TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2026 · Issue No. 80 · 8 min read
Election Day, and the parks contract finally got questions
Polls are open 7 to 7. Council asked about the $691,000 parks contract before a unanimous yes. Plus: bids to tear down the Verizon buildings.
This issue is presented by Amber Kuhn · At Home Property Group |
A Milton resident who has sold more than $80 million in homes. Amber has guided buyers and sellers through more than $80 million in sales since 2018, pairing nearly two decades in corporate talent acquisition with relationship-first real estate. Bolst North Atlanta, top 2% nationally, and a repeat Atlanta Home Magazine All-Star.
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In this issue Today is Election Day. Polls close at 7 p.m. Every race on Milton ballots is in our voter guide, and results are in Thursday’s issue. The parks contract got its questions. The mayor pulled Tri Scapes’ $691,000-a-year contract off the consent list. Council asked what it covers, who checks the work and what happens after a storm, then approved it unanimously. Pricing the Verizon teardown. Milton is taking bids to demolish all three office buildings on the campus it hasn’t closed on yet. And. Also: the Blotter, from gunfire reported toward a home to three horses in the road, and the Design Review Board tonight. |
Top of Mind
the one thing to know this morning
Today: Election Day
You can vote until 7 tonight at your own polling place, which Fulton County will look up for you. Georgia asks for photo ID: your driver’s license or passport works, and so does a military ID. Anyone in line at 7 p.m. still gets to vote.
Every race on Milton ballots is in our 2026 voter guide, including both House District 47 candidates’ answers to the same seven questions, word for word. Thursday’s issue brings Milton’s results.
Also tonight: the Design Review Board meets at 6 p.m. at City Hall on three teardowns on farm-zoned land, including a 1945 log cabin on Henderson Road. City staff recommends approving all three. The details ran Sunday →
Fill the roundabout |
Today’s Council Watch came from the city’s meeting video, transcribed line by line, and the contract we read Sunday. That’s what members pay for: the records requests, transcripts and guides behind the reporting. Nine of you have joined or given so far. The Inside Lane is $99 a year, about $8.25 a month, and the first 50 members who join by Dec. 31 keep that rate as long as they stay. Join or give → |
Council Watch
what the city decided, and what it is about to
Pulled off the consent list, the parks contract got questions, then a unanimous yes
Tri Scapes’ $691,000-a-year contract to keep Milton’s parks, trails and ballfields was on Monday’s consent agenda, the list of routine items Council passes in one vote without discussion. At the start of the meeting, Mayor Peyton Jamison moved it to new business, where it got its own presentation, questions and vote.
Jen Young, the city’s parks manager, presented it. The city’s request for proposals drew four bids, she said, and a four-person committee picked Tri Scapes as “one clear winner”: the lowest cost and the highest qualification score. The new contract pays for dedicated crews rather than individual jobs, and negotiations brought the price down to what the city had planned to spend this year. The city hasn’t released the other bidders’ names, prices or scores.
Council’s questions:
- →What it covers. Councilmember Jan Jacobus asked whether it covers every city outdoor space. Young said 20 properties, plus four greenspace sites not yet open that get as-needed care until they open.
- →Who checks the work. Councilmember Brian Dolan asked how the city makes sure Tri Scapes meets the contract. Young said staff meet with Tri Scapes weekly after a site inspection, collect public ratings of the parks and get a monthly inspection report for each park, and take corrective action when needed.
- →Storms. Jacobus asked whether storm cleanup would need a new bid. No, Young said: emergency work is priced in the contract ahead of time. Jacobus added that he likes having dedicated crews this time and hasn’t had complaints.
Councilmember Jan Jacobus moved to approve it, Councilmember Brian Dolan seconded, and it passed unanimously. Mayor Pro Tem Doug Hene and Councilmember Carol Cookerly were absent. It can run through September 2031, about $3.5 million over five years at the first year’s price.
We emailed Tri Scapes on Monday morning with five questions drawn from the contract and its price offer, including why the final price sheet has seven full-time workers when the city asked for eight, and what has covered its Milton work since Oct. 1, the start date written into the new contract. Tri Scapes did not respond by our 2 p.m. deadline. We’ll add any answer online.
The background: the mayor moved the same contract from the Oct. 19 agenda to Monday’s because it had been left out of that meeting’s packet (our Oct. 20 report). Sunday’s issue laid out what the contract shows: the price came down about 11 percent from Tri Scapes’ $777,737 offer, the crew went from eight full-time workers to seven, extra jobs are capped at $80,000 a year, and the term was written to start Oct. 1, a month before Monday’s vote.
Also Monday, all unanimous:
- →The consent agenda: the Oct. 19 minutes, the handover of the police and city vehicle outfitting contract from ProLogic to LEHR Upfitters, the financial report through Aug. 31 and a plat revision at 2395 Bethany Bend.
- →Two water-conservation code changes the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District requires, one on building standards and one on car wash water recycling.
- →Council’s 2027 meeting calendar.
- →First readings, with votes at a later meeting: lot rules in the development code, and an event space for up to 90 people at 631 North Main Street.
Council also told staff, without a formal vote, to go ahead with a traffic-calming plan for the southern end of Hopewell Road: four landscaped medians and a crosswalk with flashing beacons, about $200,000, to be bid with a contract back in 2027. Six residents spoke in public comment. Sloan Greer and Lisa Cauley urged Council to keep land bought with the 2016 greenspace bond, such as the Milton City Park and Preserve, for passive use. Jeffrey Nash and two residents of the Oxford Lakes neighborhood opposed plans for a large church off New Providence Road. Christy Hayes asked Council to hold off on the Hopewell Road work, and asked again that the Greenprint steering group meet in council chambers, recorded, with time for public comment. Council ended the night behind closed doors to discuss personnel, land and litigation. Watch the meeting →
Milton is taking bids to tear down the Verizon buildings, before the purchase closes
The city is asking contractors to price the demolition of all three office buildings at One, Two and Three Verizon Place, on the northeast corner of Morris Road and Deerfield Parkway, according to its bid notice on the state’s procurement site, posted Oct. 15. The three buildings total about 433,000 square feet. Contractors can tour the site Wednesday at 9 a.m., and bids are due Nov. 12 at 2 p.m. Whoever bids must hold a Georgia asbestos abatement license, or bring a subcontractor who does.
The bid document leaves room to shrink the job: the city “reserves the right to exclude one or more buildings from the demolition scope” and will decide that before signing a contract. Accepting a bid is up to Council: each bidder agrees to hold its price for 120 days after the bids are opened. The city can also reject every bid.
Milton doesn’t own the campus yet. Council voted unanimously Sept. 21 to buy it for $26.25 million, with a review period before closing (our Sept. 22 report). The bids will put a price on clearing the buildings, one more number the city will have in hand as it decides whether to close.
The Blotter
police and fire calls worth knowing, Tuesdays
Oct. 26 to Nov. 1. From police and fire dispatch traffic. A dispatch call is a report, not a finding, and we write it that way. Streets, not house numbers. No names.
- →Bodium Court, Sun. Nov. 1, afternoon. Police were sent after a caller reported gunfire directed toward a home and said a bullet was found on the deck.
- →Hickory Flat Road, Fri. Oct. 30, late night. Police were sent after a caller reported adults serving alcohol to minors and someone being punched.
- →Freemanville Road, Fri. Oct. 30, afternoon. Officers reported a police pursuit heading north on Freemanville Road.
- →Hopewell Road, Fri. Oct. 30, late morning. Police were sent for three horses in the road.
Of the dispatch calls we track, 74 were in or near Milton that week, 74 of them police calls and 0 fire calls. Most of the calls we didn’t print were alarms, minor crashes, suspicious-person and vehicle checks, and calls we couldn’t place in Milton.
Something on your street we should look into? Reply to this email. Every item we have printed is on our map, along with how The Blotter works.
This Week in Milton
the calendar, day by day
Thursday: expect slowdowns, not closures, at the Hopewell-Thompson and Hopewell-Bethany Bend roundabouts from about 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., while crews stain the new concrete. All week: the fire stations, City Hall and the police station are taking canned food and winter coats for North Fulton Community Charities through Nov. 20 (where to drop off).
Tuesday, November 3
- →1:00 PM · Friends of the Library book sale · Milton library, to 5:30
- →6:30 PM · Trivia · Six Bridges Crabapple
Wednesday, November 4
- →6:30 PM · Music Bingo · Six Bridges Crabapple
Thursday, November 5
- →6:00 PM · Acoustic Tom · Hyde Brewing
Friday, November 6
- →5:00 PM · Live music · Six Bridges Crabapple
Saturday, November 7
- →9:00 AM · Veterans Breakfast, free, RSVP required · City Hall
- →11:30 AM · Badger & Fox Book Club, ages 9 to 11 · Milton library
- →12:00 PM · Teen D&D, ages 15 to 17, register · Milton library
- →1:00 PM · CRAFTernoon, ages 10 to 17 · Milton library
- →5:00 PM · Live music · Six Bridges Crabapple
The full Milton calendar → · Submit an event
Spot something we missed? Just reply. Every correction we have run is on our corrections page.
