Enough Is Enough: Fairburn Utilities Must Be Held Accountable

There’s a growing storm in Fairburn — and it’s not just about power outages or billing errors. It’s about a utility provider, Fairburn Utilities, that has repeatedly failed the very people it’s supposed to serve. The complaints aren’t isolated. They’re constant. They’re consistent. And they all point to one truth: this system is broken.

Like many of you, I’ve been directly impacted. Confusing bills, unexplained charges, rising rates with no warning — and worse, when I reached out for help, I was met with silence or dismissiveness. I’ve spoken to neighbors who’ve had the same experience. Dozens. Maybe hundreds. We’re not imagining things. This is real. And it’s unacceptable.

A Pattern of Failure

The issues with Fairburn Utilities go far beyond billing. Here's what residents have been dealing with:

• Customer Service That Doesn’t Serve- Calling for help feels like shouting into a void. Long waits, unreturned calls, vague answers — and far too often, no resolution. Many residents have said they feel disrespected and ignored when they try to get help.

• Leadership That Won’t Lead- Despite a tidal wave of public concern, utility leadership has remained silent, unresponsive, and — frankly — invisible. There’s been no transparency, no acknowledgment of the scale of these issues, and no action plan to fix them.

• A Culture of Dismissal- When residents speak up, they’re treated like outliers. As if these problems are rare exceptions. But we know better. The patterns are too clear. The stories are too similar. The pain is too widespread.

This meeting is our opportunity to voice the reality that many in power are trying to ignore. But it won’t be enough for just a few of us to show up. We need numbers. We need stories. We need to be organized.

Let’s Stop Suffering Alone

What’s happening isn’t just unfair — it’s harmful. And the only way to stop it is to end the isolation. We must move from scattered complaints to coordinated action. That means:

• Forming a resident-led coalition

• Documenting every issue and building a case

• Calling for specific changes: fair billing, transparency, leadership accountability

• Making our presence and pressure felt — consistently and publicly

If you’ve been impacted, you’re not alone. And you don’t have to keep dealing with this in silence. Let’s connect. Let’s organize. Let’s demand better — not someday, but now!

The truth is simple: Fairburn Utilities works for us. It’s time they act like it.

Let’s make August 5th a turning point. I’ll be there. I hope you will too.

Yours in Service,

Councilwoman Hudson-McCalla