A lawsuit filed in Cobb Superior Court on Wednesday will ask a judge to block a second cityhood movement from the May primary ballot, arguing that the proposed Lost Mountain city charter violates the state constitution.
The lawsuit was filed a week after a similar challenge contesting the Vinings cityhood referendum, and the lead attorney for both suits told the AJC they could be consolidated into one case.
Like the Vinings suit, Lost Mountain opponents contend that the proposed charter for the West Cobb cityhood movement violates home rule under the state constitution by dictating which services the city can and can’t provide.
Lost Mountain, as proposed, would offer sanitation services, parks and recreation, code enforcement and planning and zoning. But in order to exercise other city powers, like police and fire, city leaders would have to ask permission to do so through a voter referendum.
The lawsuit contends that violates the state constitution, because the legislature can’t restrict a city’s home rule powers through what’s known as a “local law” that only applies to one city, rather than a general law that applies to all cities across the state. House Bill 826, which established the referendum and proposed city charter, is a local law.
State Rep. Ginny Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs), who sponsored the measure, told the AJC that this and other Cobb cityhood bills were vetted by the Office of Legislative Counsel and the state attorney general’s office, and deemed constitutional.
“The citizens of Lost Mountain are looking forward to the opportunity to vote on this issue,” Ehrhart said. “It is a shame that anti-cityhood advocates ... would pursue such desperate measures to deny citizens that right.”
The suit was filed on behalf of Dora Locklear, who leads West Cobb Advocate, a group campaigning against the cityhood effort. Locklear said she filed suit in part because she was concerned that voters would be duped by a city charter that can’t be enforced.
“I believe that there is a reasonable expectation that when a referendum is placed before us that it will be constitutional, that it will be based on facts and law, and I do not believe this one is,” Locklear said in an interview. “...This is not about politics, this is about policy. And being able to trust what’s in a referendum, and what the long-term consequences, whether intended or unintended, will be.”
A ruling will need to come soon to affect the ballot. The election is set for May 24, and early voting begins May 2.
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