Q&A With Brian Stickney, Peachtree Corners City Council Candidate

Peachtree Corners Patch asked the 20 candidates for the six council seats on the new Peachtree Corners City Council a series of questions relating to city government for the upcoming Municipal Election on March 6, 2012.

Each of the candidates were asked the same set of questions. The last question we posed was to ask each candidate ask and answer his or her own question.

Patch introduces Brian Stickney, one of four candidates seeking to fill the council seat for Post 6.

Name: Brian K. Stickney, age 53.

Lived in Peachtree Corners: 22 years.

Educational background: College: 1981 BS in Management Science from Georgia Tech, 1987 JD from the University of Houston; Professional: Certified Financial Planner 2003, Chartered Financial Analyst in 2010.

Military Background: None.

Family: Married 23 years to Mary Beth. I have two children. Daughter Erin attends Auburn and son Connor goes to Boston College.

Occupation: I am a financial planner. My goal is to provide the framework for people to make informed decisions about their financial future.  I provide the mathematical and statistical analysis so that people have a better view of where they are and the impact of the choices they need to make. I educate people about their options and the strengths and weaknesses of each option. 

What experience in your background do you think has best prepared you for serving on the Peachtree Corners City Council?

I work with finances every day. I know how people and businesses get into trouble and how to get out of trouble. This should help me in developing a budget for our new city.

Also, zoning will be one of the primary responsibilities of the city council. Every day I help people with choices that have conflicting financial, tax and emotional issues. Zoning is all about assessing conflicting issues and determining the impact on the community. My experience should help in making zoning decisions.

Tell Peachtree Corners readers about your vision for the new city and how you would accomplish it?

My vision is to create more of a city spirit. Right now people identify themselves by their subdivisions. We need to have more citywide functions to bring us together. The Festival we had last summer was a good start. 

What do you think is the greatest challenge facing Peachtree Corners and how would you approach it?

Right now the biggest challenge is starting a new city. We have to straighten out what we are going to do for garbage pickup. We need to establish staffing for code enforcement and a municipal court for code hearings. I want to come up with a master zoning plan to guide our decision-making and give everyone a view of what to expect. I like the goal of trying to do this all with the franchise fees instead of property taxes.

Is there an issue you think is important to Peachtree Corners?

I drive around parts of DeKalb, Fulton and Cobb [counties] and I see commercial areas that used to be booming, but now I see empty stores and parking lots.  Sometimes you can't even tell what used to be there, such as a Home Depot or a grocery store.  It makes you realize that cities, like people, have lifecycles.  Peachtree Corners has some older residential and commercial sections that without proactive planning might become these blights. We need to address these areas before they become problems.