Concerns about the potential unchecked power of regional governmental organizations have sparked no small amount of discussion among elected officials and politically active citizens in Fayette County in recent weeks.
The Fayette County Republican Party’s regular meeting Sept. 6 also served as an official meeting of the Fayette County Board of Commissioners, as four of the five members of that body were in attendance specifically to discuss regionalism and its effects.
Of particular interest is the Atlanta Regional Commission board’s Sept. 24 vote on proposed changes to its bylaws that would further centralize power within the chairman’s position, not to mention the fact that an unelected official can be chairman, as is currently the case.
Commission Chairman Steve Brown has been outspoken about this issue for a while, and his most recent comments can be seen in a four-minute video he released online late last week.
“Sixteen of the 39 ARC board members have no direct accountability to citizens in any way,” said Brown. “Accountability builds trust, and there is no accountability.”
The commission chairman from each of the 10 counties in the region is automatically on the ARC board, and the mayors in each county select one of their own to serve as well. Most of the remainder of the board is made up of private citizens.
Brown gave a presentation on the regionalism issue at the recent Fayette GOP meeting along with Field Searcy, a Cobb County resident who represented RepealRegionalism.com. The two men led a panel discussion and answered a number of questions from audience members. There was no Board of Commissioners vote during the meeting.
Fayette Republican Chairman Scott Fabricius noted that the discussion was vital due to the general lack of understanding about what the ARC actually is, regardless of the possible bylaw changes.
“It was beneficial for people to open their eyes about what this entails,” he said, adding that he is concerned about the issue of non-elected officials being on the ARC board and what they could do.
Bob Ross, another Fayette GOP officer, also wants more accountability on the regional board.
“I guess it just gets back to some fundamental principles of the American form of constitutional republic and representative government,” he said. “We want to find representation and transparency in any government.”
Ross concedes that regional cooperation is essential with certain issues, such as transportation, air quality or water, but the ARC proposal is a move in the wrong direction.
“We’ve had the chairman of the ARC for a number of years be an unelected citizen,” said Ross. “The concern is that if the bylaws are passed, there is too much opportunity for mischief.”
Further complicating matters for Ross and others, including Brown, is the process for citizen input at ARC meetings. A taxpayer wishing to address the board must sign up 10 days in advance, according to Ross, and even then the board make a motion to hear citizens, which must pass with a two-thirds majority.
“That’s not the kind of transparency that I and a lot of Americans associate with their government,” Ross noted.
Brown was just as pointed in his comments on the process, saying, “I don’t know of any other government in the state where free speech is more restricted.”
The Fayette BOC chairman also contends that board members of community improvement districts (CIDs) should be ineligible to sit on the ARC board.
“I have a problem with a person or employer who could benefit” from actions taken by the ARC board serving on the ARC board, according to remarks Brown made in February to a Fayette Tea Party group that were published in the Aug. 27 edition of the Saporta Report.
“The past and current ARC chairmen are non-elected officials in real estate development who are with community improvement districts, competing for transportation dollars within the region,” Brown said at the tea party meeting. “I respectfully disagree with the point of a CID board member being a citizen member of ARC.”
Brown also cited divisions between mayors and commission chairmen which have allowed citizen members to having a controlling influence on the ARC board.
“I worry when the ARC chairman, a very powerful and influential position, is controlled by a citizen member whom the citizens cannot touch,” Brown was quoted as saying in the Aug. 28 edition of Peach Pundit. He reiterated his concerns about CID board members in that publication as well.
Tyrone mayor Eric Dial is the other elected official from Fayette on the ARC board, and he has heard the comments from across the region about these issues while communicating with Brown on a regular basis. Dial said he certainly doesn’t want to see the number of private citizens on the ARC board getting any larger.
“I think that we would not want a larger number that are citizen members, because if you do you are creeping toward a majority of the board. Citizen input is valuable, but we don’t need to be getting a higher number,” said Dial. “I’m not of the opinion that we need to wipe the board clean of citizen members, and I don’t object to [the chairman being a private citizen]. It’s not necessarily ideal, but it’s a case-by-case basis for me.”
Dial pointed out that he has seen the good and the bad from such members but will not lump them all together, adding that the elected officials on the board such as himself are in a position to hold them accountable.
“I think we have a good opportunity to make some changes. There are some things that need to be looked at,” Dial said. “I think we have too much power currently in the hands of the chairman, and we’re addressing that internally.”
While Dial is “absolutely” against any move to further consolidate power in the chairman’s position, he does not have a problem with CID members on the board, saying that he has not been advised of it being illegal or inappropriate and will not be against it until advised otherwise by legal counsel.
Recent legal opinions furnished to the ARC board do not frown upon CID members on the ARC board, but Brown said he and others consider some of the legal opinions on the issue “deficient.”
Another proposed bylaw change Brown opposes is making a quorum for the ARC’s transportation and air quality committee only 40 percent. He will not support anything less than 50 percent, he said.
“It looks like we are moving toward a situation where a hand-picked group centered around the board chairman will be able to pick the regional winner and regional losers,” Brown said on his video in summarizing the issue.
“Centralizing the power structure and holding back on openness and transparency will lead us to division and scandal,” he added. “We need leadership that respects everyone in the region and offers full accountability.”
The Atlanta Regional Commission’s meeting to vote on the proposed bylaw changes is Wednesday, Sept. 24, at 1 p.m. at the ARC office at 40 Courtland Street in Atlanta. The organization’s web address is www.atlantaregional.com.
