The Decatur City Commission elected Patti Garrett Mayor and Fred Boykin Mayor Pro Tem at its first meeting of the year on January 4, 2016. Returning Commissioner Scott Drake and new Commissioners Tony Powers and Brian Smith were all sworn in at the beginning of the meeting.
Pictured L-R: Mayor Pro Tem Fred Boykin and Mayor Patti Garrett; Commissioners Brian Smith, Tony Powers and Scott Drake
Patti Garrett was elected to the City Commission in 2009 and as Mayor Pro Tempore in 2015. She has been active in the community since moving to Decatur in 2001. Previously Patti served as chair of the Decatur Tour of Homes committee, house captain on the Martin Luther King Jr. Service Project, a board member of the Oakhurst Community Garden Project, and as secretary of the Oakhurst Neighborhood Association. She currently serves on the Advisory Council of New American Pathways. She attends Decatur First United Methodist Church and has served on its board of trustees.
Patti is a 2012 graduate of Leadership DeKalb, a member of the 2010 class of the Regional Leadership Institute, and serves on the Environmental and Natural Resources Committee of the Georgia Municipal Association (GMA). A graduate of Texas Christian University and the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Patti has taught nutrition at Georgia State University and worked as a Clinical Dietitian at Emory University Health Services. She currently provides nutrition services in private practice at a local physician’s office and through the Georgia State Counseling and Testing Center. Patti also received the 2010 Georgia Dietetic Association Distinguished Service to a Community Award.
She and her husband, Gary, live in the Oakhurst neighborhood.
Mayor Garrett presides at the meeting after her election
Fred Boykin was elected to the Decatur City Commission in 2001. Prior to his election, he served on the Decatur Planning Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeals, and was active in the Decatur Business Association serving as its president in 1996 and 1997. Fred served on the Board of Trustees of the DeKalb County Library System from 1998 through 2007 and as chair in 2004 and 2005. He is a graduate of Leadership DeKalb and received a Decatur Hometown Hero award in 1997.
Fred is a past member of the Georgia Municipal Association (GMA) Board of Directors, the Steering Committee of the Safe Routes to School National Partnership, the Georgia DOT Safe Routes to School Advisory Committee, and the Georgia Planning Commission. He also served on the Board of Directors of Our House, Inc. and Leadership DeKalb. Currently he serves on the Board of Georgia Bikes!, Georgia’s statewide bicycle advocacy organization. He received the 2004 League of American Bicyclists Advocate of the Year Award and the 2005 Bicycle Retailer & Industry News Advocate of the Year (Retail).
A graduate of Emory University, he owned Bicycle South, Inc., a Decatur-area business since 1972, and retired December 31, 2015.
Mayor Pro Tem Boykin
Scott Drake sworn in by Bryan Downs
Tony Powers sworn in by Cinque Axam
Brian Smith sworn in by Ed Palmer
