County Circumvents Will of the People

Two weeks ago, four Fulton County Commissioners agreed to issue 74 backdated billboard permits in cities where they have absolutely no jurisdiction. A few are in Alpharetta, a city that has had their own sign ordinance on the books longer than any of these Commissioners have been sitting. Most are in Johns Creek, Milton, and Sandy Springs, where citizens literally voted the Commission’s ability to make community development decisions out of office.

As usual, they don’t seem to get the message.

Years ago, when warned that their sign ordinance was unconstitutional and would not protect them adequately in a pending lawsuit, Fulton County did what they do best. They closed their eyes and tried to wish reality away. Well, it didn’t work.

Could they have gone back and replaced the ordinance with a reasonable one that protected freedom of speech and did not run roughshod over the quality of life of our citizens? The answer is yes. Did they? Sadly, the answer is no.

More importantly, when sued over their unconstitutional ordinance, could the county have aggressively defended their citizens against this predatory case? Of course. Did they? Again the answer is no. It appears the county didn’t even bother to look back to see if the applications in question were properly filed.

Now they have placed their failure to act squarely on the backs of the citizens of Fulton County residing in our new cities. Yes, I said Fulton County, because despite the Commission’s unwillingness to responsibly govern, that is still where the bulk of our tax money flows.

Because of their inaction, the County ended up holding a rather short stick at the court-ordered arbitration hearings with the billboard companies. When offered a settlement of just going ahead and issuing permits they said, “sure” – despite that fact they have no jurisdiction in the areas in question.

When Commissioner Lynne Riley asked the obvious question, “Is this legal?” the County’s own lawyer said he didn’t know. The majority of the Commission, despite Commissioner Riley’s well-grounded protests, essentially said, “Well, let’s do it anyway.”

We cannot change the past, and short of a miracle, I don’t imagine we can change the Commissioners’ vote. Could the county have paid the much talked about millions in damages, conditional on the billboard companies dropping the suit? Would they have even had to pay the millions after a complete review of the applications and their validity? Could the county have had a conversation with the city governments and asked what the citizens would want? At the very least, could they have looked at the ordinances that our city governments have passed in order to get an indication of what direction they should take in the name of the approximately 223,000 residents of the four cities affected by this vote?

Unfortunately, we will never know the answers to any of the above because they didn’t think our citizens’ quality of life was worth the effort of sitting down at the table and trying. Instead they voted to support the placement of 74 billboards in our cities and flexing the chokehold they have on our citizens one more time.

It is my profound hope that the courts will see the folly of the Fulton Commission’s vote. The City of Johns Creek has filed a motion to intervene and will argue vehemently that it is our right to consider sign placement within our borders. I would then ask the billboard companies to come to the table and apply through the ordinances our citizens passed through their respective locally elected representatives, rather than use a backdoor method to circumvent the will of the people.

Bodker is Mayor of Johns Creek