Clear Leadership for a Connected Community.

KALEE for SUGAR HILL CITY COUNCIL - POST 5

Smart spending, open decisions, and a community built for everyone.

Kalee Weiland for
Sugar Hill - Post 5

Hello, Its nice to meet you!

Born and raised in Lawrenceville, Georgia, I spent weekends and holidays growing up in Sugar Hill at my grandparents house over on Whitehead road watching deer and riding bikes. Through the years, I have loved this sweet city and chosen it as my home again and again.

Over a decade ago, my then-boyfriend, now husband, Michael and I settled into our first apartment together in Sugar Hill while working our way through college. Our next stop was a house on Hillcrest where we got married, had our daughter, and made memories with our best friends. When it was time to buy our first house, we knew Sugar Hill was where we wanted to make our investment and raise our family.

Now, we enjoy our home here and spend our days enjoying the community we love. We visit Scoops ice cream with our daughter, spend afternoons at EE Robinson and Gary Pirkle Park, play bingo at the American Legion, and enjoy meals at Homespun and the Diner. On lunch breaks, we’ve even been known to hit the splash pad.

Professionally, I bring over a decade of experience in accounting, operations management, and leadership. I’ve managed financial analysis, reporting, and auditing for international organizations, streamlining processes and ensuring compliance. I know how to work with budgets, lead teams, solve problems, and make decisions that balance a long-term vision with day-to-day needs. These are skills I believe our city council needs now more than ever.

I’m running for Sugar Hill City Council to ensure that Sugar Hill is always a place where families can afford to stay, where local voices are heard, and where decisions are made with honesty and heart. To me, leadership isn’t about titles - it is about service.

Education

2019

B.B.A Accounting

University of North Georgia

Staff Accountant, Private Business, Tech Sector

Oversee financial reporting, auditing, and contract-based invoicing for a fast-growing public tech company.
Improve efficiency by creating and streamlining processes, leading peers, and creating automation.

2015

A.A.S. Business Management

University of North Georgia

Professional Experience

Finance Operations Manager, Private Business, Tech Sector

Directed finance operations, vendor relations, and audits, ensuring compliance with U.S. GAAP standards.
Chart of Account setup and management, budget creation and management, led team expansions, increased efficiency and accuracy.
Helped a small business transition to eCommerce, boosting profitability by double digits in the first two years.

Operations & Leadership, Electronics Retailer, Corporate & Retail

Supervised corporate teams supporting 1,300+ retail locations nationwide.
Trained and mentored staff, managed vendor relationships, and delivered executive reporting on financial performance.
Led district-wide financial operations and loss prevention initiatives at local retail locations.

Core Values

Turning challenges into opportunities through leadership that you can trust.

Balanced Growth & Responsible Spending

Right now, city budgets combine with DDA plans to channel a disproportionate share of resources into high-visibility downtown projects and soon to be Housing Authority projects, while everyday needs like road safety, community support, and neighborhood amenities are not maintained.

My plan for improvement is to ...

Keep investments balanced between neighborhood infrastructure, community development, and our city center by paying attention to the specific expense line items, instead of the budget allocation as a whole.
Release all development agreements before giving approval with clearly communicated announcements and appropriate windows for public input.
Tie every major project to a measurable public benefit that residents can see and feel.

Transparency & Accountability

Currently, Important decisions are hidden in the fine print. Approvals are bundled together with unrelated items, accounts are renamed in ways that make it hard to follow the money, and controversial votes are scheduled when few residents are watching. This lack of transparency leaves taxpayers in the dark and erodes trust in city leadership.

I would like to work towards ...

Providing plain-English budget and agenda summaries before every big-ticket vote.

better communication between the City and the Public. I would like to prioritize showing the public how to access all documents, meeting notes, recordings, etc.

Requiring separate votes for big-ticket items. Additionally, I want to put a stop to burying large dollar approvals in bundled line items, which includes regulations around exceptions, and special meeting actions.

Rebuilding Community & Maintaining Safety

Over the past few years, spending on meaningful community events and public gathering spaces has decreased and so has resident connection. Events are overcrowded and safety is a concern. Social media, marketing, and the ability to draw business and generate revenue is critical.

Lets support our community by ...

• Restoring and expanding family-friendly events at cost effective price points that make Sugar Hill a place to gather, not just pass through.

• Investing in public safety improvements in the full city of Sugar Hill. To me this means enforcement at intersections, better lighting, road repairs, and sidewalks in residential areas.

• Partnering with schools, nonprofits, and local businesses to create low-cost, high-impact community programs that support all income levels and backgrounds.