JONESBORO — In a special called meeting Monday, July 17 concerning November’s election, five of six Jonesboro City Council members were absent.
Absent from the meeting were Mayor Pro Tem Tracey Messick and Council members Don Dixon, Bobby Lester, Billy Powell and Ed Wise.
At the council’s July 10 meeting, all five had voted to reject an intergovernmental agreement with Clayton County for the county to run the city’s election in November.
Alfred Dixon was the only council member to attend the July 17 meeting and was the lone dissenting vote in the July 10 meeting.
The Clayton News reached out to each council member via email and phone and as of Monday at noon, the only responses were from Dixon and Wise.
Wise explained that he was absent because he was out of town on business and notified Mayor Donya Sartor and Interim City Manager David Allen on Friday, June 14 to let them know he would not be there.
“It was understood there wouldn’t be a special called meeting according to Robert’s Rules,” Dixon said in an email explaining why he attended the meeting. “After receiving calls and texts from residents inquiring about the called meeting, I felt it was only right to attend and was thankful of the residents that showed up to voice their opinions regarding the elections.”
Sartor said the City Council members being absent from the July 17 meeting was “disappointing.”
Sartor said her intent was not to “force the vote,” but she said felt like addressing it in the city’s regular meeting in August would be too late.
In order for it to be voted on again, a council member who had voted to reject the agreement with the county would have to request for it to be added to the agenda in a future meeting. The next meetings are an Aug. 7 work session and a regular meeting on Aug. 14.
Because of the absence of the council members,…
Read the full article here
