An ongoing fight over how Stockbridge should be governed could reach a climax Monday night when the City Council puts the issue to a vote.
City officials have been trying for more than a year to change Stockbridge from a strong-mayor form of government to one where a city administrator would assume many of the duties Mayor Lee Stuart now holds.
At the heart of the controversy is the mayor's veto power, said state Rep. Steve Davis, R-McDonough, who has been challenging the city's efforts to change the charter. He said city officials are trying to weaken the mayor's powers.
The attorney general's office has weighed into the fray, saying Monday's vote is improper and that any changes are best done through the General Assembly.
But city attorney Andy Welch said the council vote is merely an effort to sort out various city officials' duties.
“The charter amendment is to clarify the roles of the mayor and the city administrator while maintaining the mayor as the chief executive officer of Stockbridge," Welch said Friday.
Welch said he could not comment on the opinion from the attorney general's office.
Councilwoman Kathy Gilbert declined to talk about the issue.
Davis said Stockbridge officials are "on an island because the city attorney is the only one saying they can do these charter changes. ... They're saying because they're not changing the mayor's role from chief executive officer that they're not changing the form of government. But they are."
Davis sent a letter to the city attorney, mayor and City Council Friday telling them "you do not have authority to proceed with charter changes involving the veto powers of the mayor."
Monday's vote stems from a feud between the council and Stuart, who sued the council after it repeatedly overrode his vetoes. The two sides eventually settled. But the controversy didn't end there. City officials drafted legislation to change the charter. That bill died earlier this year.
Meanwhile, the head of a local watchdog group called Monday's council action a "foregone conclusion."
“They’ve heard from us time and time again not to change the power of the mayor without allowing the citizens to vote on it," said Richard Steinberg of Concerned Citizens of Stockbridge. "The citizens deserve the right to make a change and we have the right to change the duties of the mayor, if we see fit. They don’t want to do that.”
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