Residents may voice their grievances on the apathetic lack of action from their city councilors regarding the mayor’s abuse of power by emailing their respective city council members.

COLUMBUS, Ga. — “The structure of the government must furnish the proper checks and balances between the different departments.” — Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, Federalist Papers No. 51, February 8, 1788.

It’s been nearly two weeks since Mayor Skip Henderson overstepped his legal authority by unilaterally appointing a new police chief for our city.

According to city council members themselves, they are not happy with the mayor’s tyrannical overreach and utter disregard for the law.

However, in the typical aMaZiNg Columbus manner, not one city councilor has done a single thing about it. 

Not one city councilor has found the courage to speak up about the issue, let alone to demand the accountability their constituents deserve.

Not one city councilor has felt the need to uphold the checks and balances of our representative form of government. 

Not one city councilor has felt the need to do their job as an elected legislator.

Instead, councilors remain more concerned with the keeping up of appearances as if they were still in high school, remaining too afraid to call out a wrong — even if it means allowing the sanctity of their own representative government to be apathetically disregarded. 

That’s the sort of apathetic behavior we’d expect from children — not from those we have elected to lead our city. 

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: A LEGAL CONUNDRUM

While Stoney Mathis’ impressive credentials do appear to be a fine choice for our city’s chief of police while a nation-wide search takes place, Mayor Henderson is still required to follow the law when appointing a police chief — regardless of however long or short the chief’s  ‘interim’ tenure might be.  

Technically — and perhaps most importantly — Mathis legally is not the chief of police at all until council approves his appointment through a public vote, according to our city’s own laws. 

Without a vote from council, no appointment can be made. Since no vote occurred, no appointment was ever made, as the Mayor simply doesn’t have the unilateral power to do so.

Technically — which is all that matters — there currently is no legally-appointed Chief of Police. 

We wonder how that might play out in court should any liability arise during his tenure. Food for thought, council. That ball is firmly in your court. 

This isn’t conjecture, either. It’s the law. 

Check it out. 

THE LAW

When former police chief Freddie Blackmon was relieved of his duties on April 6, a vacancy was created for a city officer. That vacancy must be filled in accordance with the law.

The procedures for filling that vacancy are very specifically dictated by the Columbus Code of Ordinances.

As stated in Section 4-320 of the Columbus Code of Ordinances:

“Vacancies occurring in the office of the Chief of Police of Columbus, Georgia shall be filled in the same manner as prescribed in Chapter 2 for original appointment.”

That manner of appointment in Chapter 2 is defined by Section 4-201, “Power and Duties of the Mayor.” Paragraph 15 of those powers define the procedure for the appointment of city officers, which limits the mayor’s power and prevents him from making a unilateral appointment without receiving an approving vote of city council. 

According to the law, the mayor only has the power: 

“Subject to the approval of six (6) members of the council, to appoint and remove City Officers as defined in Section 4-300 below.” 

Given that the chief of police is a city officer as defined in Section 4-300, a majority vote of city council must be received before a chief of police can be appointed.

No such vote was held.

Mayor Henderson made the appointment without even bothering to notify city council at all.

THE BOTTOM LINE

It might really behoove our city’s elected legislators to demand an answer from the mayor on the following question:

“What section of the City Charter permits the Mayor to unilaterally appoint a chief of police — for any length of tenure — without first receiving an approving majority vote of City Council, as required by Section 4-320? To wit: “Vacancies occurring in the office of the Chief of Police of Columbus, Georgia shall be filled in the same manner as prescribed in Chapter 2 for original appointment,” To wit: “Subject to the approval of six (6) members of the Council, to appoint and remove City Officers,” et sequentes.”

We’ve already asked the mayor this same question three times in the past week, though he hasn’t been able to provide us with any answer at all. 

The reason he has no answer is because no such permitting authority exists: he knows it, you know it, the city attorney knows it, and the public knows it. 

The mayor broke the law. It is an abuse of power and it must be checked. 

Hold him accountable, fix it, and move on — but we cannot allow such an overreach to go on unchecked. Look at the mess it has already made, the legal liability it entails, and the precedent it sets.

You guys are adults. You were elected to uphold the law. You even swore an oath to do so — two, in fact.

Do your jobs. 

Residents may voice their grievances on the apathetic lack of action from their city councilors regarding the mayor’s abuse of power by emailing their respective city council members.

Facts are stubborn things — and we’ll keep publishing them, whether city officials like them or not.

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