Possible 5 seats up for grabs on council, Sunday alcohol, $29M city hall bond too
by Hatcher Hurd
write the author
July 20, 2011
ALPHARETTA, GA. – If Councilman Doug DeRito does indeed run for mayor in November (he says he hasn't quite decided), then the special election for his seat will be Nov. 8 with the other four council seats up for election.
With the first reading at the July 18 City Council meeting for the ordinance for the Nov. 8 council elections of posts 4, 5 and 6 – held by incumbents Cheryl Oakes, Jim Paine and D.C. Aiken respectively – a second was added at the request of Councilman Doug DeRito.
DeRito put his own Post 1 up for possible election should he qualify for the mayoral race. But DeRito left the door open to change his mind. He said he would not make his formal announcement until closer to qualifying time.
Qualifying is the term for formally tendering one's name for election to the post during the three-day qualifying period – Aug. 29, 30 and 31 – and paying the qualifying fee. According to City Attorney Sam Thomas, should DeRito qualify, by law his seat as a councilman would immediately be vacated.
By introducing this ordinance calling for a Nov. 8 special election for his seat concurrent with the General Election, DeRito said he was preventing a special election the following March. Not only would his seat be open for seven months, the city would be liable for the cost of the special election – estimated at between $50,000 and $100,000 that the city would have to pay Fulton County for conducting it.
If DeRito opts not to run for mayor, he would keep his seat and the special election ordinance for Post 1 would be rendered void since there would be no empty seat.
Councilmen Aiken and Chris Owens expressed concerns that introducing the ordinance with the intention only that DeRito may run for mayor, introduces a certain amount of doubt for prospective candidates for his council seat.
"How will anyone know if the post is really available? " asked Aiken.
Owens posed the opposite side of the dilemma. If anyone qualified for the seat and DeRito did nothing, they would have no seat for which to run and would be out the $450 qualifying fee for a council seat (it is $9000 mayoral qualifying fee).
That means there could be as many as five new faces on the council come Nov. 9.
Mayor Arthur Letchas has reached the end of his term limits for mayor and is retiring. Paine, who is serving the unexpired term of David Belle Isle, will have that term expire at the same time as that of mayor, i.e. Dec. 31.
For that reason, Paine will not have to resign his post to run for mayor and so will remain on council at least through December. Meanwhile, David Belle Isle, who resigned that post to run unsuccessfully for state senator, has announced he will also run for mayor.
"Is there any assurance the seat will be open," Owens asked.
Thomas said there are no guarantees (that DeRito will ultimately resign his post by qualifying) and that potential Post 1 candidates would file at their own risk.
DeRito spoke up to say that he only wants to prevent a costly March special election.
"However, I would not be doing this if I did not have a strong interest [in running for mayor.] My intent is to run for mayor. I am committed to making a firm announcement two weeks before [qualifying]," DeRito said. "I am not announcing now because I am not yet sure I want to do it. I want to make sure I have the full support of my family first."
After the meeting, he said he has a son studying in Oxford, England, and is waiting for him to come home and participate in the decision. He said the rest of his family are behind his running for mayor, DeRito said.
"I am not the kind of guy to get ahead of the curve," he said.
Labels: Alpharetta, alpharetta city hall, alpharetta community center, City Council, City Council Meeting
# posted by
Brian Vanderhoff @ 8:43 AM
