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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 L j|| i « ' 1 ./ Tp i i i 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. WINTER MAGAZINE AVAILABLE The winter issue of Braselton TODAY, a magazine published by Mainstreet Newspapers, is now avail able across the greater Braselton area. Contact Us • News: news@mainstreet- news.com, call 706-395-2752 or fax to 706-367-8056 •Ads: ads@mainstreetnews. com or call 706-367-5233 Online Like us on Facebook: The Braselton News www.BraseltonNewsTODAY.com 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