MABLETON, Ga. — Opponents of the new City of Mableton in Cobb County have gone to court to try to abolish it.
They’ve filed a lawsuit in Cobb Superior Court claiming the creation of the city, which was approved by the voters this past November, violates the Georgia Constitution.
However, the new mayor said Wednesday that, as far as he’s concerned, he’s going full speed ahead to set up the new government-- despite the lawsuit.
The lawsuit, filed by five residents, claims that the state legislation authorizing the creation of the city is unconstitutional because of the way that legislation was written-- and, as a result, the new city itself is unconstitutional.
The plaintiffs are Deidre White, Ronnie Blue, Judy King, Tanya Leake and Robert Swarthout.
Their lawsuit says that the Georgia General Assembly mistakenly authorized the creation of two government entities at once: not only a new City of Mableton but also the creation of Community Improvement Districts.
As a result, people were forced to vote last fall on creating both of the government entities at the same time, instead of being able to decide on each one, separately.
And that, the lawsuit says, is unconstitutional.
Mableton’s new mayor, Michael Owens, is not commenting on the lawsuit’s allegations.
But he said Wednesday that it’s tough enough creating a new, city government, along with the new city council, from scratch-- without also having to go to court to fight for the new city’s survival.
“From my perspective, it’s unfortunate that we’re being sued,” Owens said, “in a situation where we have to defend ourselves, which means we're going to have to hire counsel, and unfortunately spend taxpayer dollars to defend ourselves on the suit.”
Opponents of cityhood were already working on plans to try to de-annex sections of the new city so their neighborhoods could go back to being in unincorporated Cobb County.
Now, the lawsuit aims to erase the new city entirely.
“We're going to be okay,” Mayor Owens said. “We're going to be fine. We're still going to move forward and do things that we need to do to continue standing up the city, so I'm not going to be deterred by this.”
The Atlanta attorney for the five residents who filed the lawsuit, Allen Lightcap, was not available Wednesday afternoon to answer questions.
In an emailed statement to 11Alive, Lightcap wrote:
The plaintiffs are bringing this lawsuit to stand up for the Georgia Constitution and protect freedom of choice for voters as enshrined in Georgia’s Single Subject Rule and the caselaw cited in the Complaint. The Plaintiffs look forward to making their case in Court.
Whatever the outcome of the lawsuit in Cobb Superior Court, it is likely to be appealed, which could take months or years.