Recall vote for Hoschton pair set for Jan. 14

The mayor of Hoschton and a longtime city councilman will face voters next month after the Jackson County Board of Elections took the rare step of calling for a recall election next month.

Mayor Theresa Kenerly and Councilman Jim Cleveland have faced unending calls to resign their posts since an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation in May revealed Kenerly sidetracked a candidate for a city administrator because of his race.

According to interviews and documents reviewed by the AJC, Kenerly told council members she withheld the resume of a candidate because “he is black, and the city isn’t ready for this.”

In attempting to defend the mayor, Cleveland expressed his own beliefs that intermingling of whites and blacks together was not “Christian.”

“I’m a Christian, and my Christian beliefs are you don’t do interracial marriage. That’s the way I was brought up, and that’s the way I believe,” he said.

Hoschton is a predominately white city just across the Gwinnett County line with a population fewer than 2,000. But it is undergoing dramatic residential growth as a more diverse crop of homebuyers looks for affordable housing in striking distance of the north metro area.

The revelations about Kenerly and Cleveland were met with outrage by voters, who demanded they resign. When Kenerly and Cleveland refused, residents organized a recall campaign, collecting hundreds of signatures.

The Jackson County Board of Elections certified the petitions Tuesday and set Jan. 14 as the date for a recall election.

“The board took the issue very seriously. Each name and signature was checked to make sure that each signer was a qualified voter and that each signature matched the voter’s signature on their voter registration form,” board Chairman Eric Crawford said. “The recall organizers submitted roughly 25% more signatures than were needed for each petition, so there was no concern within the board about the legal requirement being met.”

Kenerly fought the recall all the way to the Georgia Supreme Court, but the justices refused to hear her appeal in an unanimous decision handed down last month. Neither Kenerly or Cleveland attended the election board meeting, and they did not immediately respond to an email request for comment.

Mayor Theresa Kenerly and Councilman Jim Cleveland have faced unending calls to resign their posts.