Agreement reached
Ringgold council members and the mayor have reached a compromise on a city charter matter that has created tension among them since the fall of 2016.
The mayor, during the June 22 City Council meeting, announced they had reached an agreement on how many of them it will take to fire a city manager.
Under the proposed charter change presented at that meeting, it would take four — instead of five — of those city officials voting “yes.” The voting members in such a situation would be the five City Council members and the mayor.
Currently the city charter reads, “The city manager … may be summarily removed from office at any time by those in favor of removal by all members of the city governing authority, less one.” That means a city manager can be fired only if the vote is 5-1 (or greater, 6-0) in favor, known as a super-majority vote.
Mayor Nick Millwood, during the June 22 meeting, said the council discussed the matter during a recent retreat and reached a compromise.
After the proposal goes to city attorneys for scrutiny, the wording will be changed to “less two,” meaning a city manager could be fired if the vote is 4-2 in favor.
Issue turned controversial
In the first half of 2016 and prior, it took only three “yes” votes to fire the city manager.
But that changed in April 2016 when the governor signed a charter change that had been introduced the previous month by local legislators.
In March 2016, Sen. Jeff Mullis of Chickamauga, along with former state Republican Rep. Tom Weldon of Ringgold, introduced a bill to change the charter. The bill included, along with the changes discussed earlier by the City Council, an undiscussed provision for firing the city manager. The new provision required the number of council members needed to fire a city manager to be five, instead of three, a simple-majority vote in which the mayor does not cast a vote.
The issue turned controversial in October 2016 when Mayor Millwood discovered the change, charging that it was made without enough notice. He argued at council meetings, and later on social media, that it should be changed back to a simple majority vote. The council rejected his pleas, declining to take up the matter.
About eight months later, in May 2017, Millwood resurrected the issue on his Facebook page, saying he wanted to organize a people’s petition to change the charter back to a simple majority. He soon retracted that plan, saying his main concern was that the change regarding how the city manager is fired was placed into the bill without notifying or being completely upfront with city officials and the public.
Meanwhile, others on the council, while admitting they were surprised by the change, said they were OK with it. And some pointed out that all the rules and requirements for making the change had been met.
“This was not a secret,” then council member Terry Crawford said. “We have documentation from the secretary of state. The governor signed this also. ... Letters were sent out, and it was run as a legal (notice) in the county paper.”
Council member Randall Franks said Mullis went through the proper channels and that information about the pending change was obtainable online.
“The legislature has the right to put anything they want to in our charter, and they do it publicly,” Franks said. “It’s posted on the state website. If any one of us had gone to the state website while it was being considered, any one of us would have known it was there.”
Both Crawford and Franks criticized the mayor for taking his case to social media.
“My phone has rung off the wall,” Crawford said. “There have been all kinds of comments about this. ... First of all, what was done, was very legal. It was done by our state senator. Senator Mullis has great concern for our city and a great concern for our welfare. … There was nothing underhanded, nothing illegal, no backroom business, or ‘good ole boy politics’ as it has been stated on social media.”
Franks accused Millwood of stirring the pot and creating a bigger issue, saying Millwood was acting on personal feelings rather than supporting the council’s approval of the charter change.
“I’ve spoken to several of our constituents over the past couple of days and many of them have expressed to me a great sadness over this situation,” Franks said. “The sadness isn’t over the issue. It’s over the mayor bringing the issue out in the way he did by placing his personal opinion above the better interests of our city and our business owners who depend on the smooth operation of city government to facilitate and not impede their opportunities for city growth.
“Every member of this council,” Franks said, “has told our mayor in public meetings that we did not wish to change this current charter change that occurred in 2016. We expressed our concerns as well, but we all agreed, our powers of government is given to us by our state legislature. I don’t see where the mayor even has a dog in this fight. He has no charter duties in this discussion other than to be an advocate for the policies of this council. ... That is his charter duty. ... He is supposed to, by law, go out publicly and support and recommend the policies that this board (city council) approves. The council set this policy back when each of us said to you, ‘we supported the charter change as it was’. Apparently we’re doing it again tonight in a formal vote.”
Sen. Mullis defended his actions, saying he added the change to give more stability to the city manager’s position.
“Stability is what I am trying for here,” Mullis said. “I think it should be a super-majority to fire a city manager or some type related position, again for stability and for due process and not to run for local office just to fire a city manager for political reasons.
“It was advertised in the county legal organ, Catoosa News, as required by Georgia law, weeks before it was presented/introduced in the legislature in 2016,” he said.
He said it was agreed on and presented by the local legislative delegation; after passing, it was on the internet completely as passed at least two months before the governor signed it; the legislative designation has the right and ability to adjust any city charter by law if they see fit; and, he sends a personal letter stating that each year to his elective leaders of each city and county in his district.