Only minutes into her first term as mayor of Snellville, Kelly Kautz set the stage for a potential legal battle that threatens to divide the new City Council.
Kautz tapped council member and campaign supporter Mike Sabbagh as her mayor pro tem Monday, a departure from the city's longtime practice of allowing the City Council to vote on the position. Kautz said Snellville's recently appointed interim city attorney advised her that the move was allowable under the city charter.
"He felt strongly that I had the power" to make the appointment, Kautz said Tuesday. "The city attorney is the final decision on that, and he gave his legal opinion last night."
But Kautz's move drew protests from the other four council members, with at least a couple of them hinting that they would seek outside legal opinion.
"I think what we have is a misinterpretation of the charter," new council member Dave Emanuel said.
The early dissension among new council members is reminiscent of a time when the Snellville City Council was known mostly for political gridlock and legal turmoil. As recently as two years ago, the six-member council deadlocked, 3-3, in at least 10 recorded instances on issues ranging from zoning for a crematory to meeting adjournments.
"The city appears to be a little divided," said former council member Melvin Everson, now director of the Georgia Commission on Equal Opportunity. "It's very tense."
However, this council seemed bound for conflict once the three new members -- all of them unopposed -- announced their support for Kautz's opponent, Barbara Bender, in the mayoral race.
Kautz defeated Bender by 134 votes in the Nov. 8 election, becoming Snellville's first female mayor.
She wasted little time asserting her new powers at the dais Monday, pushing through her appointment of Sabbagh, skipping over an item on the agenda over the protests of council member Tom Witts and several times chiding council members for speaking out of order.
"My God, I look like a sweetheart after last night," said former Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer, who earned his own reputation for being a fighter during his eight years in office.
Former council members Tod Warner, Bender and Everson, among others, thought Kautz ran afoul of the charter by naming her own mayor pro tem.
"I think it’s very clear in the charter that it’s done by a vote of mayor and council," Bender said.
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