The city of Atlanta is preparing to take on the task of verifying tens of thousands of petition signatures, if opponents of the planned public safety training center gather enough names to get the issue placed on the ballot for a referendum.
Legislation introduced by Atlanta City Councilman Dustin Hillis during Monday’s meeting would allow city officials to hire outside lawyers to help account for every single signature collected by organizers.
Opponents of the training center leading the referendum effort have been going door-to-door, canvassing local businesses and holding events around the city since June to collect more than 70,000 signatures — at least 15% of registered Atlanta voters.
The massive organizing effort started with a back-and-forth with the municipal clerk’s office to get the petition OK’d. After the deadline hits, signatures will be sent back to the clerk, who has 50 days to confirm the list has enough signatures of registered voters in the city of Atlanta, and present the petition to the City Council.
If it’s determined valid by council members, they have one week to issue a call for a special referendum election.
“With no statement or declaration as to the lawfulness or substantive validity of the petition itself,” the resolution says, “It is the desire of the Atlanta City Council to request that the City Attorney exercise her authority…to engage outside counsel to aid in the verification of any signatures which may be submitted by Petitioners.”
The city has argued in legal filings that the referendum is ultimately moot based on the statutory municipal home rule passed by the legislature in 1965. But a recent Supreme Court ruling over the issue of the spaceport in Camden County diverged from previous decisions and has given legal hope to organizers.
A federal court judge recently sided with a group of DeKalb residents who argued they should be able to collect signatures since the project is near their neighborhoods. Most importantly, the ruling restarted the petitioner’s 60-day timeline to collect signatures.
On the same day as City Council convened this week, the King Center called on Atlanta leaders to put the issue of the training center on the ballot for voters.
The historic nonprofit, along with a coalition of other civil rights organizations, called a referendum vote “a straightforward and democratic way” to put the matter to rest.
“Supporters and dissenters of these decisions — including Mayor Andre Dickens and several City Council members — agree on one thing: the City of Atlanta’s decision from the outset did not include sufficient, equitable, nor transparent public engagement,” the statement said.
The organizations argue that if the city intends to put upwards of $67 million — a number much higher than the originally stated price tag — toward the project then voters should have a say in how the chunk of taxpayer money is spent.
“Atlanta, known as the bedrock of the Civil Rights Movement, should be the standard for how a city engages its residents in matters concerning the collective good, collaborative justice, and the cohesiveness of the city,” they said.
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