Washington City Attorney administers the oath of office to new Councilmen Kimberly Rainey, Marion Tutt Jr., and to incumbent Washington City Councilman Pam Eaton for her fourth term in office. With two new faces on the Washington City Council, Mayor Willie Burns has taken steps to change the city’s government from a “professional” council-led administration to a “strong-mayor” type in which he can veto anything the six-member council proposes.

“In this town we have a weak mayor,” said Councilman Nathaniel Cullars, in voicing the Mayor’s proposal. “I’m making a motion that we make the mayor a strong mayor tonight as we speak, and if there’s any other thing the legislature needs to put in, we do it at the retreat.”

Burns clarified, to some degree, what he was proposing. “This motion says that anything we can do under local home rule, it can be enacted. Any other changes, we’ll address at the retreat on the 29, because they’ll need to go to the legislature. But any changes we can make locally by home rule, like give the mayor veto power, which will make this a ‘strong mayor’ government, we can approve.”

Burns insists that the city had a strong-mayor type of government until he was elected, but that was contradicted by the most experienced city leaders. Councilman Pamela L.G. Eaton, who was sworn in Monday night for her fourth term, said that Burns was wrong in that assertion, and said she disagreed strongly with placing all power with one person. “In all my years on the council, we have always been the policy-making body. We’ve never had a strong-mayor system, and I have to say to my fellow councilmen that you’re voting to lose your authority and giving it to one elected official.”

Councilman Ames Barnett held up Georgia Municipal Association’s handbook for elected officials, a book that each of the councilmen should have studied. “In this book, it says that small towns should have what is called a ‘professional’ government, and that is what we have,” he said. “If you go to a single powerful man, everything becomes political because to get anything done, you only have to influence that one person.”

Barnett pointed out that the professional governance model is recommended for small towns because of the danger of corruption. “One man does not need to be in control of this city,” he said. “I want to table this so the citizens can express their feelings about it.”

City Attorney Barry Fleming said that the council could change the city ordinances but they could not change the city charter or make major changes in the form of government without the approval of the state legislature. “What I will have to do is to go through this and see what changes you can make as a council, then I can explain to you at the retreat what changes you can’t make.”

The vote was divided 3 to 3, with Burns voting in favor of his own proposal to break the tie. Cullars and newly installed District 1 Councilmen Marion Tutt Jr. and Kimberly Rainey voted for the power grab, while District 2 Councilmen Eaton, Barnett, and Edward Pope Jr. voted against the mayor’s efforts.

The split vote, with the mayor breaking the tie in favor of District 1, was a pattern that would be repeated.

It first showed at the start of the meeting, after the swearing in of new councilmen Tutt and Rainey, and the incumbent Eaton. Burns asked the council to confirm the 2010 appointments of City Attorney Fleming, Police Chief Mike Davis, City Clerk Debbie Danner, and City Administrator Mike Eskew.

Burns also proposed to replace long-time municipal Judge Chip Hardin with retired military judge advocate general Ed Anderson. Councilman Barnett agreed that Anderson was qualified, but asked if there was a performance issue with Hardin, and proposed adding Hardin’s name to the list. His proposal was defeated, and the mayor’s appointments were confirmed, both with 3 to 3 ties, again with the mayor breaking the tie on his own proposal.

In other action, Councilman Cullars succeeded in his years-long effort to extend the hours of operation for clubs and bars in the city. Former Councilman Rev. G.L. Avery had always blocked the later hours out of respect for the people living in homes adjacent to the Whitehall Street nightclubs who were disturbed by the late-night noise and crowds. Cullars proposed that those businesses be allowed to stay open until 3 a.m. on Saturday morning and 2 a.m. on Sunday morning. Seconded by Rainey, the motion passed with the mayor breaking the tie.

Cullars also proposed again that the city spend $275 a month to have city council meetings recorded on video for broadcast on Comcast Cablevision, and the motion passed.

Several meetings were set at Monday night’s meeting. A DDA meeting is set for 8:30 a.m. January 21 at Farmers State Bank, with a strategic planning meeting at the library set for 10:30 that morning. A community forum concerning building a hotel at the Pope Center was set for January 19 at 7 p.m. at the Pope Center.

Finally, the City Council will meet in an all-day retreat at the Pope Center on Friday, January 29, at 9 a.m. Discussion of Mayor Burns’ proposed new power structure is expected to dominate the meeting, and the public is invited to attend.