The Town Center CID (TCCID) elected a new chair and other officers and added two new board members to replace outgoing members.

Jo Ann Chitty, the chief operating officer (COO) at Selig Enterprises was elected chair. Chitty joined the TCCID board in 2016. She also has served as chair of the Kennesaw State University Foundation and is a past president of the University of Georgia Real Estate Foundation.

Dan Buyers, a partner in the commercial real estate firm McWhirter Realty Partners, was elected vice-chair. Buyers serves on several boards including the Atlanta-Region Transit Link Authority, Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority, Cobb Community Foundation, Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors and the Cobb Chamber of Commerce.

Darin Mitchell, an executive at JP Morgan Chase, was elected treasurer. He has been on the board of TCCID since 2014. He is a board member of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta and is a graduate of Leadership Cobb and 100 Black Men of Atlanta.

And Tracy Styf was elected secretary (ex-officio). Styf is the Executive Director of the TCCID.

“I am delighted to chair the Town Center CID board and collaborate with my colleagues to advance the district’s vision of a world-class community with infrastructure to sustain economic growth while providing a great environment in which to live and work,” Chitty said. “I am honored to continue the proud legacy established by the board and am happy to welcome our new members, whom I expect to offer significant contributions to our efforts.”

The two new appointees to the board are Kim Bondurant, the specialty leasing manager at Town Center at Cobb Mall, and Russ Owens, a vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary for Vanderlande Industries North America. Bondurant and Owens will serve three-year terms.

Kelly Keappler and Marie Moore are the two departing board members.

“We are incredibly grateful to Kelly and Marie for their hard work, dedication and tireless service to the board and the greater community,” said Styf. “While it is always sad to say goodbye to such experienced professionals, we are excited to welcome our new members. Given their wealth of professional experience and Cobb County connections, we are excited to have Kim and Russ help advance the mission of Town Center.”

About the Town Center CID

The promotional materials for the Town Center CID describes the organization as follows:

Town Center Community is comprised of the Town Center Community Improvement District (CID) and its nonprofit partner, the Town Center Community Alliance.

The Town Center CID, established in 1997, is focused on safety, beautification, economic growth, and infrastructure improvements within the district. For larger infrastructure projects, the CID leverages its funding to complete the critical first steps like planning, studies, and initial concept design that make projects more competitive for federal, state, and local funding.

Established in 2015, the Town Center Community Alliance is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization focused on bringing quality-of-life improvements and programs to the Town Center Community. The Alliance is run by a board of directors and relies on donations from the public, community partners, corporate sponsors, and the Town Center CID to fully fund and develop projects and programs. From public art and aesthetic fixtures to small parks and bikeshare, the Alliance helps attract businesses and residents to the area, boost economic development and shape a sense of community.

Together, the Town Center CID and the Alliance work to make Town Center Community one of the most accessible, prosperous and exciting areas in Metro Atlanta.

For more information, please visit http://www.towncentercid.com/.

What is a Community Improvement District?

The Georgia State University Center for Business and Finance describes Georgia’s Community Improvement Districts (CID) as follows:

Georgia CIDs are a type of business improvement district (BID), an economic development tool used worldwide. A BID is a group of property owners within a defined geographic area where a majority of owners agree to impose additional taxes or fees on themselves (such as a property tax) to fund public services.^[i]  Georgia CIDs are a quasi-governmental entity with the “legal characteristics of both the governmental and private sectors.”[ii] CIDs’ primary financing mechanism is an additional property tax, which is levied on commercial and industrial properties that are not otherwise tax-exempt.

CIDs were codified into law by the Georgia legislature in 1984 after a group of business owners and executives from the Cumberland area of Cobb County approached the Georgia legislature with the idea. The Cumberland Community Improvement District (CCID) became the first CID in Georgia after enactment.