Writer: Jerry Neace
Published August 3, 2023
Now Habersham
The Demorest City Council will not be meeting on the first Tuesday of each month as is customary, at least for the next several months. The announcement came during the Tuesday night council meeting.
Demorest City Manager Mark Musselwhite announced that he will be unable to attend the regularly scheduled meetings due to training each month beginning in September until next May. He will be attending the Certified Public Manager’s course through the University of Georgia and the Carl Vinson Institute of Government.
Musselwhite told the council that he could attend the meetings using other forms of technology, but it would be difficult. He suggested to the council that they could move the meetings to the second Tuesday of each month so that he could attend the meetings in person.
Demorest Mayor Jerry Harkness stated after the announcement, ”It’s going to be difficult to have a meeting without you. I prefer moving that for special called meetings.”
City Attorney Thomas Mitchell told the council that they didn’t need to make a motion for the change but explained to the city council what they will need to do to change the meeting dates.
“You will need to issue that call (for a special called meeting) a week before you publish the agenda, and I think you’re going to want to publish something on the website saying something that the regular meeting for this month is canceled and there will be a special called meeting on ‘x’ date,” Mitchell said.
He also advised the council to inform the media of this change.
Musselwhite will be attending the course on site Tuesday and Wednesday at the UGA campus in Lawrenceville and then virtually on Thursday, the first week of each month beginning the first week in September.
