McDonough court measure voted down

A proposal to restructure McDonough’s Municipal Court failed to pass a vote of the City Council at its Sept. 3 regular meeting. The resolution was created at least in part to correct public perception about the court being run by the police department, according to comments from various city officials. City attorney Jim Elliott said that, based on information received from the Georgia Municipal Association, the recent trend is to separate the police and the court.

The motion to approve the resolution was made by Sandra Vincent, who said the issue was not about defunding the police and that she felt the city’s officers deserved to be protected. She and Kamali Varner voted in favor, but the measure failed 2-4.