A brief power struggle, though largely symbolic, broke out at the start of Fulton County commissioners’ first meeting of 2024 during the selection of a new vice chairperson.
Commissioner Bob Ellis, who was absent Wednesday, had served in that role but had to be replaced because of a rule against vice chairs serving consecutive terms.
Commissioner Bridget Thorne nominated Commissioner Khadijah Abdur-Rahman for the post, but Commissioner Natalie Hall proposed Commissioner Marvin Arrington Jr.
Pitts seconded Abdur-Rahman’s nomination, and Arrington seconded his own.
Hall said she thought commission rules required the vice chair to be chosen by seniority. Pitts said those rules changed a couple of years ago.
“We take nominations and we vote, period,” he said.
Arrington and Hall asked County Attorney Y. Soo Jo for a ruling. Jo said she read the ordinance to mean that seniority was a consideration in choosing a vice chair, not setting a “mandatory sequence.”
‘”In the past we have always selected based on seniority,” Hall said.
In two quick votes, only Hall and Arrington supported his nomination, while Abdur-Rahman clinched the seat with four votes: herself, Pitts, Thorne and Commissioner Dana Barrett.
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