The Athens-Clarke County Board of Commissioners will consider a resolution designed to combat discrimination in the county’s bars at its meeting tonight. The resolution, which is expected to pass, comes after reports of discrimination against racial and sexual minorities in bars serving the University of Georgia population, as a story in the Athens Banner Herald explains:

The action by commissioners Mike Hamby, Kelly Girtz and Andy Herod, who enjoy wide support among their colleagues, comes on the heels of a couple developments late last year on the downtown bar scene. In October, a bartender “cheat sheet” including instructions for making a racially insensitive drink — a “N*****ita” containing tequila and watermelon juice — was discovered in General Beauregard’s, an East Clayton Street bar. Shortly after that, the results of an anonymous online survey conducted through the University of Georgia’s Student Government Association, comprising anecdotal evidence of discriminatory admissions practices at downtown bars, were shared with Commissioner Allison Wright, whose district comprises most of the UGA campus.

The dozens of incidents detailed in the survey, some dating back two years, described some bars’ use of “dress code” and “private event” exclusions to keep ethnic minorities and homosexuals out of their establishments.

The resolution itself “condemns unlawful discrimination in any form and hereby call upon all businesses serving the public within the boundaries of Athens-Clarke County to act in a non-discriminatory fashion with regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, citizenship, age, disability, or pregnancy.” The resolution expresses the support of the county mayor and commission of any investigations into incidents of alleged discrimination that violate federal, state or local non-discrimination laws.

The resolution also directs the Clarke County attorney and county administrator to make recommendations for possible changes to local ordinances that would support the commission’s non-discriminatory values. The resolution specifically contemplates changes to the county’s alcohol licensing laws so that an alcoholic beverage licensee could have its license suspended or revoked if the licensee was found to be in violation of discrimination laws at the federal, state, or local level.

Cobb and Gwinnett Counties filed lawsuits in federal and state courts on Wednesday seeking to recover more than $50 million in fees for local 911 operations from telephone companies they maintain have not properly charged customers. The unpaid fees cover a period of three years. The lawsuits say that fifteen telephone service providers allegedly are misrepresenting the types and number of phone lines upon which the 911 fees are applied and are significantly under-billing customers. The unpaid fees amount to around $9 million annually in Cobb County, and $8 million annually in Gwinnett.

In a statement, Roy Barnes, chief counsel for the two counties, said,

These suits are necessary because the telephone service providers have a statutory and fiduciary responsibility under Georgia law to properly bill, collect, and remit 911 fees. We believe, based on the evidence we have received, that responsibility has not been met. These monies need to be paid for the benefit of the counties’ 911 systems.

The failure of these companies to pay their obligations could eventually result in the taxpayers of Cobb and Gwinnett counties picking up the bill. The taxpayers should not have to supplement this gap.

The issue of properly funding 911 service is one that the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia has been trying to address. At a recent presentation by Gwinnett County to the Gwinnett legislative delegation, Commission Chairman Charlotte Nash, who also serves as president of ACCG, said that for many counties, including Gwinnett, revenue from 911 and E-911 fees on telephone bills does not properly cover the cost of providing services, and have to be funded using other sources. ACCG has proposed legislation to address the problem, and Nash urged the delegation to address the issue in the upcoming session.

The individual lawsuits are against major telecommunications carriers operating in each County, including BellSouth Telecommunications, LLC (d/b/a AT&T Georgia); Verizon Enterprise Solutions, LLC; Bandwidth.com CLEC, LLC; Broadriver Communication Corporation; Broadvox, LLC; CBeyond Communications, LLC; Charter Fiberlink – Georgia, LLC; Earthlink, LLC (and its subsidiaries Business Telecom, Inc. and DeltaCom, LLC); Inteliquent, Inc.; Level 3 Communications, LLC; Network Telephone, LLC; Peerless Network of Georgia, LLC; Windstream Communications, Inc (and its subsidiaries NuVox Communications, Inc. and Southern Digital); XO Communications Services, LLC; and YMax Communications Corp.

The lawsuits were filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, and the Superior Courts of Gwinnett County, and Fulton County.

Stories of elections being decided by just a few votes are unusual, but not unheard of. Same thing with charges of voter fraud. Having both come together so that the results of an election had to be thrown out is unheard of, but in this case true.

Hazlehurst voters will have to return to the polls next year to re-vote in the mayoral election after the two deciding votes were thrown out due to fraud, according to a report from Savannah’s WTOC. The contest between incumbent mayor Jack Cole and challenger Bayne Stone was originally won by Stone. According to the WTOC report, two voters said they were given money by Stone’s son to cast ballots. Cole’s attorney also alleged there were problems with some primary ballots. In the end, it was enough for the judge to invalidate the election.

No date has been set for the new election, and Mayor Cole will remain in office until the contest is ultimately decided.

Joe Mullins, one of the candidates running to replace Ben Harbin in House District 122, has fined an ethics complaint against fellow candidate Mack Taylor, accusing him of not properly listing the work of a private investigator as a campaign contribution. For his part, Mullins is accused of not being a legal resident of his district, according to evidence provided by the private investigator.

According to a story in the Augusta Chronicle, Joe Edge, who was considering a run for the seat, commissioned Alex Chilton Investigative Services to conduct an investigation of Mullins. After deciding not to run for the seat, Edge provided the information from Chilton to the Taylor campaign. The ethics complaint, filed by Otis Williams of Evans, says Taylor should have reported Chilton’s work as an in-kind contribution to the campaign. For its part, the Taylor campaign claims that since the information wasn’t used by it, there was no need to report it.

Quoted in the story, former Ethics Commission head Rick Thompson says it may or may not have to have been reported:

Rick Thompson, the former head of the Georgia Ethics Commission, said the arrangement skirts the line between what is and isn’t supposed to be disclosed on state campaign reports. He said it depends on whether the candidate got any value from the service provided.

“If someone was paying that (private investigator), and the candidate knew about it, and he was receiving information, that sounds like it all should have been reported,” said Thompson, now of R. Thompson & Associates in Atlanta.

Meanwhile, information discovered by the Chronicle and highlighted in the private investigator’s report potentially calls into question Mullins’s residency:

Information uncovered by The Augusta Chronicle last month showed that Mullins had taken actions in recent years that called into question whether he was a legal resident of the state and thus qualified to run for office.

The Sept. 18 article reported that Mullins had acquired driver’s licenses in North Carolina and Florida in the past two years and had more than one valid license at the time he declared his run for office in July.

It appears to formal complaint has been filed against Mullins. The November 3rd election also includes candidates Jodi Lott and Pat Goodwin, who are staying out of the fight between the other two, and are likely sitting back, popping popcorn. Stay tuned.

There’s rumor of attracting a casino to Walker County. In responding to a caller to a local cable-access show on September 23rd, Commissioner Bebe Heiskell responded to a caller who posed the question. From the Chattanooga Times-Free Press:

“I’d rather it go in Walker County, and I hope that doesn’t make me a hypocrite Christian,” she said. “But they’re going to go somewhere and do it. And we have to have some way — besides property tax — to raise money around here.”

Sunday sales failed when it was on the ballot last year, so getting this on the ballot and passing in a very socially conservative area would be an amazing feat. 53% of people pulling a Republican primary ballot in Walker County opposed the question posed by the state GOP of casino gambling with revenues going to education. In spite of the outcome of the question, I believe the merits of casino gambling should be debated. I personally wouldn’t object to a casino resort if it would help mitigate additional increases in property tax (which rose from 4.705 to 8.725 in the past couple of years in part to securing some of the debt that our local hospital, Hutcheson Medical Center, has accrued). However, depending on how the proposal is stated, I don’t believe we would be getting a lot of cash from the revenues of the casino.

Our local commissioner elections will, I suspect, be highly contested. Commissioner Heiskell sounds to be mounting a re-election campaign, but I know of a couple of people who have said they would consider a challenge against her in the 2016 Republican Primary. Whether or not those people actually qualify is a different story. She won the 2012 primary by around 200 votes. I suspect it will be a bit tougher this go around if the casino idea is still being floated along with the recent increase in property tax.

Our county is trying to draw in tourist dollars, and with being so close to Chattanooga it’s hard to blame them. It seems to me though that our county is more industrial-minded, but those factories are shutting down and moving…although, we are seeing a large plastics manufacturer building a plant in Rock Spring.

I have no doubt that talks of a casino stems from the fact that there is talk across the state about expanding the gambling industry in our state. Whether or not proponents of gambling can convince a statewide electorate and garner support of locals remains to be seen.

As rumored, Snellville Mayor Kelly Kautz qualified for re-election Monday morning. She will face Mayor Pro-Tem Tom Witts in November. Witts will resign his seat is a special city council meeting this afternoon in order to qualify for the city’s top job.

In a press release, Kautz states she was reluctant to announce that she would run again because “she did not want to subject her family and friends to the false, negative attacks that are often associated with Snellville politics.” Kautz’s husband Rob Knox recently registered a domain similar to the name of the campaign website used by Witts, which was at least temporarily pointed to a Kautz site, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.

In her announcement, Kautz stated:

It has been an honor to serve the citizens of Snellville as Mayor and a member of Council. During my time on the Council, the citizens have placed their trust and confidence in the vision that we set forth for our City. Together we have worked hard towards our shared vision, and we have accomplished a great deal. Today, I am asking the citizens of Snellville to allow me to have another four years to be a voice for them, the people, and to finish the positive projects we have started.

After an outpouring of support from citizens and much discussion and prayer with my family, my husband and parents have given me their full support and blessing to run for re-election. I strive to be a role model for my new son, and I feel that I would not be setting a good example now if I gave in to negative bullying not to run for re-election.

Also on Monday, council member Dave Emanuel qualified to run for re-election. Roger Marmol, whose wife Brittany ran for Georgia Republican Party State Treasurer back in May, qualified for the seat held by Diane Krause, who will not seek re-election.