Kyle Lofty talks to Varnell City Council members during Thursday night's meeting.

VARNELL, Ga. — Three members of the Varnell City Council said Thursday night that the voters will decide the fate of the city police department.

Last week, council members voted 3-1 to abolish the police department. That vote was later vetoed by Mayor Anthony Hulsey. Mayor Pro Tem David Owens and council members Andrea Gordy and Jan Pourquoi, who voted to abolish the police department, had indicated they would vote to override that veto when the council meets on Tuesday.

But in a called public meeting at City Hall Thursday night, attended by about 50 people, those three council members said they would not vote to override the veto. Instead, Owens said he will introduce a resolution to place on the Nov. 7 general election ballot a non-binding referendum asking voters if the city should abolish the police department, enter into an intergovernmental agreement with the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office to provide police protection in the city of Varnell and abolish the property tax.

Pourquoi said he will second the motion. All three said they will vote for it and will also abide by the results.

The council members said Hulsey, a Georgia State Patrol trooper, was on duty, and council member Ashlee Godfrey, who voted to keep the police department, could not attend Thursday’s meeting.

“It will be a non-binding resolution because our city charter does not allow for a binding resolution. But we will abide by the results,” Owens said.

If residents vote to keep the department and the property tax, nothing will change. But if they vote to approve the referendum, the three said they will vote at their November meeting to abolish the department and the property tax.

“We listened to you. It’s in your hands now,” said Gordy.

But that did not satisfy several in the audience, who want a clean vote on the police department. Former state representative Tom Dickson told board members during the public comments section of the meeting that they should “give the citizens a chance to participate in the decision” about the police department.

Asked after the meeting if the referendum will satisfy his request, Dickson said, “It will if they change the wording,” saying he wants a clean vote on the police department without the other issues. That was a sentiment that several other people in the audience voiced.

But Pourquoi said his desire to abolish the police department is primarily fiscal and he believes if it is abolished voters should get back money the city would save through a tax cut. The department has a budget of about $307,000. The city’s property tax brings in about $100,000 of the city’s $900,000 budget. The rest comes from the city’s share of the local option sales tax and other taxes and fees.

Several audience members didn’t seem to understand the proposal, with at least one audience member asking how they would fund the government without taxes.

“A lot of the people here are completely confused,” said Bill Henderson, who said the proposal was too complex and the referendum should just be about abolishing the police department.

In remarks made before opening the meeting to comments, council members explained why they voted to abolish the department.

Owens noted that two car crashes since 2012  involving on-duty police officers had cost the city’s insurance carrier a total of $920,000. In 2012, officer James Smith, who was driving 104 mph, crashed into a car driven by Leon Thurman, killing him. Smith later pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and reckless driving. In 2014, officer John Patrick Hayes struck a vehicle driven by David Gambrell, who was ejected, injuring him. Hayes was given a warning by the Georgia State Patrol for making an improper turn.

Owen said that if another event like that happened the city would be unable to get insurance.

Gordy said she had spoken to Sheriff Scott Chitwood who had assured her that his office would be able to cover the area. She said Chitwood also told her there are only two 911 dispatches a day to Varnell.

But former city manager Ralph Morgan said he believes the vote to abolish the police department was prompted by animus against Police Chief Lyle Grant. Some of the council members had been critical of Grant for not arresting then-council member Sheldon Fowler when Grant answered a domestic call at Fowler’s home, with Grant asking for a warrant several days later after council members found out about the call.

“This has been an embarrassment to the city,” Morgan said.