Council to Decide Mayor’s Fate at 3 p.m. Meeting; Controversial AMP Hearing Scheduled for 7 p.m.
News May 12, 2017
DAWSONVILLE, Ga. – The City of Dawsonville will hold two important meetings Monday. At 3 p.m., the council will conduct an up or down vote on the removal of Mayor James Grogan from office for allegedly violating the City Code and Charter. At 7 p.m. there will be a public hearing on a highly controversial request by Atlanta Motorsports Park to relax lighting, noise and hours of operation restrictions.
Grogan was the subject of a city-wide investigation to decide what, if anything, should be done to ensure city officials are in compliance with the charter. The conclusion was that Mayor Grogan should be removed from office.
At last week’s meeting, Gainesville City Attorney Abbott Hayes, who led the investigation, reported that Grogan had been paid for meetings not authorized by city council, charged alcohol and gasoline to his city-issued credit card, allowed a state representative to pay the lower residential rate for water, sewer and garbage for a business instead of the appropriate commercial rate and that he authorized lower fees for rezoning applications than those set by council.
In responding to the charges, Grogan said, “I’m disappointed in council and what they have laid out. A lot of things they have pointed out go back five years and we’ve made a lot of policy changes since then. I didn’t do anything wrong. This is the result of a witch hunt that has been conducted by two city council members against me for the last year and a half.”
Hayes report alleges that in 2015, when State Rep. Kevin Tanner complained about paying the higher commercial rate for city water, sewer and garbage on behalf of Tanco Investments, LLC, Grogan unilaterally allowed him to pay the lower residential rate instead.
Between 2013 and 2015, Hayes said, Grogan approved donations to nonprofit organizations, including golf tournaments in which he participated as a player. When the City Attorney pointed out that donations to nonprofit organizations by the City violates the gratuities clause of the Georgia State Constitution the payments stopped.
The City Charter provides for the mayor to be paid a monthly compensation of $2,000 plus $100 “for each specially called city council meeting, work session or other meeting that has been pre-approved by the council. But Hayes alleges that Grogan charged the city for meetings that were not pre-approved by council.
Finally, Hayes alleges that in Nov. 2014, Grogan instructed city employee Sara Beachem to purchase four bottles of alcohol for him to give as a door prize at a regional government dinner. The report states that the Mayor’s unilateral decision to purchase alcohol for use as a door prize without approval of the city council violated the City Code and Charter.
Section 5.15 of the City Charter provides the mayor shall be subject to removal for any one or more of the following causes: Incompetence, misfeasance or malfeasance in office; Abandonment of office or neglect to perform the duties thereof or Failure for any other cause to perform the duties of office as required by this Charter or by law.
The 7 p.m. public hearing is expected to draw a standing-room-only crowd as council votes on modifications to the current provisions at Atlanta Motorsports Park that include changes to lighting, sound restrictions, hours and addition of condominiums.
A March 13 Planning Commission hearing on the issue drew a packed house, made up mostly of angry citizens who live near the track and say the noise has already destroyed the tranquility and quality of life in the area. Despite community objections, planning commission voted 2-1 (Stan Worley in opposition) to recommend the modifications.
City council tabled the issue so council members could visit AMP and experience the noise levels firsthand.
The land where AMP was built was annexed from Dawson County and county commissioners wrote a letter to city council requsting council reject the changes on behalf of the citizens who live nearby.
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County Tax Assessor is Featured Speaker at Community Connections Workshop
News July 14, 2017
County residents gather for Community Connections Workshop at the Senior Center Thursday.
DAWSONVILLE, Ga. – Dawson County Tax Assessor Kurt Tangel was the featured speaker at Thursday’s Community Connections Workshop which was held at the Senior Center. Tangel, who has worked for the county the past 12 years, explained the difference in his responsibilities and those of the Tax Commissioner.
“The Tax Commissioner is the one who sends out the bills and collects the taxes,” Tangel said. “The Tax Assessor applies the value to those properties.”
Tax Assessor Kurt Tangel
The Tax Assessor does not work directly for the Board of Commissioners, but is directly responsible to the Board of Assessors, five individuals appointed by the commissioners.
This year the Board of Assessors contracted with a private company to perform a county-wide property revaluation which started in June. The company has completed about 15 percent of the data collection and is expected to complete the residential evaluation by the end of next year. Commercial and industrial revaluation won’t be complete until 2019.
Those conducting the revaluation will be in clearly-marked county vehicles to identify themselves. They are permitted to come onto the homeowner’s property, but not inside the home. If the homeowner is not home, they are supposed to leave a door hanger to let the property owner know they have been there.
“We assess the value of property based on what we know the square footage of that home to be,” Tangel said.
Tangel encourages property owners to view their assessment on the Tax Assessor’s web page and if the information is incorrect, to contact his office at any time.
Asked if the current revaluation is expected to produce any major corrections, Tangel said, “There could be some changes based on increased desirability or scarcity, but I don’t anticipate any major corrections.”
Mayor James Grogan
Dawsonville Mayor James Grogan gave a brief review of city projects. “There’s a lot of good things going on,” he said. “We’re completing a sidewalk project that will go totally around the city that should be finished by the end of the year and we’re still working on the park. We sent the paperwork to the EPD and when that comes back, well put it out for construction bids. We hope to have dirt moving on that by the end of the year.”
Grogan also pointed out there is a lot of homebuilding going on in the city. He estimated that 300-400 new homes will be built in the next 12 months.
County Manager David Headley told attendees that county representatives had met with Georgia Department of Transportation Officials earlier in the day to discuss transportation issues in the county.
County Mgr. David Headley
“We discussed the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) in our district,” Headley said. “These are federally-funded dollars that go to the state to do projects such as bridges. We talked about a truck bypass around the city. They’re looking at that, collecting data and looking at a possible alignment. We also talked about some of the roundabout projects we have going on. We talked about the CFI (continuous flow intersection). The state is looking at spending a lot of money here for obvious reasons. They don’t just do these things because they have a lot of money to spend and want to build them. They anticipate a lot of growth here.”
Mayor Grogan Appeals Removal from City Council
News May 19, 2017
Dawsonville Mayor James Grogan
DAWSONVILLE, Ga. – Dawsonville Mayor James Grogan has appealed his removal from office by the City Council.
On Monday, Dawsonville City Council voted 3-1, with Councilman Mike Sosebee opposed, to remove the mayor for alleged violations of the city code and charter.
On Wednesday, Grogan’s attorney Steven Leibel filed an appeal in the Superior Court of Dawson County.
Fetch Your News will have more details as they become available.