jan. 1, a and trash pickup along Sixes Road, including the Interstate 575 interchange and the BridgeMill entrance along Bells Ferry Road.

Tuesday, the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners approved a lawn maintenance agreement with Tri Scapes that will cost the BridgeMill community $19,200 and begin immediately.

The heads of the SRCA and the BMCA had different reactions to the county's decision.

Here are their statements:

SRCA'S RESPONSE

Obviously we are disappointed in our Commissioners decision last night to proceed with enhanced County maintenance funded by BridgeMill. It certainly does not reflect the input we have received from the community to restore the previous level of services that we have enjoyed for the past four years and we are now certain to have a community appearance that will fall significantly short of that desire. In addition, it removes the collective community participation and contribution toward improving our community that our neighborhoods have taken pride in participating since 2007.

Our Board will be meeting in the near future to make a determination on .

Geoff Jones, SRCA president

BMCA'S RESPONSE

To All,

Last night, the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the following resolution:

“Consider modifications to Landscape Maintenance Agreement with Tri-Scapes to add scope of services for Sixes Road ROW and Bells Ferry Road ROW maintenance in the amount of $19,200 for a period of 1 year beginning June 1, 2011. BridgeMill has agreed to pay costs up to $20,000 for landscape maintenance.”

While the details of the schedule of payments and the execution of a related Memorandum of Understanding still need to be finalized, maintenance of Sixes and Bells Ferry Road will commence immediately. At the meeting last night, Jay Patouillet and I spoke, as representatives of the BridgeMill Community Association (BMCA), in support of the resolution. Trish Croft was also in attendance to lend her support to the approval of the resolution. Prior to the final voting by the Commissioners, Post 3 Commissioner Karen Bosch conveyed her support and endorsement for the resolution.

The reasons given by the BMCA Board in support of the resolution are:

·         This cooperative relationship with the County offers the most cost-effective and transparent solution to the enhanced landscape maintenance and trash removal requirements of the area.

·         The County offers a simple solution for accomplishing the stated objective.

·         Concerns regarding liability, right of way access and department of labor compliance requirements become the responsibility of the County and not the homeowners’ association, or any independent community organization.

·         The County already has an efficient process in place to guaranty service oversight and to ensure quality contractor performance.

·         The County assumes the responsibility of managing the process, alleviating the homeowners’ association of such costs and duties.

·         The County is best suited to coordinate the interests and maintenance activities of the other parties along the Sixes corridor: Holly Springs, commercial property owners and residential/private property owners.

The cooperative relationship with the County results in a $30,000 per year savings to the BMCA from past annual contributions to the Sixes Road Community Association (SRCA). Based upon the 2011 BMCA Budget amount of $25,000 for Sixes Maintenance, the savings realized this year will be up to $5,000. These freed funds can be reinvested within the BridgeMill community for other projects. Please note that rejoining the SRCA would have increased the BMCA financial burden to a funding level well in excess of $54,000 per year.

The BMCA looks forward to a long relationship with the County in ensuring that the Sixes Road and Bells Ferry Road areas are maintained in an acceptable and cost-effective manner. We hope that this cooperation can serve as a template for the County to deploy in other neighborhoods, and for similar projects. Furthermore, the BMCA Board invites the other communities along the Sixes corridor to join with BridgeMill in funding the County program for the enhanced landscape maintenance of the area.

Lastly, the BMCA Board would like to thank Post 3 Commissioner Karen Bosch for her creativity, thoughtfulness and tireless efforts in accomplishing this satisfactory solution.

Kind regards,

BridgeMill Community Association Board of Directors

Russell J. Caso, President

Jay Patouillet, Vice President

Dave Meredith, Treasurer

Trish Croft, Secretary

Greg Heyer, At Large

BridgeMill Community Association

3440 Sixes Road

Canton, GA 30114

BMCA Email: bridgemill@accessmgt.com

BMCA Phone: 770-345-1888