Lawsuit filed against Vinings cityhood that could impact others in pursuit of self governance
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A fly has landed in the ‘ointment’ for those seeking cityhood after a lawsuit was recently filed challenging the creation of the City of Vinings. The lawsuit has far-reaching implications beyond Vinings and could derail the efforts of other communities as they seek the cityhood path within Cobb.
Citing state constitutional grounds, a lawsuit was filed this week by resident Joseph Young, in an effort to stop the May 24 referendum on Vining’s cityhood. The lawsuit, filed against Cobb County and Elections Director Janine Eveler, was filed Monday in Cobb Superior Court by Young, a Vinings resident and state lobbyist who was a legislative director to former Gov. Roy Barnes in his past life.
As Young carelessly misspelled Eveler’s name throughout the document, he alleges that the Vinings bill is unconstitutional because it violates Georgia’s home rule laws.
The lawsuit, assigned to Cobb Superior Court Chief Judge Robert Leonard, is asking that the referendum either be removed from the May 24 ballot or delayed to the Nov. 8 general election. A hearing has not been scheduled.
Political watchers across Cobb pointed out the small degrees of separation and the political ties nexus of Young with former Governor Barnes and current Cobb Chair Lisa Cupid, who is against cityhood. Saying he should be quite familiar with the legislative process, watchers wonder why Young didn’t testify against the Vinings bill when it was being considered by the legislature. They suggest this is a desperate attempt by Cupid to derail all of the cityhood and keep the communities under her Cobb County umbrella, using Young to get the work done.
Georgia cities must provide at least three services from a list of 14 specified under state law. But home rule laws also give cities and counties discretionary powers to choose which services they provide. The lawsuit alleges that the legislature cannot dictate what services a city can provide under a local law, which the Cobb cityhood bills were.
Young’s lawsuit contends that the Vinings bill would require a new city, if approved by voters in a referendum, to provide specific services: planning and zoning, code enforcement, and parks and recreation.
The Committee for East Cobb Cityhood called this “…a flagrant attempt to legislate from the bench.” The Vinings Exploratory Committee, the group behind Vinings Cityhood, called the lawsuit “…an attack on the democratic process.”
The groups feel some level of comfort because the Vinings, East Cobb, and Lost Mountain cityhood bills were modeled on the same laws that created other recent municipalities in Georgia, like Sandy Springs, Milton, and Stonecrest.
All three bills have been signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp with the cityhood bill for Mableton waiting to be signed. The Mableton bill does not contain the same language about a specific provision of services. Lost Mountain’s bill includes a charter calling for the provision of planning and zoning, code enforcement, and sanitation services.
Section 1.12 of the East Cobb bill states the following about service provision, in lines 157-161:
“Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, the city shall exercise the powers enumerated in subsection (a) of this section only for the purposes of planning and zoning, code adoption and enforcement, parks and recreation, police and law enforcement services, fire and emergency services, and those items directly related to the provision of such services and for the general administration of the city in providing such services.”
Cobb County government is continuing to host cityhood town halls which some view as improper use of funds given Cupid’s stated position that she is against cityhood. They say Cupid is using county funds to wage an information campaign against citizens, which should be against the law and governance rules of the County.