The Sandy Springs Hospitality and Tourism Board is leading the way for other north Fulton County cities like Alpharetta to exhibit at the Next Cool Event on Feb. 17 and 18 at the Atlanta Expo Center in Forest Park.

The showcase for entertainment projects brings movie location scouts to Atlanta, as it did in 2011 when Sandy Springs debuted its “Camera Ready and Looking for Action” slogan.

“We were the only city at this thing and all the other cities just went nuts that we beat them to the punch,” District 2 City Councilwoman Dianne Fries, a member of the board, said at its meeting Thursday at the city welcome center. “They’re all chomping at the bit.”

Passersby seeing activity at the former Target retail store on Johnson Ferry Road may be wondering about activity there, but board Executive Director Kym Hughes said the lights are on to get cameras rolling.

“We’re creating a set. Our theme is location, location, location,” she said. “Our biggest expense is our Hollywood sign that says Sandy Springs.”

Hughes said giveaways like film canisters containing permit applications and personal invitations from Mayor Eva Galambos attracted attention from location scouts last year.

“I got a letter from ‘NCIS,’” she said about the CBS television show subtitled “Naval Criminal Investigative Service.”

While a booth at the event cost $1,600, it is well within the board’s $1 million budget, according to city Budget Analyst Michael Hietter.

“You are in pretty good shape for the shape the economy is in,” he said about $519,000 cash on hand against less than $100,000 in debt.

Hietter said halfway through the city’s fiscal year ending June 30, the board is in a good position.

“With 50 percent of the year gone, you’re in line with expenses and on track with the hotel-motel tax,” he said about its revenue source.

Board members, including Galambos, Lane Martin of Loco’s Grill and Pub, Bruce Alterman of the Brickery Grill and city Staff Attorney Kathy Williams, discussed other topics like the special-events room Heritage Hall now open at the Heritage Sandy Springs building, the addition of a food and wine event to the annual Sandy Springs Cycling Challenge on May 6 and the remodeled website www.visitsandysprings.org.

“The new site is live. There’s so much you can do on it. It’s totally interactive,” Hughes said about features like a trip planner and a shopping cart.