Cityhood Bill Passes House: 101-57

House Bill 636 -  the controversial legislation to allow Brookhaven residents to vote on a referendum to create a city charter - passed the House Friday morning and is now headed to the Senate.

The proposed city of Ashford, formerly Brookhaven, would be the largest city in DeKalb County and the 16th largest in Georgia.

The bill's sponsor, State Rep. Mike Jacobs, delivered an impassioned argument outlining the benefits of the new city including more local control, lower taxes, and the ability of its government officials to accept a greater level of accountability to constituents. The benefits and increased level of services, he said, is a stark comparison to what some residents say they receive currently from DeKalb County.

"Let me be clear on what you are voting on today," Jacobs said.  "You are voting not to create a city, but to allow the residents of the area you see on the map here to vote on whether they would like to create a city. No city is automatically created by virtue of what we do here. We enable the citizens to decide through a process of self determination how they would like to be governed at the local level."

Rep. Tom Taylor, (R-79), the bill's co-sponsor, said that the new city would not create a new layer of government as some believe and that although DeKalb County would not receive some of the revenue, it was used to, it also would no longer provide certain services to the area.

While an overwhelming majority of the House voted to move the bill forward, others spoke out against the bill citing the process by which the bill was introduced and the economic impact the bill would have on neighboring communities.

Rep. Elena Parent, (D-80), who represents residents both within the boundaries of the proposed city and those outside the boundaries, said constituents who border the proposed city, but not included will not have a vote. Parent, who this week introduced HB 1006 calling for a referendum to allow residents in the Dresden East neighborhood to annex with city of Chamblee, voted against Jacobs' bill because, of the "many unanswered questions the majority of our neighbors have about whether this is a good idea and failure of the process to give voice to all residents affected by the incorporation."

Rep. Dar'shaun Kendrick (D-94) spoke against the bill, not necessarily for it's merits, but the fact that the bill did not go through the local delegation.

"It is disheartening," Kendrick said. "When you start bypassing the process that's set up so that we have due process and have predictability, that's when you start to have a problem," she said.  "Just because you don't get what you want in your local delegation, it does not give you that right to bypass it."

Similarly, Rep. Howard Mosby, (D-90) asked called for a "no" vote on the bill to allow the DeKalb delegation to "do our job."

"This is not your issue, this is my issue. I appreciate your help, but I would appreciate if you would allow us the opportunity to control our own destiny," he said. "We have the sovereign right to govern ourselves. I want you all to show the state that you believe that. You preach it, now it's time for you to practice it. Vote no on this bill and tell the author to come back and see us."

Jacobs said he was pleased with the outcome of the vote and is hoping that as the bill moves through the Senate, he and residents can determine a final name for the new city, preferably Brookhaven.