The citizens of the new City of Mulberry, in Gwinnett County, recently approved the adoption of their New City Charter. There are lots of steps that make up leading to a new city, and these leaders and citizens have navigated two of the hardest: (1) Getting a Bill passed by the Legislature that allows voters…
Our firm was asked by the International Municipal Lawyers Association, the Georgia Association County Commissioners, and Georgia Municipal Association to file a brief in support of a petition for review by the United States Supreme Court by former Muscogee County Sheriff’s Department Correctional Officer Keyvon Sellers. Earlier this year Officer Sellers was denied qualified immunity…
Balch Law Group successfully defends Investigators with the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office in a challenge from the Columbus Consolidated Government (“CCG”) to the production of information gathered pursuant to 6 search warrants. Sheriff’s Investigators are looking into allegations of financial mismanagement by CCG pursuant to a request by the Governing Authority of the Consolidated Government….
MAYOR BIANCA MOTLEY BROOM FILES PETITION AGAINST THE CITY OF COLLEGE PARK FOR VIOLATION OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL RIGHTS PRESS RELEASE from Mayor Motley Broom [Fulton County, GA – March 1, 2024] – On March 1, Mayor Bianca Motley Broom, both in her individual and official capacity as Mayor of the City of College Park,…
CBS Mornings recently reported on Brookhaven, Georgia’s Police Department’s ground breaking drone program, illustrating how drones can be used by law enforcement. But what does it really take to implement a drone program that protects civil liberties? A city council voting on policy and a police department building a program are the final steps in…
The Firm is proud to have been asked to represent Mayor Bianca Motley Broom in a politically motivated and unfounded ethics complaint filed by two members of the City Council. We submitted a substantive response to the allegations made by the complainants on June 23 challenging the timeliness, procedural effectiveness, and merits of the complaint….
Our firm was proud to present to the International Municipal Lawyers Association Mid-Year Seminar in Washington, DC in April. In tandem with Brookhaven Police Lieutenant Abrem Ayana, we presented on the policies, procedures, and operational guidelines governing the Brookhaven program. Our work on behalf of local governments has always been at the forefront of the…
March 7 is a day that will be remembered in Brookhaven for decades as the day the City closed on the funding for its generational plans to establish a sense of place and a City Center with work on the New City Hall at the Brookhaven/Oglethorpe MARTA station. Following 2 years of negotiation and engagement…
The firm’s local government law philosophy is to work with elected and appointed officials and to provide a pathway to accomplishing the policy goals they set for their city or county while assuring they are in compliance with their city’s or county’s charter and state and federal law. Sometimes it’s very hard to do both….
The City of Brookhaven undertook an unusual mechanism to fund infrastructure and construction of the 10 year old City’s first City Hall. By amending the Charter, the City Council clarified the apparent intent of the City’s Founders that only the taxes assessed to establish the City’s Annual General Fund budget were to be capped at…
At this year’s International Municipal Lawyers Association conference in Portland, Oregon, Chris was thrilled and humbled to accept the Marvin J. Glink Private Practice Public Entity Attorney award, following a glowing speech by IMLA’s executive Director and General Counsel Amanda Karas. This award is established to honor the memory of Marvin J. Glink by recognizing…
We’re thrilled and honored to announce that Christopher Balch is the 2022 recipient of the International Municipal Lawyers Association (IMLA) Glink Private Practice Public Attorney Award. The Award recognizes a lawyer specializing in the representation of local governments, but in private practice, for outstanding contributions to the field of public agency law by representation of…