Henry Daily Herald

To the editor:

It is with great pleasure that I take this time to commend City Councilperson Sandra Vincent for her continued dedication to the City of McDonough. There are many times I watch her ask the most important questions regarding subjects that matter "most" to our citizens.

Currently, our city is faced with the challenge of correcting a server problem that potentially threatens its ability to use and store sensitive information, such as e-mails and court records. This is serious! Rather than going along with a "band-aid" approach, she put forth the idea to move the city beyond our current problem into a healthy and more productive environment of Information Technology, such as "Cloud" computing.

A special thanks goes out to the Georgia Municipal Association for meeting with city leaders last night in an effort to convince them to move forward and join surrounding cities. Further in the meeting, I had the displeasure of watching our City Attorney suggest a ludicrous idea of repealing the City Charter back to a previously enacted charter of 1981. Her suggestion was that since the current City Charter hadn't been sent to the Department of Justice for "clearance," the current charter is, for a lack of a better word, void.

Once again, Ms. Vincent pulled strength from her oath of office by quoting her commitment to protect the values and intent of the current, and those of previous City Councilmembers, who work relentlessly to enact the current charter of 2003. Since the arrival of our attorney in May 2010, the council has had serious reservations with such an idea.

The city has had three city attorneys and this is the first time the City Council has been informed of such of a problem. Furthermore, the City Attorney admitted she was aware of inconsistencies within the charter, but didn't think it was a huge problem until now. The major difference with suggesting this idea now is that the City of McDonough is currently without a City Administrator; therefore, the only city councilmember who could possibly benefit from reverting to the 1981 charter, where city councilmembers served two years rather than four, where city land annexations (previously approved by the Department of Justice) were defunct or non-existant, would be the mayor –– who at that time –– acted with Chief Executive Officer authority (to hire, fire, create departments, etc..) In a time where our city should grow businesses and move toward a more healthy and productive city, fighting for unwarranted power is extremely counterproductive to our city's recognition as a "City of Ethics."

I also want to thank other councilmembers, who worked together last night to fight against "stubborn" folks, who consistently want to keep McDonough "lost in time" and disconnected from change that our city so desperately needs.

SWAINE THOMPSON

McDonough