Three topics which are not normally controversial among local elected officials, including the makeup of the ACC Board of Elections and the transitioning of the local government’s vehicle fleet over to electric power, suddenly became so last week. Most surprisingly, the commission voted down a roundabout at the intersection of West Hancock Avenue and West Broad Street that had been planned for years.
While the roundabout was put back on track a week later, the number of unusual votes has been increasing lately on the ACC Commission.
At the same meeting, the commission also approved an agreement with Athens First United Methodist Church that will allow for the demolition of the historic Saye building.
Contents
The ACC Board of Elections
Roundabout at Hancock and Broad
Electric vehicle purchase
Demolishing the Saye building
The ACC Board of Elections
Before the close of the 2025 legislative session, State Representative Houston Gaines (R) made an attempt to dissolve the ACC Board of Elections and take the power to appoint its members away from the ACC Commission.
While the attempt failed this year, Gaines may try again next year. That’s because the method the Athens-Clarke County government uses to appoint two members of the five-person body is probably unconstitutional.
For many years, the local Democratic and Republican parties have both been able to appoint one member to the board, with the ACC Commission appointing the other three members. Since the ACC Commission is dominated by Democrats, this process typically results in four of the board’s members belonging to the Democratic party, a fairly representative number considering that about 70% of the county’s voters are Democrats as well.
The problem is that the Georgia Supreme Court struck down a similar appointment method for the DeKalb County Board of Ethics in 2018. The Supreme Court ruled that delegating governmental power to private organizations that are unaccountable to the public, like political parties, is unconstitutional.
This means that the ACC government might have to change the method it uses to appoint members to the Board of Elections at some point.
The simplest option would be to grant the ACC Commission the power to appoint all five members. However, that might mean all five would be Democrats, which is an outcome that Gaines probably wants to avoid.
Therefore, Gaines’ has proposed handing appointment power over to the Superior Court Judges of the Western Circuit, some of whom are Republicans.
This plan didn’t sit well with the ACC Commission, who accused Gaines of having anti-democratic motivations and of meddling with county elections without first consulting with them or with the public.
“Our Republican state legislators who do not represent this community – they are not voted on by a majority of this community – they cannot help but meddle in our local democracy,” said Commissioner Melissa Link. “These are the same legislators who enacted a coup upon this local government three years ago on January 6, 2022 by a vastly redrawn [commission] district map that drew 67% of Athens voters into new districts, causing chaos.”
“None of our representatives reached out to us [about this]. They have not communicated any problems [with the current makeup of the ACC Board of Elections],” Commissioner Carol Myers said with some anger in her voice. “There’s a lot of things that we see going on in this country, and we’re seeing something going on right here for no apparent reason.”
Before it became clear that Gaines’ plan was not going to advance this legislative year, Mayor Kelly Girtz had already drafted a resolution opposing the plan to take appointment power for the Board of Elections away from the commission.
Most commissioners supported the resolution, which passed in an 8-2 vote. Only Commissioners Ovita Thornton and John Culpepper, the only Republican on the commission, voted against the resolution.
Culpepper stayed quiet during the discussion, but Thornton explained her vote. She said that she supported Girtz’s resolution but thought it was presented too late to consider.
“[It was drafted] too late for me to take this seriously. I do not support resolutions that do not have any substance,” Thornton said. “I have made a commitment that I’m going to live with no matter what people think. I am not voting for no more resolutions without a clear path on how resolutions come to us.”
While she voted in favor of the resolution, Commissioner Stephanie Johnson had some critical comments for her colleagues, saying that they are biased in favor of the Democratic party. She also said that she knows many Athens residents who have applied to serve on various boards and authorities only to be turned down without explanation.
“There are people behind the rail who hyper-focus on [partisanship],” Johnson said. “There are many [residents] who apply and apply and apply, and some who have institutional knowledge, professional knowledge, hobby knowledge and they want to serve our community and they are not selected.”
Commissioner Tiffany Taylor disagreed, saying that the commission is fair and unbiased when they choose members to serve on various boards and authorities.
“I think that this body, all ten of us, are fair when it comes to our decisions. We aren’t biased by political backgrounds when we pick our BAC [Boards, Authorities and Commissions] attendees,” Taylor said.
Roundabout at Hancock and Broad
The fate of a proposed roundabout at the intersection of West Hancock Avenue and West Broad Street was briefly thrown into limbo last week when the commission rejected the authorization of eminent domain to purchase the necessary land.
The government has already acquired or made deals to acquire the majority of the properties in the proposed construction area, leaving two parcels which have not been acquired yet. One of these – a small portion of the front lawn of a retail shop off Minor Street – may require eminent domain, but not for the entire property. The roundabout would take up only a small sliver (4.7%) of the property.
A piece of the Broadacres Housing Authority property will also be needed, but this acquisition should not require eminent domain.
Despite not saying anything in opposition to the land acquisition during the agenda-setting meeting last month, Taylor, Fisher, Johnson, Culpepper and Thornton all voted against authorizing eminent domain, along with Commissioner Patrick Davenport.
Johnson said she disapproved only because Girtz made changes to the agenda item on the floor which she did not have time to process.
Commissioner Mike Hamby pushed back in frustration at Johnson’s reasoning, saying the changes were not substantive.
“This is a public safety issue to move forward to get something done for this community that people are asking us to do. There’s no reason not to vote for this because we’ve been talking about it since 2018 and this is a simple clarification that the mayor read,” Hamby said.
“These are basically scrivener’s errors. Very very minor,” Link agreed.
Thornton explained her vote by saying she thought it would pass anyway and that she didn’t want to be responsible for the use of eminent domain.
“I think this is going to pass regardless, but eminent domain is a little scary for me,” Thornton said. “This [project] may be absolutely necessary…but I don’t do eminent domain.”
Fisher was the only other commissioner to explain his vote. He opposed authorizing eminent domain because of the negative impact he thought the roundabout would have on the small shop off Minor Street.
“This is going to affect that gentleman’s business because of what we may have to do with the sidewalk. That’s an issue for me,” Fisher said.
After the vote to authorize eminent domain failed 4-6, Hamby made a motion to reconsider, which passed unanimously. Once it was back on the floor, Hamby was able to propose holding the vote for one week. This passed 9-1, with Taylor as the only commissioner opposed.
As commissioners reconvened on Tuesday for their monthly work session, they also reconsidered authorizing eminent domain for the Hanock roundabout. Fisher and other commissioners had time during the week to visit the site and they no longer believe the roundabout will greatly impact the businesses there.
This time, the authorization to use eminent domain passed in a unanimous 8-0 vote with Johnson and Culpepper absent.
The roundabout should be completed by mid-late 2027.
Electric vehicle purchase
The purchase of electric vehicles is another topic that has become controversial recently on the commission.
Last week, the ACC Commission approved the purchase of 42 electric vehicles and 36 charging stations for the price of $3.3 million. The expense was approved by voters in the TSPLOST 2023 referendum which passed with 67.8% of the vote. It’s part of the ACC government’s commitment to achieving 100% clean and renewable energy by 2035.
According to Georgia law, abandoning a TSPLOST project once it has been approved by the voters requires another referendum, something which has never been tried before in Athens history. Knowing this, one might have expected commissioners to give their unanimous stamp of approval for this project, which has the potential to save the local government around $35,000 a year in fuel costs.
But that’s not what happened.
Three commissioners – Taylor, Johnson and Commissioner Dexter Fisher – voted against the electric vehicle purchase, which passed in a 7-3 vote.
Fisher explained his vote at the agenda-setting meeting in March, saying he worried that the federal government and the country as a whole might be moving away from electric vehicles.
“I’m just leery about the [political] climate right now for electric vehicles, what path it’s going down. I’d hate for us somewhere down the road to get these things and get stuck with them and not have any use for them,” Fisher said.
After the purchase of these electric vehicles, 38 percent of the local government’s light vehicle fleet will be fully-electric or hybrid-electric.
Demolishing the Saye building
The ACC Commission approved an agreement with Athens First United Methodist Church that will allow for the demolition of the Saye building despite a flood of public comment in opposition.
Historic Athens led the charge against the demolition, encouraging the commission to reject the agreement and fight in court to save the Saye building if needed. Members of the public spoke for almost an hour in opposition to the proposed demolition.
The ACC Commission had already given their initial approval to a mediation agreement with the church in November 2024. If they rejected the agreement at this stage they would likely be sued by First United Methodist, a lawsuit that commissioners seem to believe they would lose.
“I am sympathetic with the points laid out by the public tonight…and the efforts to save our local history. I respect that and I appreciate it,” Myers said to the assembled crowd. “However, there are details of this situation which make me continue to support the mediation agreement…I stand by the fact sharing and the legal analysis in [closed, executive sessions] that led to my support.”
Despite a last-ditch effort by Link to delay the decision, the commission passed the mediation agreement in a 7-3 vote, with Link, Taylor and Thornton voting no.
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