BY JYOTHSNA HEGDE
Atlanta, GA, August 24, 2021: Residents qualified as candidates for the Johns Creek City Council 2021 are gearing up for General and Special Election set for Tuesday, Nov. 2. The election is for the Council Seats of Post 1, Post 2, Post 3, Post 5, and the Mayoral Post.
Bob Erramilli, will be competing with two other contestants who have qualified for city council post 3 this year. Current Post 3 Council Member John Bradberry is a Mayoral candidate.
Erramilli has had a unique career path having flown combat jets in the Indian Air Force for 14yrs. He transitioned into Software Engineering for Amex, Martin, IBM, etc. For the past 16 years, he has been operating several Doctors’ offices. Erramilli is married to Dr. Syamala for 33 years and they are residents of Johns Creek since 2017. Their son Nik is an attorney.
In his exclusive with NRI Pulse, Erramilli discussed his decision to run for office, priorities for the city, challenges the city faces and the solutions he proposes.
Erramilli found a home in
the United States Air Force auxiliary, the CAP where he serves as a 2nd
Lieutenant. He was also thrust into community service via HOA, serving as its
President. As the President of Sai
Temple, he worked to raise a flourishing youth volunteer program numbering
close to 700. To care for the youth whom Erramilli had noticed can easily stumble
into missteps if uncared for, he initiated “I Rose Up” a Youth Mentoring
Foundation to nurture high schoolers, providing rich experiences. In one program, judges would explain the law
and consult with them while sentencing offenders.
Why is he running for office? “Below the surface there was a simmering sense of
duty. In my early years, I relished all
America had to offer. Most of us
unconsciously transition into nation building via our jobs and businesses. Then
some find their calling, extending into public policy.” He elaborated further
with an anecdote from his Indian Air force days that “compels him to fix a hole
(issue) when he sees one”.
“There are some issues
which need to be addressed. Some are priorities, some are not. But some really
compel you to take action,” he noted.
“As a Military Aviator, Mission Accomplished happens after a series of quick
and prudent decisions. Adapt or perish is a daily mantra. Fortune 500 companies taught me how to craft
solutions, with many moving parts. 16 long years of being a small businessman
gave me the expertise to manage expenses, forecasting & monitoring budgets,
and cushion over the unexpected,” said Erramilli, elaborating on the ways his
experience through the years will help him in office.
What are his short- and long-term priorities for Johns Creek? “Public safety and storm water issues need urgent attention, while the town center and outdoors lifestyle needs a strategic vision,” noted Erramilli.
Inspired by a personal experience, Erramilli is also keen on addressing drug abuse, particularly among the youth. Highlighting safety, Erramiili stressed on the importance of retaining police personnel which some cities are already finding difficult to do, owing to various factors where the personnel feel they are under extra scrutiny. “As public council, you have to strive for a balance between public accountability as well as law and order effectiveness.”
“People who are at the lower levels often face the consequence,” Erramilli observed about issues with stormwater. “I used to be HOA president. Every time I tell my residents that we need to cough up a little more for stormwater measures, it hit their pocketbooks. John’s Creek has already attempted to address this. They’ve taken a first step, but we need to ensure that this is equitable and just to everyone.”
Speaking about the Town Center, Erramilli said the Arts Council in Johns Creek billing at about 55 – 60 million, needs to be monitored. “If we have a budget, we need to monitor it and constantly check if it is staying within the guardrails.”
The Johns Creek area is very green with plenty of sidewalks, he said adding, “we also need to see that those projects are implemented in a timely fashion.
Recognizing Emory Johns Creek as a “jewel of an institution”, Erramilli underlined the significance of its centralized location to Duluth, Alpharetta, and Cumming areas which he said can potentially be a healthcare destination. Given his wife Dr. Syamala’s direct and his oblique association to the medical field, Erramilli believes he has the understanding to bring this to fruition.
Citing a student who overdosed on methamphetamines in Johns Creek past year, Erramilli expressed his concern about drugs moving up north. “We don’t need a concentrated effort for our kids to go down that path, you just need one bad friend,” he noted. “That is something which is very right front and center in my mind. I want to make sure that respectful law enforcement is implemented, while allowing them to train, allowing them to be more effective in interactions with the civilian community.”
.What do the
couple love most about living in Johns Creek? Dr. Syamala who has two offices
finds Johns Creek central to both while she enjoys the safety and greenery of
the area. “I’m a hopeless romantic. Whenever I cross Gwinnett into Johns Creek,
I almost hear the birds chirping, the temperature dropping, becoming cooler. I
only have a great mood. Hopefully the music is playing,” mused Erramiili.
What, according to Erramilli is the biggest issue that Johns Creek faces and
how would he address it? “Public safety is number one in my mind,” iterated
Erramilli, adding that as someone who served in the military, respecting
authority comes instinctively to him, and he recognizes that police are the
prima facie evidence of authority in the city. The root problem he notes, is
that some personnel are not adequately trained to handle a community which is
so diverse and some of the cultural differences play up as suspicious behavior
by nature, such as casually peeking into an open garage by older visiting
parents. While he has been stopped by cops a few times, Erramilli says the
interactions have always been courteous. While recognizing that these
interactions for others could have been better, Erramilli emphasized the fact
that having someone like him on board would ensure better training and play a
pivotal role in ensuring public has adequate trust in the force. “Public
cooperation is so critical for police to be effective, and vice versa.”
What is the contribution of diversity to the city of Johns’ Creek? “There are four Indian members serving in the Arts Council,” noted Erramilli. The South Asian and rich diverse population of John’s Creek are getting engaged as a community as arts play a great role in integrating communities and immortalizes our society, he added. Students of South Asian origin in Chattahoochee, Johns Creek High school top their schools and when intelligent folks like these get into public policy, they will deliver an exceptional service to this country, he observed. “Diversity is a great strength.”
Identifying
traffic patterns that lead to issues, Erramilli pointed to Peachtree corners in
Gwinnett and Cumming, in Forsyth, which have stretches of 45 miles per hour.
Johns Creek, he noted have the same lanes, wider, but we have a speed limit of
55, so people transit faster to the city. “Recently $2.5 Million dollars was
spent to restripe the busiest intersection in the city – Medlock and State
Bridge so that the turn lanes are a little faster, and it has shown some
improvement there. The lights and stripes are controlled by the city but the
roads by GDOT. Ideally, we would like to have wider roads but it comes with its
own set of problems. “We could do better with traffic lights, but we are trying
to move traffic faster by smoothening the intersections. We are at 90 -92%
efficiency.”
What about mask and vaccine mandates? “Vaccines is something I don’t feel
comfortable in mandating, primarily because we are all grown up. I rather tell
them the benefits, sell them the idea, rather than mandating it. How many
people can the police catch if there is a mask mandate? The police will be
putting themselves in these trivial situations, rather than addressing crimes.
If the city is engaged in the process of informing that will be a lot more cost
effective. And also, you don’t waste your equity on whatever the city.”
Why should Johns Creek vote for Erramilli? “Number one thing you learn in the
Air Force is to act. You can’t choose your problems. You can’t choose when to
act. You must do it appropriately. At the same time, I can’t control the
weather. I just adapt. So, all the time these three intangibles are always
playing to my psyche. Be prepared for tomorrow’s consequences. When I came to
this country, I transitioned into a software engineer. I started working for
Fortune 500 companies and when we opened our second clinic and my wife asked me
to help, I transitioned, again. We have been living within our budget, we learn
to plan, learn to anticipate any unexpected surprises and cater to them. So,
these are a couple of intangible qualities which we have gone through for last
few couple of decades. So, those are the things which will help me in tackling
the problems which are currently besetting Johns Creek.”