Georgia's highest court hears Gordon dispute

ATLANTA -- Georgia’s highest court will decide in the coming months if a lower court was correct to remove Gordon Mayor Mary Ann Whipple-Lue from office and then restrict her official actions.

Attorneys for Whipple-Lue, who is the plaintiff in the case, and the group of residents suing her gave the Georgia Supreme Court different interpretations of the city of Gordon charter, the document that sets out how the city is run.

“I don’t think she’s considered as a council person. She’s still the mayor,” said Whipple-Lue’s attorney, Wayne Kendall. By his interpretation, that means she was free to meet privately with half of the six Gordon City Council members.

But her critics say those meetings violate the state Open Meetings Act. That act says a quorum of city councils or county commissions cannot meet privately to discuss official business.

The charter “provides that the mayor can vote in ties,” said Devlin Cooper, attorney for the Concerned Citizens of Gordon, a group that includes two Gordon City Council members.

The charter says a Gordon quorum consists of four council members. Cooper argued that Whipple-Lue’s vote and the language in the charter makes her a council member, which would make four-person meetings illegal.

Whipple-Lue took office in January 2014.

Three months later, two City Council members and five residents banded together to sue her, alleging she broke the state Open Meetings Act and accused her of other malfeasance as an elected official.

Whipple-Lue fought the claim immediately. The plaintiffs followed up by asking a judge to suspend her from office until a hearing in the case.

The court briefly suspended her, then reinstated her, but imposed certain restrictions. Since July, she’s been banned from firing any employee without the court’s approval, meeting with three or more council members privately to discuss city business and voting except to break ties.

Across the street from the state Supreme Court, the state Legislature may hear a proposal to rewrite Gordon’s city charter.

State Sen. David Lucas, D-Macon, has asked the Middle Georgia Regional Commission to review Gordon’s charter and suggest any changes. The commission has no set deadline to finish its work.

Lucas already has filed the formal notice that is the first step in asking the Legislature to change Gordon’s charter.

This story was originally published January 20, 2015 at 5:10 PM with the headline "Georgia's highest court hears Gordon dispute."