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Published Wednesday, February 22, 2012 in Local

Moreland voters will decide on four-year terms

By Sarah Fay Campbell

The Newnan Times-Herald

The Moreland Board of Aldermen voted unanimously Monday night to move toward four-year terms for the aldermen and mayor.

Now it will be up to the town's voters, who will decide July 31 whether or not to approve changes to the town's charter -- and the extension of the terms of the current elected officials.

Now that the aldermen have voted, State Rep. Billy Horne, R-Newnan, can introduce "local legislation" in the General Assembly to make the changes to the charter.

The change is necessary to get the Moreland elections on odd-numbered years only. Currently, there is an election every year. And that is a problem because of early voting -- especially during a presidential election year.

Senoia and Haralson had the same issue, but both made the changes several years ago.

If the voters reject the charter change in July and there are contested races for the mayor's seat and two seats on the board of aldermen, the town will have to hold its own election rather than it being handled by the Coweta County elections officials. The estimated cost is about $5,000. But there's more to it than that -- there are the logistics of running an election.

Plus, someone would have to become certified to hold an election, and everything would have to be approved by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The board considered the issue at their Feb. 7 meeting, but Alderman Allyn Bell, who took office in January, was opposed to the change. "We can't get people to run for two-year terms," Bell said at the time.

Coweta's legislative delegation has a long-standing policy of only introducing local legislation when the local governing body votes unanimously for it.

The board reconsidered the issue at a called meeting Monday night. Alderman Dick Ford attended by phone.

Under current rules, Moreland is set to have an election this year for the aldermen seats held by Ford and Carmen Brown, as well as the mayor's seat, held by Josh Evans.

Under the proposed changes, those terms will be extended one year, and will run until 2013.

Bell and Jeff Burgess would normally stand for election again in 2013, as well. But so that terms will be staggered, their terms will be lengthened to four years, and they will again stand for election in 2015.

The referendum on the charter question will be held during the general election primary.

"There should be very little, if any, added expense to the town because there is going to be an election going on anyway," said Town Attorney Mark Mitchell.

The problem with city elections in even-numbered years is that early voting starts so early that the ballots for the election must be ready before qualifying for city elections ends.

Qualifying for city elections is set by state law, while federal law governs the federal elections -- including the elections for U.S. Congress which are held every two years.

"So this is the process that other municipalities in Coweta, and throughout the state, either have adopted or are adopting to rectify this problem," Mitchell said.

Moreland could stick with two-year terms, but the terms could not be staggered. Instead, every seat would be up at every election.

Bell asked if there is any law requiring staggered terms.

There isn't, said Mitchell. But most governing bodies have staggered terms "so that the entire council isn't coming up for election at one time."

"Is that bad?" asked Bell.

"I think it is," said Mitchell. "I think by having staggered terms you allow for some continuity and not the possible scenario where everybody gets voted out, everybody is new and there is no continuity."

"If it is so good why doesn't the U.S. House of Representatives do that? There's not a good answer, is there?" Bell asked.

"Certainly the Senate does," Mitchell said.

"I'm not talking about the Senate," Bell said.

"Before we vote, I wish when something this important comes up that somebody would call me," Bell said. "I don't sit by that computer all day waiting on a durn email."

Bell's comment was met with silence.

Mitchell then continued to go through the charter changes.

"If it's voted down, we've got a problem, haven't we?" Bell asked.

"That's true," said Mitchell. 'If it were to be voted down it would be a problem. So I hope that everybody will work to try to get this passed. It really is, I think, in the town's best interest to put this in place."

Burgess made the motion to approve the change. It was seconded by Ford, and the vote was unanimous.

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