Newspaper Page Text
Serving Braselton, Hoschton, Chateau Elan, Traditions, Reunion, Deaton Creek and West Jackson $1.00 copy
Wednesday, December 25, 2019
Vol. 13 No. 4 A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. www.BraseltonNewsTODAY.com 12 pages
Judge rules council can operate
By Alex Buffington
alex@mainstreetnews. com
The Hoschton City Coun
cil can continue to operate
with a three-member board
following recent court ac
tion.
On Dec. 20, Superior
Court Judge Joe Booth or
dered the temporary sus
pension of a sentence in the
town’s charter that prevents
the acting mayor from vot
ing. That move allows may
or pro tern Adam Ledbetter
and council members Shant-
won Astin and Hope Weeks
to continue functioning as a
three-member board.
The issue comes after
former mayor Theresa Ken-
erly and mayor pro tern
Jim Cleveland submitted
their resignations following
months of controversy.
Cleveland’s and Kener-
ly’s resignations left the city
council essentially inopera
ble under the town’s charter.
Three affirmative votes are
required for the council to
approve anything. But the
town’s charter doesn’t allow
the mayor, or in the absence
of the mayor, the mayor pro
tern, to vote on city matters.
With just three council
members left and no mayor,
there wouldn’t have been
enough voting members to
transact city business.
The order in the Superior
Court of Jackson County
allows the newly-elected
mayor pro tem. Ledbetter,
to vote on city matters. That
move allows the council to
continue functioning until
the March 24 election to fill
See Hoschton, page 3A
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The Hoschton City Council meets shortly after Superior Court Judge Joe
Booth ordered that the three-member council could continue functioning.
Pictured are: council member Shantwon Astin, mayor pro tem Adam Ledbet
ter, attorney Thomas Mitchell, council member Hope Weeks, and event coor
dinator/public relations Jennifer Kidd-Harrison.
Massive Chateau
area project
gets approval
Braselton leaders recent
ly approved a controversial
and legally contentious re
zoning for property across
from Chateau Elan on Hwy.
211.
At a special called meet
ing Dec. 18, the Braselton
Town Council unanimously
approved the request from
HECE. LLC, for a massive
housing and commercial
development on 230 acres
around the Publix shopping
center.
The project was turned
down by the council in Au
gust. A subsequent lawsuit
against the town remanded
the case back to the council
for another hearing.
The council held that
hearing Dec. 9 during its
regular council meeting.
During that meeting, an at
torney for the developer ar
gued that the council should
now go ahead and approve
the rezoning with condi
tions that had been worked
out between HECE and the
city.
One citizen who lives at
Chateau Elan said that the
project should have gone
back before the town’s
planning commission for
more public input before
the council took any final
action.
An attorney for the devel
opers of the Publix shop
ping center also opposed
plans by the Georgia De
partment of Transportation
for a traffic signal design at
the site.
The request was approved
with 25 conditions, which
covered a number of details
including buffers, lot width,
housing design and size re
quirements and traffic im
provements.
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Merry Christmas
Breakfast with Santa held at Hoschton Depot
Photos by Wesleigh Sagon
Jonah Cosenza, 6 months old, was in awe of Santa during his visit at the Historic Hoschton Train De
pot on Saturday, Dec. 14.
Logan, 8, and Landon Spearman, 4, visited San- Jessica Cosenza tried to talk her daughter, Bella,
ta after breakfast at the Historic Hoschton Train into a photo op with Santa at the Historic Hoschton
Depot. See more on page 3. Train Depot. Bella is two years old.
Resigned Hoschton mayor
adamant she did nothing wrong
By Alex Buffington
alex@mainstreetnews.com
Hoschton Mayor Theresa
Kenerly resigned her office
Dec. 15 following a nation
al controversy and months
of calls for her resignation.
But Kenerly was ada
mant in a recent interview
with The Braselton News
that she did nothing wrong
in the hiring process of a
new city administrator for
the town.
Kenerly is accused of
not including the resume
of Keith Henry, a candidate
for city administrator, be
cause of his race, A fellow
council member said Ken
erly presented the council
with three resumes, adding
there was a fourth candi
date, Henry, who was “real
good.” Kenerly reportedly
told the council member
that Henry is black and she
didn’t know if the city was
“ready for that.”
In a following news sto
ry about the issue with an
Atlanta newspaper, may
or pro tem Jim Cleveland
defended Kenerly and
also expressed his views
against interracial relation
ships, stating they make his
“blood boil.”
The backlash was swift,
with citizens calling for
Cleveland’s and Kenerly’s
resignations and filing nu
merous ethics complaints.
And when the two didn’t
resign, a formal recall ef
fort was started in August.
After months of signa
ture gathering and court
hearings, the final recall
vote was scheduled for
Jan. 14. But in December,
Cleveland and Kenerly
both resigned before a re
call could happen.
The resignations left the
city council essentially in
operable, forcing the town
to seek a court decision to
allow a three-member city
council to vote until the va
cated seats are filled March
24.
KENERLY’S SI 1)1.
In an interview after her
resignation, Kenerly re
mained insistent that she
did nothing wrong in the
city administrator search.
“I think I did it fair,” she
said.
Kenerly said the city re
ceived over 90 applicants
for the position. She nar
rowed the list down to 10
and focused on candidates
that offered significant ex
perience.
She and Justin Kilgore,
the town’s planning and
zoning director, narrowed
the list down to three top
candidates.
Kenerly said city attor
ney Thomas Mitchell asked
if she could release all
three names to the public
(a legal requirement once
the three candidates have
been named). But Kenerly
said one of the candidates
hadn’t let their employer
know they were applying
for another job. She said
Mitchell advised them that
if they had four candidates,
See Mayor, page 3A
