City Government

Technology & Partnerships May Help Deter Crime in Peachtree Corners

Published

3 years ago

June 20, 2022

Arlinda Smith Broady

Meeting among local government, law enforcement, business interests and residents showcased how enhanced safety systems work.

With a perception that crimes such as car break-ins, burglary, and street takeovers are on the rise in the area, residents of Peachtree Corners met with local law enforcement agencies for a periodic overview of what’s being done to combat crime. Hosted by the United Peachtree Corners Civic Association, homeowners, business owners, government officials and interested parties met at Christ the King Lutheran Church for the update.

Perhaps the most impactful weapon against crime, besides the officers themselves, is technology.

“One of our responsibilities with the resources that we have is to do what we can to support Gwinnett County police as they fulfill that obligation for providing a safe community. And one of the ways that we’ve found we can do it is using technology as a force multiplier,” said Peachtree Corners City Manager Brian Johnson. “You’ve heard us talk in the past about using cameras to help the police department with the ability to collect data or use it to investigate or prosecute crime.”

The use of high-end technology began with license plate reader cameras that are in certain intersections of the city, he said. Currently, there are 50 that take a snapshot of license plates coming through those intersections.

“They have been used on a number of occasions to solve crimes and apprehend a number of people that have committed crimes here,” said Johnson.

He pointed out that the creation of the Town Center and the increased activity there is going to attract problems.

“You get knuckleheads who like to destroy property or get into altercations with people and so we are also … installing 68 video cameras at the Town Center,” Johnson said.

Those video cameras are for use by Gwinnett County for surveillance to ensure it remains a safe environment. Just having the cameras there won’t do much good without the technology to assist law enforcement in identifying threats.

RTC3 integrates systems for better public safety

Johnson explained that many businesses have their own video security systems and would be overjoyed to link them up with the local police. “We happen to be privileged and lucky to have a company here that actually has solved the way to do that,” said Johnson. “We have a corporate tenant of the city, a company called Fusus that is very much in keeping with the technology.”

Fusus is known in law enforcement and public safety circles for its leading-edge RealTime Crime Center In The Cloud (RTC3) platform. A 2020 member of Atlanta Inno’s “50 on Fire,” Fusus has been recognized as among the hottest new companies in the Atlanta area.

The company moved its headquarters to a larger office space in Peachtree Corners in 2020 due to rapidly increasing demand for its platform. The Fusus RTC3 platform’s video intelligence and map-based awareness interface serves as the central integration point for law enforcement agencies’ surveillance, security and life safety technology.

Fusus brings all personnel and emergency operations centers under a unified umbrella that aggregates video and data, and directly integrates with 911 Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) systems, enabling agencies to geolocate officers and units in the field via the native fususOPS app, track calls for service and better coordinate their resources.

“I am a proud resident of Peachtree Corners and I intend to be for many more years,” said Chris Lindenau, CEO of Fusus. “One of the things I love about the city is that we are pulling a lot of innovation to it from around the Atlanta metropolitan area. And for those of us in the technology sector, this has always a been challenge.”

A graduate of Georgia Institute of Technology, Lindenau resisted the pull of San Francisco and Silicon Valley to stay right here and be a part of “Silicon Orchard.” He started Fusus in June 2019.

“The reason we started this company is that we saw a real gap in law enforcement and the ability to pull in disparate technology sets to make use of what was there,” said Lindenau. “We all understand camera technology. We understand radios, right? Law enforcement uses radios. We understand that they have vehicles, and they need to know where their officers are at any given time in those vehicles. We understand that they have 911 dispatch systems.” He explained that the challenge in law enforcement is putting all those different systems together.

Business community and police collaborate more easily

Fusus found success in April 2020 by testing the system in Minneapolis. The real-world need was stepped up a month later with the death of George Floyd at the hands of police.

“So the concept of just putting more law enforcement in the field was no longer viable,” said Lindenau. “We were born out of necessity to address an underlying issue that we knew was not just unique to Minneapolis, and that was that law enforcement needed new, novel ways to collaborate with the community. They could not go it alone. They needed their business community stakeholders to contribute back to that understanding of what was going on in the city.”

The intent of the program is to allow Gwinnett County Police to work more closely with the business community in sharing, among other things, video data. The collaboration will improve real-time response and enable law enforcement to have a clearer, quicker operational understanding of what’s going on in and around an issue. It will allow for things like graffiti on the bridge to not just be something that police respond to after the fact but perhaps deal with as it occurs. The program has already caught street racers in the midst of a “takeover” that resulted in multiple arrests.

The technology could also be a help in everyday issues like traffic jams. It doesn’t have to work only for situations under duress, said Lindenau.

“But ultimately, the goal is to allow the business community to get back into work in concert with their partners and law enforcement. One thing I want to emphasize is that this is a completely voluntary program, and the owners of these video sources have full control over the circumstances in which they’re shared. They can, through the flow switch, opt out of the program anytime,” Lindenau added.

“It’s very important to emphasize that we want to make sure that privacy is the bedrock foundation of everything we do, because I, as a fellow resident, don’t want to concede my privacy rights for public safety and security here in Peachtree Corners. That’s something I think we all share.”

The video streaming is set to begin in non-residential areas. Unlike video that’s shared on social media platforms like NextDoor, Facebook and Twitter, sharing with police is private. It won’t live forever on the internet. And its sole purpose is to resolve investigations more quickly.

The technology is active in about 110 cities across the country. Now, the city where it was developed will be part of that number.

Video below from the C.O.P.S. meeting and a video from FUSUS

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Arlinda Smith Broady

Arlinda Smith Broady is part of the Boomerang Generation of Blacks that moved back to the South after their ancestors moved North. With approximately three decades of journalism experience (she doesn't look it), she's worked in tiny, minority-based newsrooms to major metropolitans. At every endeavor she brings professionalism, passion, pluck, and the desire to spread the news to the people.

City Government

Councilmember Eric Christ: 2025 Peachtree Corners Municipal Elections

Published

4 weeks 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.

To sign up for Councilmember Christ’s newsletter or find him on social media, visit linktr.ee/votechrist.

You can read more from his latest newsletter updates here and here.

City Government

City of Peachtree Corners Receives Distinguished Budget Presentation Award

Published

2 months ago

January 31, 2025

Peachtree Corners Magazine staff

For the eighth year in a row, the City of Peachtree Corners has been esteemed with the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award. This award was presented by the Georgia Finance Officers Association (GFOA) for the City’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget submission.

The award represents a significant achievement by the entity. It reflects the commitment of the governing body and staff to meeting the highest principles of governmental budgeting. To receive the budget award, the entity had to satisfy nationally recognized guidelines for effective budget presentation. These guidelines are designed to assess how well an entity’s budget serves as a:

policy document
financial plan
operations guide
communications device

Budget documents must be rated “proficient” in all four categories and in the fourteen mandatory criteria within those categories to receive the award.

Certificate of Recognition

When a Distinguished Budget Presentation Award is granted to an entity, a Certificate of Recognition for Budget Presentation is also presented to the individual(s) or department designated as being primarily responsible for having achieved the award.

“Congratulations to the entire finance team on receiving this award,” said City Manager Brian Johnson.

“This recognition is a testament to our team’s hard work, professionalism and commitment to excellence.”

There are over 1,700 participants in the Budget Awards Program. The most recent Budget Award recipients, along with their corresponding budget documents, are posted quarterly on GFOA’s website.

Award recipients have pioneered efforts to improve the quality of budgeting and provide an excellent example for other governments throughout North America.

About the GFOA

The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) advances excellence in government finance by providing best practices, professional development, resources and practical research for more than 21,000 members and the communities they serve.

About the City of Peachtree Corners, Georgia

As the heart of what is being called #SiliconOrchard in the metro Atlanta region, Peachtree Corners is a vibrant municipality that’s home to more than 45,000 residents and an innovation hub that houses some of the world’s most disruptive technology companies.

As the United States’ premier smart city powered by real-world connected infrastructure and 5G, Peachtree Corners serves as the model for how government and private industry can better collaborate to create a better future for society and business.

From the world’s first deployment of teleoperated e-scooters to fully autonomous shuttles being utilized by actual residents, and from a solar roadway to the largest electric vehicle charging hub in the region, Peachtree Corners is where the most future-forward Internet of Things (IoT) and sustainable technologies come to life for the benefit of its people and the world.

For more information, visit peachtreecornersga.gov.

City Government

BRACK: How one city operates without property tax

Published

2 months ago

January 30, 2025

Courtesy of Elliott Brack's Gwinnett Forum

Peachtree Corners City Hall in the evening with flag display, signage and lights.

Some people lament paying taxes. They don’t understand that taxes allow us to live in a more civilized manner, helping and protecting us all along. That’s why I don’t mind paying reasonable taxes for the safety of everyday living.

Many don’t recognize it, but you are often paying a small tax without realizing it as you go about your everyday business….but it’s not called a tax.

White man with white hair and glasses wearing a suit with a red tie, smiling. Beside the image is the name Ellliott Brack in all-caps blue letters on a white background.

It’s called a “fee.” Each time you pay your power or utility bill and cable bill, your insurance premium, when you rent a hotel room or car…and other ways…you are providing a few cents or dollars to help fund mostly local government.

The newly-minted City of Mulberry (and previously Peachtree Corners) will run its government without taxing property owners paying a tax to fund its operations. How so? Entirely from fees.

Let’s visit what the other city without property taxes, Peachtree Corners, is doing.

White man with short brown hair and facial hair wearing a suit, smiling at the camera with an American flag behind him. — Salley

We talked with Cory Salley, who is the finance director for Peachtree Corners. He sent along a graphic which shows where Peachtree Corners gets its funding, as well as how it is spent. (See graphic.)

For the most part, Peachtree Corners is funded by fees. The biggest comes from Georgia Power Company, paying $2.8 million in fees for the city for 2025. Other utilities include $450,000 from Atlanta Gas Light Company; $250,000 from Comcast; $70,000 from Direct TV; and $42,000 from AT&T. (That last figure was interesting, in effect, showing how few people have land-line telephones anymore.) Altogether, utility fees brought in $4.3 million in Peachtree Corners for 2024.

Another bucket of fees include $3.8 million in insurance fees. This comes in one check from the Department of Revenue, which collects insurance fees for all cities.

Each business in Peachtree Corners pays an occupational business license tax. With lots of professional offices in the city, these businesses contribute $4.4 million to the city coffers.

Infographic of the FY2025 Budget at a Glance for Peachtree Corners

Other fee collections for 2024:

Alcoholic licenses and sales: $1 million.
Zoning and land development permits: $1.4 million.
SPLOST funds on sales within Peachtree Corners: $10 million.
Automobile and vehicle purchases: $1.7 million. This is interesting: no matter where you buy an automobile in Georgia, part of the sales tax reverts to the city where you live.

Then there are other funds coming to the city; stormwater fees, grants, solid waste, etc. Altogether, it added up to approximately a $40 million income to run the city.

Some specifics and the way they are figured:

Real estate transfer taxes: This tax is imposed at the rate of $1 on the first $1,000 and 10 cents on each additional $10 on any conveyance of real property when the value of the interest transferred exceeds $100.
Distilled Spirits—up to 22 cents per liter on package sales and up to 3 percent of the sale price of a drink on sales to the public;
Wine—up to 22 cents per liter; and
Malt Beverages—up to $6.00 per bulk container (no more than 15.5 gallons) to be paid by the wholesaler and up to 5 cents per 12 ounces when sold in bottles, cans or other containers.
A municipality may levy a business license tax on depository financial institutions (such as a bank.) The maximum rate of this tax is 0.25 percent.
Hotel-motel tax: a municipality may levy a hotel-motel tax at a rate of 3 percent or less or at a rate of 5, 6, 7, or 8 percent. (Yes, let the out-of-towner pay!)

Perhaps this gives you an idea of how a city, like Mulberry in the future, can operate without property taxes.

Have a comment? Send to: elliott@elliottbrack

Written by Elliott Brack

This material is presented with permission from Elliott Brack’s GwinnettForum, an online site published Tuesdays and Fridays. To become better informed about Gwinnett, subscribe (at no cost) at GwinnettForum.