COLLEGE PARK, Ga. — The City of College Park is still without a functioning City Council. As a result, the city cannot buy new police vehicles, give holiday bonuses to city employees or do anything else that requires council approval.
Monday night, once again, there was no quorum of council members, and once again, the Mayor canceled the meeting. It is because two council members, Joe Carn and Roderick Gay, were, once again, no-shows.
Carn and Gay have not been showing up for meetings since last month. College Park residents, including Marlon Hines, who spoke at Monday night’s non-meeting, were not happy.
“We’re sitting here not able to get things done,” Hines told the mayor and the council members who were there, “because a couple of council members are throwing a tantrum.”
Carn and Gay have not confirmed whether their reason for staying away is to prevent the council from passing any legislation until two other "lame duck" council members leave office at the end of the year. The two new council members were elected last month.
College Park resident Grace McPhillips Lunsford has started a campaign to raise money online for city employees who don’t know if they’ll get their annual holiday bonuses this year.
“Maybe we could get fifty-dollar gift cards to those in need,” Lunsford said, hoping to offer at least a gesture of community support for city employees, if not more.
A supporter of Carn and Gay said Monday night that he believes the council could find other ways to vote on legislation without blaming the absent council members for blocking votes.
There is a chance the council may schedule a special meeting for next week to vote on the employee bonuses—if the absent council members agree to show up for that.