COVINGTON, Ga. — Changes to the city’s charter that will amend mayor and council vacancy procedures and “modernize budget provisions” were initiated Monday by the Covington City Council.

The amendment to change how vacated elected offices are filled was approved in the form of a resolution and passed on to the Georgia General Assembly as a request to pass such legislation to approve the city’s proposed changes.

Currently, the charter states, “In the event there shall occur a vacancy in the office of mayor or any council post caused by death, resignation, or removal of the incumbent, the city council shall immediately call a special election to fill such vacancy, to be held in accordance with the special election provisions of the Georgia Election Code, Chapter 2 of Title 21, Official Code of Georgia Annotated.”

Proposed changes to the charter include three subsections:

“(a) In the event there shall occur a vacancy in the office of mayor or any council post caused by death, resignation or removal of the incumbent during the first two years of the incumbent’s term of office, the city council hall immediately call a special election to fill such vacancy …

“(b) In the event there shall occur a vacancy in the office of mayor caused by death, resignation or removal of the incumbent during the second two years of the incumbent’s term of office, then the council members shall appoint a person meeting the qualifications set forth [in the city charter] to serve as mayor for the remainder of the incumbent’s unexpired term.

“(c) In the event there shall occur a vacancy in the office of any council post caused by death, resignation or removal of the incumbent during the second two years of the incumbent’s term of office, then the mayor shall appoint a person meeting the qualifications set forth [in the city charter] to serve as council member for the remainder of the incumbent’s unexpired term.”

Before the resolution was unanimously approved, when members of the council questioned who exactly would hold the power to appoint a new council member, attorney Robert Stansfield said language could be changed within the proposed amendment to reflect the mayor and council would hold the power to appoint a person to fill the vacancy. Stansfield was serving as legal counsel in the absence of city attorney Frank Turner Jr.

Additionally, the council approved the first reading of an amendment that would “modernize budget provisions.” It does not interfere with city’s governing structure, so a resolution is not required to be passed on to the General Assembly.

Proposed changes to the charter includes the following text:

“Section 2.08. Personal liability of mayor and councilmembers; method of relieving.  As provided by Section 6.02 of this Charter, the city budget shall be balanced. If this provision should be violated in the adoption of any budget, the mayor and councilmembers shall be personally liable for any deficiency resulting therefrom, except: any member of the council may relieve himself or herself of such personal liability by voting against any budget violating such requirement, and the mayor may relieve himself or herself of such personal liability by vetoing any such budget before passage.”

Section 2. The Charter of the City of Covington, Georgia, which was established by an Act creating a new Charter for the City of Covington, Georgia, approved on May 6, 2019, (Ga. L. 2019, p. 4011), as subsequently amended and restated, is amended by deleting the contents of subsection (a) of Section 6.02 (Budget)  in their entirety and substituting the following in lieu thereof:

“(a) The city council shall provide an ordinance on the procedures and requirements for the preparation and execution of an annual operating budget, a capital improvement plan, and a capital budget, including requirements as to the scope, content, and form of such budgets and plans. On or before a date fixed by the city council but not later than 45 days prior to the beginning of each fiscal year, the city manager shall submit to the city council a proposed operating budget for the ensuing fiscal year. The budget shall be accompanied by a message from the city manager containing a statement of the general fiscal policies of the city, the important features of the budget, explanations of major changes recommended for the next fiscal year, a general summary of the budget, and such other pertinent comments and information. The operating budget and the capital budget provided for the budget message, and all supporting documents shall be filed in the office of the city clerk and shall be open to public inspection. No money shall be expended by the city council during any year until a budget has been prepared and adopted, as herein provided. The budget shall be balanced, with the sum of estimated revenues and appropriated fund balances equal to appropriations.  The city council shall appropriate a sum sufficient to cover the debt service, including the sinking fund and interest on bonded indebtedness, which sum shall not be diverted to any other department or departments by the city council during the year. Should the income of the city be decreased by law or otherwise, it shall be the duty of the city council to immediately adjust its budget so as to comply with such decreased revenue. In the event of an increase in revenue, which increase has become definite and reasonably certain by an increase in tax rate or the schedule of changes for city services, the city council may revise the budget accordingly and take such anticipated receipts into consideration in the budget.”

The amendment will be read for final adoption June 21.