In the final hours of the Legislative session, The Georgia House of Representatives approved the bill to create a city of Brookhaven, officially clearing the cityhood effort past the legislative stage.
The bill already had been approved by the state Senate when the House voted 104-57 on March 29 to approve the amended bill.
“The legislative process has run its course. It has been a tough road, but I am glad that the citizens will have the right to choose their form of local government. That is what HB 636 is all about,” the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Mike Jacobs, R-DeKalb, said shortly after the vote.
The bill sets a referendum July 31 for residents within the boundaries of the proposed city to vote on forming the municipality.
Now that legislators have packed up and left the Capitol for the year, groups on both sides of the cityhood issue are gearing up their campaigns for the July vote.
Laurenthia Mesh, a member of the opposition group Ashford Neighbors, said her group doesn’t see the bill’s passage as a defeat.
“We’re going to continue to reach out and educate as many neighbors, friends and supporters, so if this bill comes to a vote July 31 they can make the best decision,” Mesh said. “We’re going to keep working, keep pressing and continue to grow.”
She said the group is still hopeful that Gov. Nathan Deal will slow the process.
“We took more than 800 signatures to the governor’s office asking him to delay his signature until November, until we could get a second study,” Mesh said.
Key dates for the city proposal
A bill to create a new city called Brookhaven passed the Georgia Legislature in the final hours of its 2012 session.
The bill calls for a referendum on July 31, the date of Georgia’s primary election, on whether to create the new city. Voters able to cast ballots on the referendum must live within the proposed boundaries of the new city.
If the voters approve the creation of the city, the mayor and members of City Council will be elected during the regular election on Nov. 6.
The new city would officially open for business on Dec. 17.
J. Max Davis, president of the advocacy group BrookhavenYES, said the organization has spent the past few months lobbying legislators in an effort to get the bill passed. Davis said while the bill was being considered, it would have been very difficult to begin a grassroots campaign. The bill went through many changes during the legislative process, including a temporary change of the proposed city’s name from Brookhaven to Ashford.
“We were very uncertain if we would keep our name, where our boundaries were going to be, if it would even happen,” Davis said.
Davis said now, the board members of BrookhavenYES are looking forward to going out and informing people in the community about the proposed city.
“It’s exciting. This, for me, is the more fun and a little more easy part,” Davis said. “We don’t have to worry about legislative wrangling over a bill.”
BrookhavenYES plans to kick off its campaign with a barbecue in Blackburn Park April 15.
“The goal is to get people to join our volunteer group, make donations and have a good time,” Davis said. “We hope to spread the word and give out information and have a good time while we’re doing it.”