With no city administrator, no 2013 budget proposal and now no mayor, Stockbridge faces a hefty to-do list that also includes an expected court fight with the newly ousted mayor.hen
The Stockbridge City Council removed Mayor Lee Stuart from office Monday night after a lengthy hearing, despite objections from many residents who attended the 13-hour procedure that preceded the council’s regular monthly meeting. Stuart has started the process to appeal the decision to Henry Superior Court.
Beyond the impending court battle, the five council members have their work cut out for them.
“We will move forward and do the things we need to do,” Councilman Richard Steinberg said Tuesday. Steinberg was one of four council members who voted to remove Stuart. Alphonso Thomas was the lone councilman who did not vote for Stuart’s removal. Stuart was removed on six of seven charges brought against him that alleged incompetence, negligence and intentional misconduct. He was absolved on a charge of not submitting a city budget in a timely manner.
“This is new territory for everybody,” Steinberg said. “We need to sit back and assess things. There’s a potential appeal in here, too. I guarantee things will happen and they will get done. We’re committed to working together to get the city’s business done and we’ll do it.”
Removing a sitting mayor or elected official from office is “not very common,” said Amy Henderson of the Georgia Municipal Association. But it has been done. Officials in Fort Oglethorpe, a community in northwest Georgia, voted within the past month to remove a council member who is also appealing his ouster, Henderson said.
“There are provisions cities may have in their charter that allow for removal, or they could have procedures or an ethics ordinance that may have procedures that allow for removal from office, ” Henderson said.
Stockbridge’s charter allows for the removal of an elected official with the votes of three council members or an order of the county’s Superior Court.
City officials in October hired Atlanta lawyer Chris Balch to investigate nearly two dozen complaints from residents and city workers. Balch, who represented the city during Monday’s hearing, said he found evidence that Stuart disclosed sensitive information about the municipal complex, created a hostile work environment for city workers and revealed a city official’s confidential information at a public meeting. Balch’s work will cost the city about $40,000.
Stuart’s ouster caps a three-year tug of war with the council over how best to run the city. While Stuart appeared to be well-loved in some circles of the community, a wedge existed in the working relationship with city officials and employees. There were bitter entanglements over the city’s charter. Stuart felt efforts to change it would dilute the mayor-strong form of government.
What had been a source of struggle for Stockbridge now will serve as the five-member panel’s guide to get the group through the uncertainty left by Monday night’s decision. The city charter gives the council the power to fill vacancies, city attorney Bill Linkous said. Once that’s done, council members will need to address the budget. The council was set to begin doing that Tuesday evening when the first of three public hearings on the budget was scheduled. Hiring a city administrator will be forthcoming.
“They’re going to have to work really hard to correct situations in the city,” Linkous said. “But they have the advantage of working together as one mind. They have the advantage of getting things done more smoothly and quicker now.”
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