Alpharetta Election 2019: Candidate Seeks Former Quality Of Life

ALPHARETTA, GA — The Alpharetta City Council election will take place Nov. 5. Incumbents Mayor Jim Gilvin, Post 4 Councilman John Hipes and Post 5 Councilman Jason Binder are unopposed. Incumbent Councilman Dan Merkel will face residents Clifford Martin and Abu Jalloh for Alpharetta City Council Post 6.

Patch has invited each candidate in contested races to participate in our election profile series. We will continue to update this story with links to responses to our questionnaire.

Part one of the candidate questionnaire dives into who the candidates are, why they want to run and what their long and short term goals are. Check back next week for what they say is the biggest issue that the city faces, how they want to combat that and why people should vote for them.

The Alpharetta incumbents did not answer the questionnaire, neither did Post 6 candidate Abu Jalloh.

Who's Running?

Mayor: Jim Gilvin (incumbent)

Post 4: Councilman John Hipes (incumbent)

Post 5: Councilman Jason Binder (incumbent)

Post 6:

Councilman Dan Merkel (incumbent)

Clifford Martin www.votecliffordmartin.com

Abu Jalloh

Question 1: Can you give me some background on yourself?

Clifford Martin: Age: 64; Occupation: Retired – CIO (Chief Information Officer); Years living in the city: 30+ Moved into current home in 1989

Relevant experience: I am a retired senior business executive with over 40 years’ experience in dealing with multi-million dollar projects, negotiating contracts, doing long term planning and both setting and meeting measurement metrics. As part of my experience, I am used to paying attention to details and doing cause/effect analysis. In the past I have served as a homeowner’s association president for eight years. For the past year I have served on the Alpharetta City Ethics Board.

Question 2: Why did you want to run for city council?

Clifford Martin: As an over thirty year resident of Alpharetta I haven’t been happy with the over development and decline of the quality of life in the city over the past decade. As a member of city council, I plan to represent the average resident and put their interests ahead of the special interest groups, whom I believe have too much power and influence over the current city council. I want to make a difference and restore the quality of life we had in Alpharetta before all the high density development and heavy traffic that has changed the area.

Question 3: What are your short term and long term goals for the position?

Clifford Martin: Short term goal is to bring the voice of the people back to decisions made by city council and to ensure decisions made enhance the quality of life for residents. Long term goal is to eliminate any potential for conflicts of interest when it comes to elected officials and people seeking council votes for variances and rezoning approvals. I also want to be involved with infrastructure projects to solve traffic, congestion and pedestrian safety issues.

Question 4: What is your favorite part of living in Alpharetta?

Clifford Martin: Alpharetta is a nice area, with terrific people living and working here. It is family friendly and offers great opportunities. For my day to day life, I have everything I need without having to leave the Alpharetta area. But because we are so close to Atlanta, I can partake of what it has to offer if needed.