By Marci Gross, Lawrenceville, Ga. | The City of Lawrenceville is seeking to get the Georgia General Assembly to pass on a city charter modification to replace the current version, which dates from March 28, 1986. City officials will be working with the Gwinnett County legislative delegation to present the resolution as a request to the Georgia General Assembly for a Charter modification during the 2017 legislative session.
Lawrenceville Mayor Judy Jordan Johnson says that “Our Council has worked hard to ensure that the written authority for the City of Lawrenceville is an accurate reflection of our operating procedures. We believe that the adoption of the proposed new charter will be in the best interest of the citizens of Lawrenceville, as well as the operational affairs of the City.”
Originally chartered in 1821, the City of Lawrenceville is the oldest city in Metro Atlanta. Since the last version was adopted over 30 years ago, there have been several amendments made to the Charter. In addition to consolidating those amendments into one single document, the Charter request includes clarification on the role of the City Manager position that was originally adopted in 2011 after moving to a Council-Manager form of government. The Charter request also grants a provision naming the Mayor as a voting member on all matters brought before the City Council. Currently the mayor has a vote only when the Council vote ends in a tie.
The previous 10 Charter amendments being consolidated into the requested version include:
- Providing homestead exemption from municipal ad valorem taxes (1988);
- Changing provisions for the Lawrenceville corporate limits (1989);
- Retaining terms of office for mayor and council for two years (1990);
- De-annexation and removal of certain property within corporate limits (1992 and 1995);
- Increasing homestead exemption from city ad valorem taxes (1994);
- Amending mayoral duties and establishing city manager position (2011);
- Changing terms of office for mayor and council and establishing term limits (2012);
- Amending the procedures related to ordinance introductions (2014); and
- Amending the Lawrenceville corporate boundaries (2015).
The Charter modification request will be presented as a bill to the Georgia General Assembly during the 40-day session that began January 9. After the bill has been formally introduced, it must receive approval from both the Senate and House of Representatives. If approval is granted, the bill then goes before Governor Nathan Deal for his approval, after which the bill would then become law and the modified City Charter would be granted.
- For more information, visit www.LawrencevilleGa.org or to view the City of Lawrenceville’s current charter in its entirety.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Follow Us