City Government

Meet the City Officials who Keep Peachtree Corners Humming: Kym Chereck Feature

Published

4 years ago

October 21, 2021

Mark Woolsey

Photos by George Hunter

Consider a high-performance vehicle — bright, shiny and powerful. It leaps ahead quickly when it needs to, but can also settle back to a comfortable cruising speed. It’s nimble, able to turn on a dime or smoothly reverse direction, if need be.

Ever wished for a vehicle like that? The good news is that if you live within the city limits of Peachtree Corners, you already have one.

Kym Chereck at her seat during city council meetings.

Gwinnett County’s largest and newest city has a most efficient “vehicle” for governing its home turf — a staff helmed by experienced department heads who put their shoulders to the wheel, are adept at balancing the sometimes-clashing interests of residents, the business community and other constituencies and aren’t afraid to embrace unconventional approaches.

City Clerk- Kym Chereck

Kym Chereck was raised overseas by parents who worked government jobs. She has found a home in Peachtree Corners where she and her husband raised two children and where she serves as city clerk.

The clerk’s job is heavily bound to record-keeping, as the office keeps official and historical records of the city. It also provides support to the mayor and council, helps facilitate the city’s legislative process and supervises elections.

Chereck said she moved over from Alpharetta to begin work on Dec. 12, some six months after the city officially came into being. She was one of a trio of initial official city employees.

“The day I started there was no phone, no furniture, nothing,” she recalled. Because the office lacked outside communications, she gave her personal cell phone number as a route by which officials and citizens could contact her.

“A lot of people still have it because we didn’t get a phone for a couple of weeks, but it’s fine, that’s what I’m here for, to answer questions,” she said.

And the questions come with regularity. At press time, many of them involve getting set up for the Nov. 2 election, in which three city council positions are up for grabs.

“It’s been very interesting,” Chereck said of the training and certification process and her track record of finding people and dealing with setup and logistical issues.

“I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite thing to do,” she added frankly, “because it’s stressful. But it’s very rewarding.”

Chereck said she got interested in government as a youngster while observing her mother’s work with the state department and her dad’s career in a classified military job. At one point, her family lived in Cold War East Germany and she passed armed checkpoints daily to go to school on the west side.

She came to Atlanta to visit a sister and her daughter, “and I wound up staying.” Putting down roots — she’s a 25-year resident of the Corners area — has made her a solid member of the community. That plus being here for a good stretch of time has given her a solid sense of where to send people who need help or have other issues.

That strong orientation toward helping has served her well in city government, she indicated — and did from the outset. “The first couple of weeks we didn’t have anybody to clean or sort the mail or do things that people might think beneath them,” Chereck said. “I made it perfectly clear. Anybody I hired, I told them that cleaning the bathroom was not beneath them, and that I was not going to require it…but that we work as a team.”

She said that with an “amazing” assistant and a supportive city manager, she is a part of the governmental mix for the duration. “They’re going to have to kick me out,” Chereck said.
When she’s not clerking. Chereck says she enjoys boating. swimming, reading and traveling.

Up Next

Meet the City Officials who Keep Peachtree Corners Humming: Greg Ramsey Feature

Don't Miss

Meet the City Officials who Keep Peachtree Corners Humming: Diana Wheeler Feature

Mark Woolsey

City Government

City of Peachtree Corners Awarded Certificate of Achievement From GFOA for Seventh Straight Year

Published

5 hours ago

May 9, 2025

Peachtree Corners Magazine staff

Certificate of Achievement Top Excellence in Financial Reporting award

The City of Peachtree Corners’ finance department has been awarded a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) for its 2024 financial year-end comprehensive annual financial report (CAFR).

The GFOA’s Certificate of Achievement is the highest form of recognition in governmental accounting and financial reporting, and its attainment represents a significant accomplishment by a government and its management.

It is the city’s seventh year of receiving the award and represents a significant accomplishment by the city’s finance department and its leadership.

According to a GFOA release, “The report has been judged by an impartial panel to meet the high standards of the program, which includes demonstrating a constructive ‘spirit of full disclosure’ to clearly communicate its financial story and motivate potential users and user groups to read the report.”

“We are pleased to again receive this honor,” said City Manager Brian Johnson. “Our finance department, and Finance Director Cory Salley, are to be commended for this achievement, as it is the highest form of recognition GOFA presents.”

A comprehensive annual report

The city’s finance department produces the CAFR each year and works with independent auditors to verify the city’s financial situation and standing.

“This prestigious award affirms Peachtree Corners’ dedication to exceeding basic requirements by producing comprehensive annual financial reports that reflect a strong commitment to transparency and full disclosure,” said Assistant City Manager Brandon Branham.

About the GFOA

The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA), founded in 1906, represents public finance officials throughout the United States and Canada.

The association’s more than 20,000 members are federal, state/provincial and local finance officials deeply involved in planning, financing and implementing thousands of governmental operations in each of their jurisdictions. GFOA’s mission is to advance excellence in public finance.

To learn more about the GFOA, visit gfoa.org.

For more about the City of Peachtree Corners, visit peachtreecornersga.gov.

City Government

The Future of Law Enforcement in Peachtree Corners: Community Meeting

Published

4 weeks ago

April 14, 2025

Peachtree Corners Magazine staff

Flyer for a community meeting regarding law enforcement in Peachtree Corners.

The City of Peachtree Corners will hold an important public meeting on May 8 to discuss the future of law enforcement in our community — including the potential creation of a city police department.

This meeting will feature a presentation by City Manager Brian Johnson on the findings of a comprehensive Police Analysis & Staffing Study that evaluated the feasibility and projected costs of forming a city police department based on current workload, crime levels and community demographics.

The presentation will also include budgetary considerations, comparative models and the advantages and disadvantages of a county vs. city police department.

Following the presentation, there will be time for a Q&A and open dialogue.

In-person attendance is limited to 300. First come, first served. A livestream option will be available for those who can’t attend in person.

After the meeting, a follow-up survey will be available on the city’s project page.

Meeting details

The Future of Law Enforcement in Peachtree Corners

Date/Time: May 8, 2025 at 7 p.m.

Location: Christ the King Lutheran Church (5775 Peachtree Parkway)

For more information, visit peachtreecornersga.gov.

City Government

Councilmember Eric Christ: 2025 Peachtree Corners Municipal Elections

Published

2 months ago

March 3, 2025

Peachtree Corners Magazine staff

A white man with glasses, wearing a dark colored jacket walking in the road alongside a line of vintage cars.

Source: Peachtree Corners Post 2 Councilmember Eric Christ’s recent newsletter.

Peachtree Corners Municipal Elections Tuesday, November 4 in white font on a blue background.

On Tuesday, November 4, we will have municipal elections here in the City of Peachtree Corners for three council seats. [And] for the first time since 2013, there will be a state-wide election on the same day as our city general election.

The state-wide election is to fill two seats on the Public Service Commission, which regulates Georgia Power and other utilities.

For the PSC election, the Gwinnett County Board of Elections will have all 156 county precincts open on November 4. Historically, Peachtree Corners has had a single voting location for city elections — at City Hall.

If we do the same this year, citizens who want to vote in both the PSC and the City Council elections will need to go to two places to cast their ballots.

A few years ago, I convinced the County Board of Elections to remove their prohibition against the Gwinnett Elections Department managing city elections. (Every county surrounding Gwinnett already offered this service to their cities.)

This means there is the potential of adding our city council elections to the county ballot.

I would like to hear your thoughts on the pros and cons of combining our city council races with the county’s for this year’s elections.

Please complete my brief survey by clicking here.