08 SB52/AP
Senate
Bill 52
By:
Senators Jones of the 10th, Adelman of the 42nd, Weber of the 40th and Thompson
of the 5th
AS
PASSED
AN
ACT
To
amend an Act revising, superseding, and consolidating the laws relating to the
governing authority of DeKalb County, approved March 8, 1956 (Ga. L. 1956,
p. 3237), as amended, particularly by an Act establishing the form of
government of DeKalb County and fixing the powers and duties of the officers
constituting the governing authority of DeKalb County, approved April 9, 1981
(Ga. L. 1981, p. 4304), as amended, so as to change the
provisions relating to the authority of the chief executive officer to preside
over meetings of the county commission and vote in certain instances; to change
the provisions relating to the authority of the chief executive officer to set
the agenda for meetings of the county commission; to provide for related
matters; to provide for a referendum; to provide an effective date; to repeal
conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION
1.
An
Act revising, superseding, and consolidating the laws relating to the governing
authority of DeKalb County, approved March 8, 1956 (Ga. L. 1956, p. 3237),
as amended, particularly by an Act establishing the form of government of DeKalb
County and fixing the powers and duties of the officers constituting the
governing authority of DeKalb County, approved April 9, 1981
(Ga. L. 1981, p. 4304), as amended, is amended by adding a new
paragraph (20) to subsection (a) of Section 9 of the 1981 amendatory Act
(Ga. L. 1981, p. 4304) to read as follows:
"(20)
To prepare an agenda for meetings of the Commission. The commission shall
accept agenda items by the chief executive officer upon motion by any
commissioner to be placed upon the agenda, pursuant to the rules by which an
item may be placed on the agenda by a member of the
commission."
SECTION
2.
Said
Act is further amended by striking subsections (a) and (c) of Section 11 of the
1981 amendatory Act (Ga. L. 1981, p. 4304) in their entirety and
inserting in lieu thereof new subsections (a) and (c) to read as
follows:
"(a)
The chief executive shall have no vote at any regular or specially called
meeting of the commission unless the members of the commission are equally
divided. Even when the members of the commission are equally divided, the chief
executive may not vote on a matter which is not subject to veto by said officer
under the provisions of subsection (d) of Section 15 of this
Act."
"(c)
The Presiding Officer shall preside at meetings of the Commission and shall have
the following additional duties:
(1)
To convene such special meetings of the Commission as are deemed necessary, but
all members shall be notified at least three days in advance of any such special
meeting;
(2)
To appoint the members and chairpersons of such committees of the Commission as
the Commission, by its rules, may establish and fill vacancies therein, but any
such appointments may be rejected by a majority vote of the total membership of
the Commission;
(3)
To compel the attendance of members at meetings of the Commission by subpoena,
if necessary, subject to the policy of the Commission as established by its
rules; and
(4)
To exercise such other powers and duties as may be assigned to the Presiding
Officer by ordinance or rules and regulations of the
Commission."
SECTION
3.
Said
Act is further amended by striking subsection (l) of Section 13 of the 1981
amendatory Act (Ga. L. 1981, p. 4304) in its entirety which
reads as follows:
"(l)
The Chief Executive shall issue calls for agenda items and shall prepare and
publish a listing of those items and the same shall serve as the agenda for the
Commission unless superseded by the Commission."
SECTION
4.
Said
Act is further amended by revising Section 20 as follows:
"Section
20. Records; minutes. The Commission shall appoint a clerk who shall be the
clerk of the Chief Executive and the Commission and shall keep a proper and
accurate book of minutes wherein shall appear all the acts, orders, and
proceedings of the Commission, in chronological order, and a similar book of
minutes wherein shall appear, in chronological order, all acts, orders, and
proceedings of the Chief Executive. The minute books of the Chief Executive and
the Commission shall be open to public inspection at all times during the
regular office hours, and certified copies of any entries therein shall be
furnished by the said clerk to any person requesting same upon payment of a
reasonable fee, to be paid into the county treasury as other funds, to be
assessed by the Commission in an amount sufficient to defray the cost of
preparing same. In addition, the clerk shall manage the agenda for meetings of
the Commission and perform such other duties as the Commission may
direct."
SECTION
5.
Unless
otherwise prohibited by the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended, the
election superintendent of DeKalb County shall call and conduct a special
election for the purpose of submitting this Act to the electors of DeKalb County
for approval or rejection. The election superintendent shall conduct that
election on a practicable date in 2008 authorized under Code Section 21-2-540 of
the O.C.G.A.; provided, however, that if the conducting of the election under
this Act earlier is impracticable, then the election superintendent shall
conduct the election under this Act on the Tuesday after the first Monday in
November, 2008. The election superintendent shall issue the call and conduct
that election as provided by general law. The superintendent shall cause the
date and purpose of the election to be published once a week for two weeks
immediately preceding the date thereof in the official organ of DeKalb County.
The ballot shall have written or printed thereon the words:
|
"( ) YES
( ) NO
|
Shall
the Act be approved which provides for the presiding officer to preside over
meetings of the DeKalb County Commission and for the commission to establish its
own agenda for such meetings?"
|
All
persons desiring to vote for approval of the Act shall vote "Yes," and all
persons desiring to vote for rejection of the Act shall vote "No." If more than
one-half of the votes cast on such question are for the approval of the Act,
Sections 1, 2, 3, and 4 of this Act shall become of full force and effect on the
first day of January immediately following such election. If the Act is not
approved or if the election is not conducted as provided in this section,
Sections 1, 2, 3, and 4 of this Act shall not become effective and this Act
shall be automatically repealed on the first day of January immediately
following that election date. The expense of such election shall be borne by
DeKalb County. It shall be the duty of the election superintendent of DeKalb
County to certify the results thereof to the Secretary of State.
SECTION
6.
Except
as otherwise provided in Section 5 of this Act, this Act shall become effective
upon its approval by the Governor or its becoming law without such
approval.
SECTION
7.
All
laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.