There won’t be any fireworks in Demorest on the Fourth of July, and there weren’t any big ones during Tuesday night’s meeting. Just seven days after confronting the city manager and two council members over emails detailing their backdoor attempts to get rid of him and the city attorney, Mayor Rick Austin presided over a relatively calm council meeting on June 2.
Councilman Nathan Davis did not attend the meeting due to illness.
As the meeting got underway, Councilman Dr. John Hendrix – who joined the meeting by phone – asked the city attorney if they could pass anything without Councilman Davis being there. As attorney Joey Homans was responding that the mayor counts toward a quorum, Demorest businessman Lawrence Bridges spoke over him, loudly saying, “It’s not a quorum. It’s not a quorum.” To that, Mayor Austin replied, “It is a quorum, read the law.” Bridges responded, “I do read the charter, and this is not a quorum.” As Bridges exited the building, audience member Heather Dotson called after him saying, “You don’t even live in the city.” Bridges popped his head back through the door, stared at her, and said, “Fifty years young lady. Fifty years.”
Bridges left, but forty people remained as the meeting went on as scheduled.
The council did not take up last week’s failed vote to fire City Manager Kim Simonds. Instead, they quickly moved through their agenda.
Tabled minutes
The council approved a motion by Mayor Austin to table five weeks’ worth of meeting minutes. “There are several areas, at least two, I think, where motions and seconds are listed, but the individuals are not listed, and there are some other areas of clarification that I would like to have an opportunity to present to council,” Austin explained. Since minutes are the legal record of government decision-making, the council agreed to wait to approve them.
After the meeting, several people pointed out that the city had already posted the unapproved minutes to the city’s new website. Mayor Austin was surprised to learn of that and said he’d look into it. City Manager Kim Simonds tells Now Habersham the pdfs posted to the website are “drafts” a few of them do have faint watermarks indicating that. She says once the minutes are approved, they will be signed and stamped at the bottom.
Handicap access to Demorest Springs Park
During the public comments section of the June 2 meeting, Angel Gaddis addressed a long list of concerns she has regarding the lack of handicap accessibility at Demorest Springs Park. “I’m here to demand the city bring the park up to code.” Gaddis said Mayor Austin prevented a lawsuit over the issue last year. She eluded to the possibility of future legal action if things don’t change. “I’ve been in touch with an ADA Specialist with the Department of Justice, and it is my hope that these issues will be resolved without the DOJ needing to get involved.” Gaddis expressed similar concerns over other areas in the county and said, “the disabled community in Habersham is growing quickly, and it is past time we make sure they are included in everything and have equal access.”
“We’ve had many discussions [about this], and here we find ourselves having another,” the mayor said. He offered to Gaddis that the city “is going to get that straight.”
Due to concerns over COVID-19 and social distancing orders, Demorest will not be holding its traditional Fourth of July celebration in the park this year. The mayor asked Simonds to use that time and opportunity to take care of the ramp on the Georgia Street side of Demorest city park. The council previously voted to demolish the park’s bathrooms and build new facilities so that is being taken care of, the mayor said.
“The issues of the sidewalks and the access to the playground “frankly I hadn’t thought about and we should have and, so, we need to address those because that park is for the people whether you can get there ably or whether you need some type of assistance to get there.”
Calls for unity and resignations
After Gaddis’ presentation, public comments strayed into the recent turmoil that has enveloped the town. Joan Tench, a 47 year resident of Demorest, took to the podium to demand City Manager Kim Simonds resign or be fired. She also called for an investigation into the alleged illegal conduct of Simonds, Hendrix, and Davis after emails released through an open records request revealed the three held secret meetings, evading two other duly elected officials and public scrutiny. The emails backed up Davis’ prior claims that the three had engaged in backdoor meetings.
Tench also held the trio to task for hiring and firing without authority and executing unauthorized contracts on behalf of the city.
“Since January of this year, there has been nothing but chaos when councilmen Nathan Davis and John Hendrix came into office,” Tench said. She pointed to the councilmen’s very first meeting in January when Hendrix questioned the financial stability of the city, despite the fact it’s now in better shape financially than it has been for years, according to Demorest City Treasurer Joely Mixon. Under Mixon’s guidance, Demorest has amassed over a million dollars in reserve funds – nearly two months’ worth of operating revenue, which is the amount recommended by the Government Finance Officer’s Association (GFOA).
Tench called on Simonds, Hendrix, and Davis to reveal the name of the “secret benefactor” who Simonds said stepped up to pay the attorney fees on the contracts they privately secured on behalf of the city. Simonds signed contracts with attorneys Lem Ward of Atlanta and Michael Cummings of Clayton for the stated purpose of getting rid of Demorest City Attorney Joey Homans and Mayor Rick Austin. Beyond the questionable point of those contracts lies the fact that the city manager did not have the authority to sign them. Hendrix and Davis agreed with her actions, but the council never approved the contracts.
“Since in office, these two councilmen have shown disrespect to Mayor Rick Austin [and] Councilman Sean Moore. This is unprofessional,” Tench said.
Calling Davis and Hendrix “a big disappointment to our town,” Tench reaffirmed that a recall effort is underway. She also requested a “full investigation” into Simonds, Hendrix, and Davis’ activities. “We need transparency,” Tench demanded. “In this town, we expect some action on this.”
Tench closed out her remarks by stating her desire for government to run smoothly and for elected officials and city employees to “all work together in a positive environment to serve all of the people of Demorest.” Fellow city resident, Deborah Showalter, picked up on that theme in her own remarks to the council. The lifelong city resident called for unity and a spirit of cooperation while at the same time, making clear her desire for the city attorney to step down and rebuffing Tench’s call for the identity of the secret benefactor to be revealed.
Showalter was at the meeting representing the group Concerned Citizens of Demorest, which she says has close to 200 members.
“At this point, we have launched our own investigation into what is going on behind the scenes based on factual evidence, and if I choose to benefactually [sic] pay for somebody, I’ll do so,” Showalter said referencing Tench’s call for the benefactor’s identity to be revealed. “I will pay for whatever I choose to pay for if I choose to do so, so ya’ll don’t need to know what I’m paying for and what I’m not, that’s my personal business.” Although Showalter eluded to the possibility she might be the benefactor, she never said so definitively.
Four things
A lifelong resident of Demorest, Showalter has been an outspoken critic of Mayor Austin. She said she and fellow CCD members are all “very quite distressed over what has transpired over the last months. The negative publicity and continued uproar in no way resembles the principles this town was founded on.”
That uproar began after Simonds fired the town’s police chief in April. The council has since reinstated him, but it took a federal lawsuit and more than $25,000 to settle the matter. Speaking on behalf of the CCD, Showalter asked everyone to “calm down” now that Demorest Police Chief Robin Krockum is back at work.
Showalter outlined four requests on behalf of the CCD.
“We want the chaotic circus to stop. We ask the continual demand for resignations to stop and that the elected and appointed representatives, including the city manager, work together frugally, ethically, and professionally to govern the city of Demorest,” she said. Showalter then went on to say she and her group support the city manager’s letter that was dated April 30, asking city attorney Joey Homans to resign.
“Mr. Homans,” Showalter said directly, addressing him, “we don’t question your ability. We have deep respect for your ability, but in honesty, we just can’t fathom how you can truly be a good attorney for the city and represent Mr. Austin if there was something that came up negative about Mr. Austin.”
Asked about the continuing call for Homans to resign, Simonds said she has not referred any of her concerns about a potential conflict of interest to the State Bar Association. “It’s not out of the question, but that is a big step and I hope that we will receive his resignation before it gets to that point,” she tells Now Habersham. It’s not clear whether the CCD has referred its concerns to the Bar.
CCD members also wanted to know when Councilman Sean Moore is resigning, according to Showalter who asked, “will this be in time for there to be two vacancies we vote on in November?”
Moore is moving to Cornelia. When he does, his will be the second seat left vacant on the five-person board. Demorest Councilman Bruce Harkness resigned earlier this year to run for county commission. City officials have made clear they anticipate there will be two city council seats up for grabs in the November election.
Showalter, who has criticized the mayor in the past for the number of meetings he attends and gets paid for, said her group asks that “the excessive meetings stop and you all stick to the agenda and do the business of running the city.” She then sought to end on a conciliatory note calling on the city’s leaders to “Please leave the animosity and hate behind and do your job. Let’s restore peace in the city and be neighbors again.”
Special election, fireworks, water cutoffs
It was clear many expected fireworks to fly during the meeting. Some who watched it live on Now Habersham’s Facebook page expressed disappointment that the council didn’t vote to get rid of Simonds. Others voiced their support for Showalter and Tench. Their comments, along with those made by Bridges, were the only references to the political upheaval that’s been brewing in Demorest for months.
The council quickly transitioned back to the order of business and voted a several final items before adjourning.
In preparation for the city’s special election, the council and mayor agreed to set the qualifying fee for candidates at $100. Candidates may qualify for the November 3 special election beginning in August. The council also voted to table action on selecting a new city solicitor after the mayor said the police chief feels Demorest can move forward without one at this time.
Due to the governor’s extended state of emergency limiting public gatherings to no more than 25 unless socially distanced, the city was forced to cancel its Fourth of July celebration. Officials had hoped to at least hold a public fireworks display, but that idea was nixed after they were unable to secure a large enough venue that would allow for social distancing. Demorest officials asked the Habersham County School System if they could use the campuses of Demorest Elementary and/or Wilbanks Middle. Still, the school system responded, saying insurance would not allow it, according to the mayor.
Council sought to ease the disappointment by moving the fireworks to the fall. Austin said, to his knowledge, this is only the third time in the city of Demorest’s history, since 1890, that it has had to cancel its Fourth of July celebration.
The council extended until at least July 12 the grace period for not charging penalties or cutting off service to water customers who are behind on their bills. The city is offering assistance to customers who need financial relief in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We all know that times are tough,” the mayor said. He encouraged Demorest water customers who are behind on their payments to call City Hall and set up a payment plan “to keep the water flowing.”
“The absolute worst thing that could happen is to ignore it until which time you get two months behind and a cutoff happens,” he cautioned. “I encourage those who need the assistance to please let us know so that we can be the neighbor that we need to be.
