Former Mayor Millsaps Asks Gov. Deal to Veto City Manager Bill

Former Mayor Rex Millsaps has asked Gov. Nathan Deal to veto a bill that would change the city charter to allow the . Millsaps is asking for this veto, because his request to add a provision that would give citizens an opportunity to vote on this change was not included in the legislation that passed.

“It (House Bill 555) is changing the form of government the city currently operates under. I just felt like if you are going to change the form of government the people ought to have the right to vote on it. If the governor signs this I guess I’ll just pay more taxes to pay for adding another layer to city government,” said Millsaps.   

When asked why he did not make his request for a referendum known during public meetings, to local representatives and to the public before the legislative vote, Millsaps, a CPA, said during tax season he works seven days a week. Therefore he was unaware of city council actions and that legislation was created and advanced for voting. When it came to his attention he contacted . He said it took her two weeks to respond.  

“I received a telephone call from him, but by that time the item was already on the calendar for a vote,” said Rep. Valerie Clark, sponsor of the bill.  

On city council voted to have the city charter changed to hire a city manager. The vote passed 3 to 1, with casting the only vote against the change.

“My 'No' vote was not against that form of government. I voted 'No' because I thought the whole thing was handled in a hurried way. We just elected a new mayor and new council members; more time, I felt, should have been given to consider this change under the new administration… The city manager will not add another layer to city government, but will provide continuity. It will also provide checks and balances,” said Councilwoman Beiser.  

As for raising taxes to pay for the city manager position Beiser said, “Absolutely not! There are no plans to raise taxes to pay for anything. This position will be included in the administration’s new budget that will be proposed in August.”   

Notified by city council that legislation was to move forward, Rep. Clark submitted proposed legislation to prepare it for readings and vote. 

“I am not sure of when I received the notification from city council that they had passed consent to change the city’s charter. But as soon as I received official written document from the city’s attorney I then submitted it to our legal department to prepare for readings,” said Rep. Clark.

After the bill was prepared, it was read once on three days during legislative sessions, before voting took place. Following the timeline provided, first reading was done on March 16th, second reading on March 21st and third and final read occurred on March 23rd. After the bill was read for the third and final time it was then placed on the legislative calendar and voted on. If opposition to a bill is known than it is read in the legislative “well” on the floor to permit debate. This bill did not go through that step in the process because no one had expressed opposition.

HB 555  passed by unanimous votes in both Senate and House. With support from Georgia state senators Renee Unterman and Don Balfour, and along with Clark, Rep. Buzz Brockway, the bill moved through passage processes without interruptions.

On April 21st the House sent HB 555 to Gov. Deal. Millsaps’ request for veto was made public on April 22nd. 

As of this posting the governor’s office had not responded to inquires of which way was the governor leaning and if he is to sign HB 555, when would that occur.  

 “I sent a letter to Valerie Clark with the city’s request (to change the charter) on March 8th. We notified all representatives that this was not a unanimous city council vote," said City Attorney Lee Thompson, Jr.

"Prior to the vote on March 3rd, we ran an ad notifying the public that this change was on city council’s agenda for a vote during the meeting on March 7th. This change was also discussed during the February Work Session which is a public meeting,” Thompson added.

“The first I heard of this (Mr. Millsaps seeking a revision and now a veto) was reading it in the newspaper over the weekend. He never contacted me,” said Thompson. “It would be unusual for the governor not to sign off on local legislation that is supported by local representatives.”

Millsaps sees it differently in asking for the veto.

“Generally in the past, most representatives and senators, whenever an action has come from a local government wanting to change their charter, it has always been my experience that it is not done unless there was a unanimous vote by the council. And this was not a unanimous vote,” said Millsaps.

He said while he was mayor this change came up for a vote by council in 2008. Council casted a split vote 2-2, which allowed Millsaps to cast the deciding vote. Millsaps voted against the change and the issue was halted.

 “I knew he was not in favor of centralized city management. I have never heard him say anything about making a referendum out of the issue. He certainly had enough time, he had four years if he wanted to do that,” said Councilman Tony Powell.