Fresh Loaf

Matching House and Senate bills to revivify the long-gone Milton County at the expense of Fulton never made it to the floor in the just-completed General Assembly despite having some heavyweight sponsors. But that doesn’t mean the issue is dead. In fact, if a recent lunch gathering of North Fulton mayors is any indication, the movement may only be gaining steam.

For its annual luncheon Tuesday, the Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation invited elected officials to opine on the unwieldy topic: ”How Fulton County Could Improve Its Governance To Prevent Any Secession.” But no one really took up that challenge — instead, the consensus seemed to be that it’s too late to preserve Fulton County in its present form.

Although Roswell Mayor Jere Wood has been in office long enough to have worked with a succession of county commission chairmen from North Fulton, he said the best that be hoped for is a clean break, with Milton pulling out of Fulton.

“The residents of North Fulton believe it’s time for the relationship to be ended in divorce,” Wood said.

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Last Monday, state Rep. Jan Jones, R-Alpharetta, fired the first shot in the battle between North Fulton residents and the Fulton County Commission. The aim of these highly educated, high-income, and mostly Republican residents: Split from the terrible fiend named Fulton and revive Milton County, which fell on hard times after a boll weevil infestation and the Great Depression. In 1932, it merged with Fulton County.

Jones filed a bill that would allow former counties to “re-create” themselves. There’s no dancing around the fact that it’s meant for Roswell, Alpharetta, Mountain Park and the newly created cities of Johns Creek and Milton to revive Milton County. The House Communications office even announced it as such.

It would also mean Fulton County loses one of its wealthiest areas.

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