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 to decide if they want to be a city or not; and (2) convincing a majority of their friends and neighbors that establishing a new City is good for the area, for them personally, and the community at large.
But the work does not end there. There are lots of other steps that go into the creation of a new City, one of the most important of which is reading and understanding their new Charter. In Mulberry, there are lots of unusual provisions that make navigating the ground work for the creation of the City challenging.
First, Section 8.11(c) provides competing authority that is far from clear. In the first two lines, the subsection provides that the terms and rules of the Charter as a whole (with the express exception of the referendum portions) do not take effect until January 1, 2025. The section goes on to provide “except that the initial councilmembers shall take office immediately following their election and the certification thereof and by action of a quorum may prior to 12:00 Midnight on January 1, 2025, meet and take actions binding on the city.” A city council could take actions to bind a city to let contracts, but if none of the other provisions of the Charter are effective, selecting officers or appointing city officials seems to be a stretch.
Second, the Charter seems to restrict the authority to call an emergency meeting to certain specified events. None of those events seem to apply. This Section may conflict with the Open Meetings Act which authorizes emergency called meetings of the Council with less than 24 hours notice for any reason the City declares to be an emergency. It is far from clear whether the Charter provision is pre-empted by the Open Meetings Act or supplements the Act.
Third, any and all amendments to the Charter can only be approved if ratified by the voters in a special referendum. The administrative burden on the City imposed by this restriction is incalculable. Not the least of such challenges is the fact omits the power to name a City Manager or what the Manager’s duties might be. In a council form of government, this seems a fatal oversight or deliberate effort at sabotage. Only time will tell which it is.
The 4 members who have been elected planned to meet on November, to select the mayor and mayor pro tem from among their 4 members (thereby excluding entirely the member who may be elected ultimately from the remaining district and those citizens in that district from having any say in who these officers are). They also want to select and engage a city attorney. The not-yet Council then cancelled that meeting.
It is not clear (as of this writing) what they have done to secure space for a meeting and whether they have provided the notices necessary for an emergency meeting to be conducted. Nor is it possible, as far as I am aware, that they have posted the agenda of the emergency meeting at the meeting location.
This is especially true since the votes from the November 5 general election would not be certified until sometime on the day of the proposed meeting.
This seems to be a precipitous action to take with only 7 weeks until the final step in creation of the new City of Mulberry can occur properly, carefully, and with due consideration of all residents of this New City.
The nascent council met on November 19, again well before the run-off election is held, much less certified as final. Their agenda was posted online here on November 14 and outside the Church Door (I’m not sure Martin Luther would appreciate the symbolism). They also limited the scope of their meeting and did not officially choose officers, so they backed off their initial plans substantially.
Here’s hoping the new city gets to continue it’s already eventful early days.
