On Monday night Decatur’s commission unanimously voted Patti Garrett mayor, her sixth consecutive one-year term. Retired from Georgia State University where she counseled graduate students in the nutrition program and, before that, a program director for nutrition and dietetics at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, Garrett just completed her 11th year on Decatur’s commission.
Although a commission vote is far more common in the Midwest and California, Decatur is the only Atlanta-area municipality that doesn’t hold a citywide election to choose its mayor. Only a handful of Georgia cities follow this practice including Griffin, Rome, Toccoa and Dalton.
Though 2020 saw plenty of bizarre behavior and unprecedented government stasis, particularly on the federal level, Garrett said she’s particularly proud of the “consistent messaging” the city delivered regarding COVID-19. Indeed, for the past 10 months the city, or specifically the 30030 Zip code, has ranked among the lowest statewide in positive diagnoses.
“The city has responded in terms of distancing, wearing masks and not meeting in large groups,” Garrett said. “What I particularly like is seeing signs on the businesses [requiring mask wear]. That shows we take it seriously.”
She added that a critical 2020 moment was removal of the 112-year-old Confederate monument on the city square last June 18, the day before Juneteenth. She sees the act as more than just supremely symbolic, but a much-needed morale boost for a city that’s steadily seen its Black population diminish the last 20 years.
At the millennium’s turn Decatur was roughly 50-50 Black-White, but recent numbers compiled by City Schools of Decatur show the city 70 percent White, 21 percent Black, while the school system (grades K-12) is 64 percent White, 18 percent Black.
“We spent a lot of last year putting everything we do through an equity lens,” Garrett said. “We’ve had some difficult conversations addressing racism and other challenges. But there were just a lot of things that made [removing the monument] especially significant. It makes our town a more welcoming place, but also just the fact it was done during this past summer when equity and racism were at the forefront nationwide is very important.”
Garrett added that early this year the city will select an artist, or group of artists to create some type of John Lewis tribute for the spot formerly occupied by the Confederate obelisk.
Also on Monday the commission unanimously voted Tony Powers as mayor pro tem for the fourth straight year. It also extended City Manager Andrea Arnold’s contract two more years, or through Dec. 31, 2022. Arnold’s base salary of $170,000 is not an increase over her previous two-year contract. As Garrett pointed out during the meeting, due to the pandemic no Decatur employee for now is getting a raise this year.
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