Snellville Officials React to Judge's Decision Regarding Mayor's Powers

After Judge Hamil issued the verdict regarding the mayor's ability to terminate City Attorney Tony Powell, four members of council -- and, of course, the city attorney -- were visibly relieved. 

Mayor Kelly Kautz sued council members Dave Emanuel, Bobby Howard, Tom Witts, Diane Krause, and, at the last minute, Mike Sabbagh, in an attempt to have the judge pass a declaratory judgment against their efforts to keep Powell in his position as city attorney. The judge, however, sided with the four council members and failed to issue the judgment Kautz was hoping for. 

Read the live blog of the hearing here. 

Judge Hamil stated that he expected to side with Kautz, the plaintiff, agreeing with her attorney that "inherent in the right to appoint is the right to terminate," unless there are special provisions.

And, according to Hamil, section 5.16 of the city charter offers just that provision, saying that the mayor cannot terminate an "administrative officer," which the office of City Attorney falls under. 

"There is nothing that says it can be done at will," said Hamil. When he declined to issue the declaratory judgment, the council broke out into smiles and hugs. 

--Do you agree with the judge, or do you believe more time should have been taken to hear more details? Tell us in the comments. 

"I am very pleased that the judge verified what the council has believed all along," said Mayor Pro Tem Tom Witts after the hearing. "It will be interesting to see if Ms. Kautz now apologizes for all the accusations she made about the council trying to strip her authority, when in truth it was just the opposite.  It is time that the city got back to the business of making Snellville the City we all know it can be.  I'm hoping that Kelly will now put her political agenda behind her and concentrate on working with the council rather than being an obstacle."

Dave Emanuel echoed that sentiment, adding that he has full confidence in the abilities of City Attorney Tony Powell. 

"I’m happy with the decision," said Emanuel. "It brings the clarity that we need, we can get on with the city’s business, which was the whole purpose fot he action in the first place. The whole reason that there’s such contention going on is the fact that we feel Tony Powell is the best person to represent the city and the winners today are the people of Snellville. We have a lot of things hanging and don’t need an inexperienced, incompetent attorney handling it."

Mayor Kautz did not respond to Snellville Patch for comment. 

Since the initial controversy over the termination, or lack of reappointment, of Powell, council passed four resolution making it to where an administrative officer cannot be terminated without a majority vote by council. This will allegedly prevent situations like this from occuring in the future.