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OPINION — After watching Peachtree City’s February 6 workshop meeting and last week’s testimony regarding Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, it is bewildering how assertive the people abusing the system can be, acting outside the rules, and showing no remorse when caught.
I was hoping that Mayor Kim Learnard would offer some form of apology at the February 15 city council meeting for violating the city’s charter and misleading our two newest council members Suzanne Brown (no relation) and Laura Johnson at the February 6 workshop meeting (see: https://thecitizen.com/2024/02/12/steve-brown-opinion-mayor-tries-to-slip-several-big-decisions-past-the-council-and-public/).
Per usual, she refused. There is a definite trend in Learnard’s misbehavior.
Undermining our trust?
With Learnard, the problems began almost as soon as she was sworn in as mayor. Learnard took over the council with the most city council experience, knowing the charter, ordinances, protocols, and state law surrounding ethics, meetings, and records.
Unfortunately, Learnard used her vast city council experience to mislead, hassle, embarrass, and coerce the newbie council members in attempts to force them to side with her on her controversial objectives.
Immediately, the ship ran aground on “speed humpgate” when speed humps began appearing in various parts of the multiuse path system. Local residents instantly began questioning what had happened. There was no public meeting agenda item, no public vote on implementation, and no public approval to expend taxpayer dollars. The humps just showed up.
In violation, Learnard and her colleagues had secretly approved the project behind the scenes. Knowing better, Learnard as mayor supported the backdoor approval of the speed humps and let the new Council Member Gretchen Caola take all the blame.
Clearly, Learnard knew the state laws on open meetings and open records. There were no excuses. The two new first-time Council Members Caola and Frank Destadio were misled into believing that Learnard was heading the effort to implement the speed humps in a lawful, permissible manner. The similarity to the situation concerning the February 6 workshop meeting is remarkable.
After the citizens rebelled against the sneak attack, Learnard later, in violation again, secretly ordered the removal of speed humps, acting with no public meeting agenda item, again and no public vote for the action taken, again. So, after being criticized for violating state law the first time, she did it a second time, showing no remorse whatsoever.
Next came multiple violations of the Georgia Open Meeting Act when she conducted secret, closed-door meetings on zoning variances with no public notice, no meeting agenda, and no meeting minutes (see: https://thecitizen.com/2023/07/10/opinion-if-city-oks-half-of-all-variance-requests-in-private-how-can-zoning-ordinance-survive/). It was a clear violation of state law and instead of issuing an apology when caught, she deflected.
Another example was Learnard’s personal shifting of the priorities of the projects in the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST). She moved her lower-ranking pet project to the top-tier list in opposition to the official SPLOST Committee’s recommendations (see: https://thecitizen.com/2022/09/19/mayor-pickle-ball-says-battery-way-park-bathrooms-can-wait-while-local-taxes-skyrocket/).
Keep in mind that as Learnard was claiming to show us the definitive list of needed infrastructure projects that required our vote in the SPLOST referendum, the city government was holding on to another list of $10 million worth of additional immediate needs behind the scenes (see: https://thecitizen.com/2023/06/19/who-knew-10-million-in-unfunded-maintenance-needs-suddenly-appears/). Her colleagues were not informed of the other list before the passage of the SPLOST.
Some of the hidden projects would have definitely replaced projects in the SPLOST priority list presented to the voters. But with the passage of the SPLOST referendum, the mayor’s top-tier project substitutions are now locked in by law.
Without ever mentioning a desire to do so while campaigning, the mayor changed the comprehensive plan to allow for more apartment complexes all over the city (see: https://thecitizen.com/2022/09/05/council-majority-presses-for-more-apartments-more-urbanization-for-peachtree-city/).
After new Councilman Destadio made a motion to strike the language allowing more apartments across the city, Learnard then turned to the other new Council Member Caola and attempted to coerce her into withdrawing her second to the motion so it would die (this is how desperate she was to sneak the apartments into the plan).
Destadio demanded multiple times that Learnard cease with the rude and intimidating behavior and allow the vote on his motion. However, then-Councilman Mike King, who supported the mayor’s changes, used a leverage tactic saying if the pathway to more apartments in the plan was not approved, the city would be jeopardizing $2 million in building impact fees.
It was a lie. Caola was coerced into voting the other way with the mayor and King. It’s an amazing resemblance to the February 6 workshop meeting, preying on the inexperience of a new council member.
On numerous occasions, Learnard has told the constituents, “City Council passed a city budget that included a zero-millage rate increase.” That’s a smoke screen and what the mayor neglects to say is the council voted for a walloping tax increase due to elevated property values and their deliberately not rolling back the millage rate.
2 + 2 = TROUBLE
Beyond Learnard’s attempts to mislead, hassle, embarrass, and coerce the new council members in public meetings, she also uses private closed-door meetings to get her point across, outside of our view.
On a routine basis, the city manager and all the department directors meet privately with all the council members two at a time, called the “two-by-two” meetings. There is nothing illegal about having such meetings if they are only information-based.
Once the council members begin giving directions by creating city action, expenditure, or policy in the secretive two-by-two meetings, they violate the law, becoming a de facto vote of the council outside of the public forum.
New to the process, Caola and Destadio were led to believe that there was nothing wrong with how the two-on-two meetings were handled. In fact, the speed humpgate was initiated and approved in such secret meetings.
Much to his credit, when Destadio learned that he and Caola were being led astray, he “emailed the other members to urge a change in their practice of making decisions on issues without the issues ever showing up as agenda items in a public meeting,” (see: https://thecitizen.com/2022/08/15/council-decision-making-should-be-done-as-meeting-agenda-items-councilman-destadio-says/).
Destadio said, “What bothers me is that obtaining three members’ concurrence [in private meetings] does not constitute approval. Items still must be put on the agenda and brought for a vote.”
Of course, the obvious question arises of why are routine private meetings necessary. Why can’t the public be allowed to hear how their city is functioning? Why hide those discussions?
The meanness of it all
If you read my columns often, you will know that I have chided Mayor Learnard on many occasions for her rudeness and badgering of her colleagues. All of it is on the meeting videos.
I cited the lies to Caola above. There were many times when Learnard would cut Destadio off in mid-sentence, pester him to speed up a comment or stop him from speaking altogether.
It’s glaringly apparent that Learnard does not tolerate opposing views.
Poor new Councilman Clint Holland felt the sting of Learnard’s whip not long after being sworn in. Holland’s offense was he wrote a polite letter of support for then-candidate Suzanne Brown.
Learnard opposed Brown’s candidacy and sent a nasty intimidating email to Holland (see: https://thecitizen.com/2023/10/20/mayor-kim-learnard-lays-down-the-law-to-councilman-holland/).
In a bout of total irony, Learnard told Holland, “This is to try — for what I hope is the last time — to help you understand the role of City Council members in Peachtree City.” That was rich, indeed, from the mayor who liberally violates state law and the city’s charter.”
Learnard referred to Holland’s thoughtful endorsement of Brown as an “ignorant blather,” followed by, “What you put on display for all to see is that either you don’t know the truth or you have total disregard for the truth. Either is reprehensible.”
A bitter Learnard called Holland’s letter “a public display of division and partisanship.” Her backhanded slap was two-faced and insincere because when Learnard was a candidate she wrote in a letter to The Citizen in November 2021 saying, “I am endorsed by three current City Council members and a long list of community leaders across the political spectrum,” (see: https://thecitizen.com/2021/11/28/letter-from-kim-learnard-mayoral-election-not-about-partisan-division/). Seriously, you can’t make hypocrisy like this up.
Learnard finished her malicious email to new Councilman Holland saying, “Clint, I sincerely hope you will work to regain the shattered trust of your team.”
I invite you to read Holland’s short endorsement letter that caused Learnard to foam at the mouth and cast vengeance upon the new councilman (see: https://thecitizen.com/2023/10/17/letter-councilman-holland-endorses-suzanne-brown-for-peachtree-city-council-post-2/).
This, ladies and gentlemen, is the environment our four new council members have endured. No one deserves to be treated that way.
The Curnow conundrum
Up to this point, new City Manager Bob Curnow has aided Learnard in her misdeeds, even violating state law himself. In our hybrid-mayor form of government, the mayor has no more authority than the other council members. Kowtowing to the mayor and following her misdirection is not in the best interests of the city or the city council.
Planning with the mayor behind the backs of the other members of the council will not be tolerated. When there are meetings with other agencies such as the Georgia Department of Transportation, both Curnow and Learnard have a responsibility to fully inform the other members of the council on exactly what transpired, bringing them up-to-date also on communications that follow.
The inability to supply the council members with documents, presentations, etc., pertinent to the workshop meeting agenda items in advance is inexcusable. A well-prepared council member is an asset to the community. Just as important, the citizens also deserve to see those materials in advance.
One-word agenda items without descriptions are not informative and are downright insulting.
Both Learnard and Curnow need to respect the new council members and the constituents.
[Brown is a former mayor of Peachtree City and served two terms on the Fayette County Board of Commissioners. You can read all his columns by clicking on his photo below.]
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