Residents may voice their concerns regarding the Mayor’s tyrannical overreach of appointing a city officer without first receiving a majority vote of city council by emailing Mayor Skip Henderson directly at SkipHenderson@columbusga.org, while cc’ing their respective city council members on the email.

COLUMBUS, Ga. — City councilors are not happy with the mayor right now, and they have a legally-valid reason to be.

Despite city ordinances requiring a majority vote of city council to appoint a chief of police, Mayor Skip Henderson instead decided to ignore the law and unilaterally appoint a chief all on his own. 

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. 

Instead, Henderson did not even bother to inform council members of his intention, let alone receive council’s legally-required vote before making his unilateral appointment through tyrannical overreach.

A SLAP IN THE FACE

In response, the overwhelming majority of council members are considering Henderson’s tyrannical overreach to be a “slap in the face.”

“This is such a slap in our faces,” one city councilor said in response to the mayor’s overreach on Friday, May 5. “Our mayor doesn’t have the respect for his fellow councilors to inform us first. Not a good look.”

The term “slap in the face” was used by several councilors to describe their genuine feeling of the mayor’s extreme overstep and disrespect for our city’s democratic form of government.

Another city councilor had the following to say when asked about the mayor’s press release on May 5:

“The mayor just announced an interim chief without even consulting council,” the councilor began. “Granted, I like his (Mathis’) résumé as chief in Henry County which has gangs similar to Atlanta, but it is a slap in the face that he (the mayor) kept us out of the loop.”

EXTREME DISRESPECT 

Another comment from a city councilor was as follows:

“The overwhelming majority of councilors are feeling extremely disrespected that the mayor didn’t even inform us before the public.”

One comment confirmed that not only did the mayor not consult council before making the appointment, but that the mayor left council completely in the dark throughout the entire process leading up to it:

“We feel extremely disrespected. No councilors were involved or informed of this process.”

DICTATORSHIP OVER REPRESENTATIVE GOV’T

One councilor went so far as to call out the mayor’s tyrannical overreach for what it is, offering the following comment:

“It is a dictatorship over representative government that council wasn’t even given the courtesy of a hint.”

When asked about how the mayor could have even thought he was permitted to appoint a chief of police without first receiving council’s vote, one councilor said the following:

“Everyone is asking questions about how this could even happen based on the code sections (in the code of ordinances).”

Here’s a look at what those code sections actually say, revealing the mayor does clearly need a majority vote of council to appoint a chief of police — regardless of however long or short that chief’s ‘interim’ tenure might be. 

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 prior to the mayor unilaterally making the appointment. 

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

Even if the mayor were to now receive a majority vote of approval from city council, he has already illegally made the appointment before that vote had the opportunity to be taken. 

Henderson has already broken the law by overstepping the power and sanctity of our city’s elected representatives. 

The die has already been cast. 

Residents may voice their concerns regarding the Mayor’s tyrannical overreach of appointing a city officer without first receiving a majority vote of city council by emailing Mayor Skip Henderson directly at SkipHenderson@columbusga.org, while cc’ing their respective city council members on the email.

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

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