Johns Creek Post 4 Councilman Coughlin Running For Reelection

JOHNS CREEK, GA — Johns Creek Councilman Chris Coughlin has announced his intention to run for reelection for Johns Creek City Council Post 4.

“When I began my campaign in 2017, I set out with the intention of minimizing over-development, implementing traffic congestion relief, reducing wasteful spending, improving government efficiency, and decreasing property and business taxes,” said Coughlin. “To achieve these community goals, I believe our policies should be data driven, with an emphasis on efficacy, to optimize our city’s capabilities. I believe my experience and education as a data scientist has contributed to this shift in perspective on Council."

During his term, Coughlin said the city made some great progress on these goals, including:

• Improving Government Efficiency/Reduce Wasteful Spending
  • Personally led an investment policy of tax funds which has led to over $1.2 million extra revenue in this year alone. With this change, the city will be able to have millions of extra dollars to work on infrastructure, parks, and other top priorities and/or offset your property taxes with these newfound revenues.
  • Personally led sustainability study on new city hall; applied enhancements that will save over $100,000 annually in maintenance and operations.o Personally led the adoption of the alternative procurement process of reverse bidding, realizing thousands of dollars of savings.
  • Led the policy initiative for insourcing the Community Development department for over $100,000 in annualized savings, with further accountability and control for the residents.
  • Lead Council champion in reforming Charter to implement term limits on City Council members, which recently passed after much debate.
• Traffic Congestion Relief
  • Personally implemented a partnership with Waze to allow for $2 rides anywhere in the metro area for Johns Creek and Alpharetta residents. Removed hundreds of commuters from the road with thousands of miles off local roads for cleaner air and quicker commutes.
  • Personally implemented walk, bike, and/or ride the bus programs at many elementary schools, reducing hundreds of cars off the road in morning peak hours
  • Lead Council advocate of removing concrete island on southbound 141 at the State Bridge intersection. Thousands of hours of congestion relieved for commuters on 141, our busiest corridor, on a weekly basis.
  • Pursued and prioritized TSPLOST projects in terms of congestion efficacy and fiscal efficiency.
  • Council champion of Intersection Prioritization list with implementation of smart changes to intersections (e.g., left-hand turn lane into Barnwell Elementary) to improve both safety and mobility.
• Development
  • Passed resident friendly Comprehensive Land Use Plan with Council in 2018
  • Strong record of putting residents’ interests first in zoning votes
  • Council advocate of cleaning up zoning ordinance
• Balancing budget and responsible taxation
  • Supported strong balanced budgets for the city. Sought to reduce millage rate to give back substantial surpluses of city revenues over the past three years. Last week, Council unanimously supported Coughlin's motion to reduce the millage rate to 3.552 and give back $2 million to hard-working taxpayers.

“Despite these successes, I still have more to accomplish and that’s why I’m attempting to finish what I started," Coughlin said. "I want to continue to be a voice of the residents to retain the high quality of life in our community. In addition to continuing the aforementioned goals, I’d like to also pursue successful implementation of our parks plans. I’d like to continue to partner with our residents to pursue our Greenway along the Chattahoochee river from McGinnis Ferry to Abbotts Bridge and other high priority parks projects.”

Coughlin resides in Johns Creek, along with his wife, Nicole, and three children (7, 3, and 1). He currently works as a Senior Research Scientist developing pre-employment simulations to predict employee performance. He is active in the community as a volunteer involved with North Point Community Church's foster support groups, attending services at NPCC, serves on the Johns Creek Mental Health Wellness task force, and served as a Director on the Board of the Johns Creek Community Association.

For further information and current updates on Coughlin’s work,
visit Facebook or his website, or by email at info@votechriscoughlin.com.