Campaign Debate: Mayor Serving as City Manager

Editor's Note: Patch didn't originally publish the page of signatures attached to the resolution allowing Mayor Pat Vaughn to also serve as city manager because it didn't include any of the resolution's text. Upon her request, Patch has attached that page to show the council's approval.

Powder Springs mayoral candidate L. Rick Richardson of Mayor Pat Vaughn previously serving as both mayor and city manager.

“I have been asked this question by several Powder Springs citizens. That is a question Mayor Vaughn needs to answer,” Richardson wrote. “If Mayor Vaughn was being compensated financially for both positions simultaneously, it was then and is now a violation of Powder Springs Code of Ordinances.”

Richardson cited Section 2-14 (e), which reads: “In eligibility of elected official. Except where authorized by law, neither the mayor nor any councilmember shall hold any other elective or compensated appointive office in the city or otherwise be employed by said government or any agency thereof during the term for which he was elected.”

In response to the former police chief, Vaughn : “Mr. Richardson claims that several years ago, I was paid for two city jobs at once. During a prior term as mayor, I was having to serve as mayor and city manager because the city was without a city manager. The council, on their own, realized I was having to work three jobs: mayor, acting city manager, and my own property management business. 

"I was having to pay someone to do the work in my absence from my business that I would not have to pay if I were not at all day. Accordingly, the council unanimously authorized a temporary increase in the mayor’s salary until we could find a city manager.

"I received only one W-2 form from the city, not two, for the relatively short period of time which elapsed until a new city manager was hired.”

On Dec. 5, 2005, three days after Dane Perry’s resignation as city manager, the council authorized a resolution for Vaughn to act as mayor and city manager until a new city manager could be found. The resolution is attached to this article.

The resolution does not mention additional pay for Vaughn, whose annual base salary for mayor is $18,000. Patch has requested documentation showing the increase's authorization.

For authority to allow Vaughn to serve as city manager, the resolution points to Section 2.29 of the City Charter, which reads:

By a letter filed with the city clerk, the manager shall designate, subject to approval of the mayor and city council, a qualified city administrative officer to exercise the powers and perform the duties of manager during his temporary absence or disability. During such absence or disability, the mayor and city council may revoke such designation at any time and appoint another officer of the city to serve until the manager shall return or his disability shall cease.

In 2009, Snellville faced a similar debate about whether the mayor was serving as city manager, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

That article quotes an opinion from then-Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker: "The mayor is not authorized to both act in his capacity as the elected executive leader of the city and also as the city manager because such dual service is inherently incompatible and inappropriate."

Vaughn served as city manager from December 2005 until Charles Nickerson was hired in April 2007, according to a separate AJC article.

She again served as city manager from Nickerson’s leave and eventual firing in November 2008 until Rick Eckert was hired in March 2010, but she was not paid extra during that period.