Johns Creek Resident To Run For Post 2 City Council Seat

Sign up for the Johns Creek Patch newsletter!

---

Another Johns Creek resident has announced his plans to run for the City Council.

Chris Coughlin will run for the Post 2 on the council, which became vacant when Brad Raffensperger resigned to run for the State House District 50 seat.

Another resident -- Jay Lin -- has also announced his intentions to run for the seat.

Coughlin stated he decided to run because “crucial daily needs” such as traffic relief were not being met by the city, “despite maintaining a high level of unallocated reserve funds.”

“I love Johns Creek, but our government has a problem balancing a budget, planning our city priorities as a community, estimating the costs of these needs and so on,” he said. “We’ve accrued surplus funds year after year, but we continue to either raise taxes, like the council and mayor did again this summer, or keep them the same. Since we’ve already paid for these capital improvements, why are the funds sitting in the reserves costing us opportunities as a city and, even more importantly, costing the citizens time away from their families as they sit in gridlock?”

Coughlin said he wants to allocate surplus, eliminate “wasteful government spending” by roughly $6 million, decrease both property and occupational taxes and encourage local candidates to reign in spending on local elections.

The candidate said he wants to set a precedent that “knowledge trumps money in government.” As such, Coughlin said he’s signed an affidavit, declaring he will not spend no more than $2,500 on his campaign ”because I think the voters of Johns Creek care more about a substantive platform rather than how many direct mailers, robo calls and signs they see in the neighborhoods.”

“I believe a city council member that is fiscally conservative with their own monetary resources is more likely to be responsible in spending the taxpayers’ dollars as well,” he said. “If they’re profligate spenders in their campaigns, imagine what they’ll do with your tax dollars.”

Coughlin earned a bachelor of science degree from the University of Georgia and a master’s degree in industrial-organizational psychology from Valdosta State University. He currently works as a senior research scientist at CEB, a best practice insight and technology company.

Coughlin is active in the community as a volunteer, involved with North Point Community Church’s small group ministry, coaches his son’s soccer team and regularly attends civic meetings.

Coughlin is married to wife Nicole, and they have a two year-old son and are expecting a new daughter.

For more information, visit Coughlin’s website or Facebook page. You can also reach him at info@votechriscoughlin.com.

---

Photo: Chris Coughlin with wife Nicole and son. Credit: Chris Coughlin