A battle may be reignited over the power the Macon mayor has

A shift in the balance of power that the Macon-Bibb County mayor holds could play out among local officials and in the state legislature next year.

Some Macon-Bibb County leaders say they want to look into whether changes to the consolidated government’s county charter that impact the budget process and the control a mayor has over department heads should be made.

It’s time for commissioners to take a deeper dive into the charter after five years into consolidated government, Commissioners Al Tillman and Larry Schlesinger said.

One of the reasons some changes to the charter are needed is how the budget was handled since consolidation, Tillman said.

Prior to this year, commissioners relied too much on budget details provided through the mayor’s administration, said Tillman.

This year, commissioners were able to take a much more proactive approach throughout the budget process, but the issue still remains that department heads may feel pressure about what information they share with commissioners, Tillman said.

Macon-Bibb’s mayor has the ability to fire department heads for any reason.

“We need to tweak (the charter) by possibly giving department heads an opportunity to have appeal rights so they won’t be hesitant to share numbers and information with commission because they may see retribution from the (mayor’s) administration,” Tillman said.

This would not be the first time the Macon-Bibb mayor’s authority to fire department heads has been a topic among the commission. Two years ago, there was not enough support from the local legislative delegation to bring the issue before the Legislature.

Commissioners had asked lawmakers to allow them to oversee an appeals process if a department head was fired by the mayor. There was one caveat, however, that the county attorney pointed out at the time: Commissioners could try changing that rule on their own, but it could lead to a legal battle between them and the mayor.

State Rep. Dale Washburn, whose first term begins in January, said Friday that he would oppose giving commissioners the power to hear an appeal if a department head is fired by the mayor.

Mayor Robert Reichert also does not see the need to make those type of amendments to the charter, Macon-Bibb’s director of external affairs Chris Floore wrote in an email.

“The mayor is opposed to making the changes because what was approved by the voters has worked in many ways,” Floore wrote. “If it’s not broke, then why try to fix it?”

Another change to the charter Tillman and Schlesinger say they’d like to see altered is the number of votes needed to approve a budget. Currently, votes from six commissioners are required to approve a budget while other measures need only five out of nine votes to pass.

There were several budget votes this summer as commissioners debated a property tax increase, pension contributions and how much funding outside agencies would receive.

“In other words, the minority can hold up the process or even defeat the process,” Schlesinger said. “I don’t think the minority should have that kind of say or power or effect upon the process as a whole.”

Tillman’s other suggestions include allowing the mayor pro tem to sit on commission committees and how a mayor can cast tie breaking votes.

He also said he’s OK with not limiting some of the mayor’s authority until after Reichert’s term ends at the end of 2020.

“I don’t want this to seem personal that we’re doing something to... this mayor right now,” Tillman said.

This story was originally published December 24, 2018 at 9:43 AM.