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Regarding the Forsyth County Commission’s apparent intentions to begin meeting in the Freedom Parkway Administration Building once it is completed, a local writer reported the following:
Paragraph 3, as reported, contends that once the new facility is open, the Forsyth County Commission plans to come to order, conducting official meetings in the new location, deliberating there, voting there, but then ridiculously “re-enacting” those votes, in essence “formalizing” them at the existing Forsyth County Administration Building located at 110 East Main Street in downtown Cumming. According to the article,
Now, if the commission’s reported plans are true, and they appear to be, in addition to casting an image of utter incompetence, and in the process violating established statewide legal and constitutional prohibitions, the Forsyth County Commission apparently plans to violate Article II, Section 2-31 of the Forsyth County Code of Ordinances requiring that its “Meetings shall be held at the Forsyth County Administration Building, 101 East main Street, Cumming, Georgia, 30040.”
The Forsyth County Commission has no authority to change that provision of local legislation. According to Georgia law, other than provisions perhaps relating to governing and policing the unincorporated areas of the county, changes to the Forsyth County Code of Ordinances can only be enacted, and thus, “formalized,” by the Georgia General Assembly while it is in session at the State Capitol.
Therefore, any attempt at revising that local ordinance would presently require unanimous sponsorship by the members of the Forsyth County delegation and a vote of the Georgia Legislature, which as things stand will not happen. Thus, even if there were no statewide legal or constitutional restrictions regarding where the Forsyth County Commission is allowed to meet, Article II, Section 2-31(c) above is by itself enough to quash any thoughts of lawfully meeting at the new administrative complex on Freedom Parkway. By local ordinance, unchangeable by anyone other than the Georgia General Assembly, the Forsyth County Commission is prohibited from calling an official meeting into session outside of the lawfully-designated meeting location at 110 East Main Street.
But in addition to that local prohibition, according to the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia (ACCG) Handbook, statewide law and the Georgia Constitution also prohibit any county board of commissioners from either deliberating or voting outside of that same county site.
So, what does that really mean?
Well, understand that with little exception there are only two activities which officially occur while a county commission is “called to order” and “in session.” Those activities are deliberating and voting, neither of which, as I just showed you, may occur outside of the “county site” of 110 East Main Street. Deliberation is that activity which immediately commences during an official meeting once it is “called to order” by its commission chairman. Voting occurs once deliberation on a particular item is complete. According to established Georgia case law, recognized for the last 50 years as Georgia Constitutional Law, “deliberation” does not constitute a discrete event, or moment during a particular meeting. “Deliberation” is defined as the entire “decision-making process” of the commissioners. That process, from beginning to end, must occur at the “county site.” None of that process may occur away from the “county site.”
So, in essence, according to (1) local county ordinance, (2) statewide law and (3) the Constitution of Georgia, as documented in the ACCG Handbook, other than at 110 East Main Street in Cumming, the Chairman of the Forsyth County Commission is not authorized to constitute an assembly of the commissioners and utter the following words:
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