Tuesday, March 12, 2013
The funeral is scheduled for Thursday, March 14.
Updated March 13, 9:00 a.m. Rick McGranahan, 41, died very unexpectably from complications from diabetes. He lived in Washington, DC, where he worked for the National SPCA. He imported and exported diplomatic pets for the state department when diplomats were reassigned, according to his stepfather Tom Witts. He was also a published author. He has a brother, Bobby, who lives in Florida, and the family will travel to DC for the funeral. "As you can imagine," said Mayor Pro Tem Tom Witts, "we are both devastated as well as Carol's twin sister Linda, who lives with us. The next few days are going to be painful for all of us and we appreciate the outpouring of condolences and prayers that so many have conveyed. We are truly blessed to live…
Monday, January 14, 2013
In a Shakespearean-style speech, Anderson asks that the city drop their lawsuit against him
(Editor's note: the following is a letter to the editor sent by George Anderson, a citizen who filed an ethics complaint against Mayor Pro Tem Tom Witts last year. The statements made are the opinion of the author, and they do not represent the views of Snellville Patch. For background information on this letter, scroll to the bottom of the story. Since the items in question are part of a lawsuit, Mayor and council will likely not comment. Anderson originally planned to say this during tonight's council meeting, but determined that his statements would exceed the five-minute time limit. One more thing: his style of writing is based [on purpose] off various plays by William Shakespeare, including Julius Caesar. For comparison, click here.) …
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
The council agrees that something must be done as soon as possible.
In a Dec. 10 work session, city manager Butch Sanders proposed three options concerning the broken pipe in the dam over Johnson Lake, in the Summit Chase subdivision. Residents of the neighborhood, along with concerned Snellville citizens, spoke up at a town hall meeting on Nov. 8. Some expressed the desire for the city to handle the problem, while others balked at the thought of taxpayer money going toward private property. The problem is fairly straightforward -- the internal mechanism is shot, according to city manager Butch Sanders. The matter of who will pay for the repairs is more complicated. In December of 2011, the lake was drained by order of the Summit Chase homeowners association, according to Summit Chase resident Lorry …
Anderson originally filed ethics complaints against Mayor Pro Tem Tom Witts.
At the advice of the city attorney, Tony Powell, the City of Snellville has filed a lawsuit against ethics watchdog George Anderson. Anderson filed numerous ethics complaints against Mayor Pro Tem Tom Witts earlier this year, alleging that Witts had violated his oath of office when he was sworn in. His violation, according to Anderson, was failing to declare that he owed back taxes. When George Anderson heard that the suit had been filed, he responded in a Dec. 4 email by saying the council was "wasting taxpayer funds during a down economy," and that they should be "ashamed." Anderson's Ethics in Government group was recently dissolved, with Anderson citing health issues as the reason for his quasi-retirement. Powell, along with …
Friday, December 7, 2012
Letter to the editor from Mayor Pro Tem Tom Witts.
Editor's note: the following is a letter to the editor from Mayor Pro Tem Tom Witts. On Dec. 6, the Snellville Police Department, with the help of the Explorers and members of the Snellville Citizens Police Academy, conducted their annual 'Shop with a Cop' night. In cooperation with the Snellville Walmart and the Snellville Neighborhood Market, children chosen by the staff of Britt elementary school went shopping with a police officer to purchase gifts that their families would otherwise not be able to afford for Christmas. But this year I witnessed a twist to Shop with a Cop, a twist that was unexpected and heartwarming. Tisha Rowland, a Snellville Realtor, was shopping in Walmart when she spotted all the police and volunteers standing …
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Councilman Tom Witts is moving forward with plans to relight Snellville's Eternal Flame, a memorial to war veterans.
For Tom Witts, and other veterans of the armed forces veterans, “the night the lights went out in Georgia” occurred in late 2005, when the eternal flame on Snellville's Vietnam Veterans memorial was extinguished and the memorial was moved to the new City Hall. For twenty years, the eternal flame had burned in tribute to the veterans who served in the Vietnam war. “As a veteran myself, and being involved in Veteran organizations, I was well aware that the eternal flame meant more to the veterans than the city Fathers realized," said Witts, Snellville's Mayor Pro Tem. "For years, I was part of the ceremony that included placing a wreath on the monument each Memorial Day. But when the monument was moved to its current location and the flame…
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
The decision was not reached without controversy, and involves activist's "frivolous" ethics charges against councilman Tom Witts.
Editor's Note: This article was updated for clarification. During the first few minutes of last night's council meeting, a few items were changed in the agenda. Items B (changes to the charter) and E (contract with Knights Unlimited, Inc.) were moved to "new business" with no problem. There was a problem, however, when Mayor Pro Tem Tom Witts reminded the council that there was another agenda item that was supposed to have been moved. “Madam Chair, I believe there was one more agenda change,” Witts said. “Moving Anderson from public comment to item C.” Mayor Kautz felt that change was “out of order,” despite the fact that had been discussed previously in the work session. The recommendation to move George Anderson's comments was …
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Days after its adoption, Mayor Kelly Kautz and Mayor Pro Tem Tom Witts still seek harmony and clarity on the 2013 budget.
Snellville leaders are still trying to agree on what they did and didn't do regarding the adoption of the 2013 budget. And, following a report on Patch on June 30 about the $9.6 million budget's adoption, both Mayor Kelly Kautz and Mayor Pro Tem Tom Witts reached out to clarify their positions. (Read the original story here.) In an email statement from the mayor on June 30, Kautz said some of the figures released by Witts to the media on Friday and included in his budget were inaccurate. She noted the lack of the LCI project and no overtime pay for police officers as just two of those problems. (See the mayor's proposed budget attached.) "Mayor Pro Tem Witts’ budget has a surplus because he is trying to hide expenditures from the public …
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Snellville City Council approved its 2012-2013 budget Friday evening, but not without some challenges.
At a special called meeting Friday, Snellville City Council passed a 2013 budget that only slightly increases expenditures over the previous one. The approved budget (with $9.6 million in expenditures) was an amendment to the original one proposed by Mayor Kelly Kautz. The mayor's version reflected an 8 percent increase in expenditures over the previous one -- about $9.4 million to $10.2 million, according to a press release from Mayor Pro Tem Tom Witts. "I’m proud of all the time and effort spent by the members of council in conjunction with our city staff that resulted in a good budget and tax relief to our property owners," Wits said in the press release. "In 2010, when we had to raise taxes, I promised that when the time came I would …
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Snellville Councilman Tom Witts, supporters, walked out of a Friday press conference before it was finished.
The executive director of a Georgia watchdog group announced his intentions to file ethics complaints against two Snellville officials Friday afternoon. But less than 10 minutes into a press conference in a front hallway at City Hall, Ethics in Government Group head George Anderson lost most of the audience. A group of more than a dozen supporters of Councilman Tom Witts, and Witts himself, walked out the front door, saying there are no merits to Anderson’s claims. After they left, only a couple of media people and three or four others remained as Anderson further claimed he had evidence Witts and Snellville's Chief Municipal Court Judge Mark Layng violated a handful of ethics codes. Anderson says he is asking for investigations into …
Josh
7:17 pm on Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Thank you :) more ›