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Politics Run Amok! City Bill Sponsors / Map Authors Write Their Own Rules and Call It "Local Control"


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Betsy Lynch, betsy.lynch@house.ga.gov
Tuesday, August 26, 2014 (404) 656-0311

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ATLANTA—Today State Representatives Mike Jacobs (R-Brookhaven) and Tom Taylor (R-Dunwoody) met with Briarcliff, Lakeside and Tucker cityhood proponents to discuss directions issued by House Governmental Affairs Committee Chairwoman Amy Carter (R-Valdosta) for DeKalb County cityhood boundary line proposals. The House Governmental Affairs Committee oversees legislation in the Georgia House of Representatives involving the creation of new cities.

“Tom Taylor and I worked with Rep. Carter, Chair of the House Governmental Affairs Committee, to develop a process for DeKalb County cityhood proponents to follow as we approach next session,” said Rep. Jacobs. “Our goal for this process is to encourage all stakeholders to engage in conversations now about cityhood boundary lines and to ensure any remaining disputes are resolved prior to 2015.”

The directions for drawing cityhood proposals are as follows:


  • Each of the three DeKalb County cityhood proponent groups (City of Briarcliff Initiative, Lakeside Yes, and Tucker 2015) will have until September 5 to identify one authorized signatory for a compromise boundary map.  (Authorized by WHOM?  Not the people they claim to represent, that's for sure!  What qualifications or criteria are used to elect these individuals?)


  • DeKalb County cityhood proponents have until November 15 to come to a mutual agreement on city boundary lines and submit the agreed upon map bearing three signatures from the authorized signatories to the House Governmental Affairs Committee. (Agreed upon by WHOM?  The boundaries cannot all be feasible as they ALL included Northlake!)
  • If an agreement cannot be reached by that date, House Governmental Affairs Committee Chair Amy Carter will appoint a panel of five state House members to carry out the task of drawing city boundaries for the proposed cities. The panel’s sole charge will be to produce a boundary map no later than December 31 by majority vote of the panel.   (And how will they do this?)
  • Either the agreed upon map by cityhood proponents or the map drawn by the legislative panel will be the only acceptable version that the House Governmental Affairs Committee will consider.  (Why would they be considering ANYTHING if this is supposed to be a two year process and the bills all FAILED last year?)


“This process Rep. Jacobs and Rep. Taylor developed* gives cityhood proponents in DeKalb County the best chance for successful passage of legislation that will allow new city proposals to go before the voters for consideration,” said House Governmental Affairs Committee Chair Amy Carter. “There is a need to bring order to this process and the directions outlined to the stakeholders today will accomplish just that.”

*  So the Representatives who want to pass the bills and may even be the sponsors of the bills were given the green light to write their own rules for the process and ignore the few that were already on the books even though they represent NO ONE who lives in the areas affected.   How in the hell is this considered "local control?"

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