MABLETON — Less than a month after a runoff election decided its leadership, the new city of Mableton’s mayor and City Council met for the first time Thursday night.
Before a packed room of residents and media, the council, despite a few hiccups along the way, passed several basic resolutions needed to get the city off the ground, and agreed to appoint several interim staff.
“We literally have to put this together from scratch,” Mayor Michael Owens told the crowd. “We are diligently working on that.”
The council appointed Emilia Walker-Ashby as interim city attorney, Susan Hiott as interim city clerk and Frank Milazi as interim financial consultant.
TJ Ferguson was elected as mayor pro tempore, to preside over meetings when Owens is absent.
The council also formally adopted the city charter — laid out in House Bill 839 — as its governing document, agreed on a website domain (MabletonGA.gov), and approved resolutions authorizing discussions on collecting tax revenues with Cobb County and the Cobb tax commissioner.
All seven of the elected officials are new to public office. During the meeting they became familiar with Robert’s Rules of Order and were counseled by their lawyer on how to make proper motions.
Procedures were sometimes confused and had to be explained, and the audience at times interjected.
Staffing up
The council approved the appointments of Walker-Ashby, Hiott and Milazi after they were nominated for their roles by the mayor.
All three are working without pay, with the understanding that they will be compensated later when the city begins generating revenue.
Walker-Ashby serves as attorney for the city of McDonough. She will bill the city $210 an hour for legal services.
The documents hiring Hiott and Milazi merely state they will be paid at a rate negotiated and approved by the mayor.
Hiott, the city clerk for…
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