VARNELL, Ga. — The former city manager of Varnell and his son have filed a lawsuit against the three City Council members who voted to dissolve the city’s police department, claiming the move violated Georgia’s Open Meetings Act and asking for monetary penalties against the three.

The suit filed Friday in Whitfield County Superior Court by attorney Marcus Morris on behalf of Ralph and Bill Morgan also claims councilwoman Andrea Gordy is not a resident of Varnell and is not eligible to serve on the council. Ralph Morgan is a former city manager of Varnell and was one of the original group of citizens who approached the Legislature about getting Varnell chartered as a city. Bill Morgan is a former Varnell council member.

The filing requests the court to direct that Gordy “demonstrate whether she meets the residency qualifications required …” as a council member at a hearing within 10 days of the filing.

The suit names Gordy, Mayor Pro Tem David Owens and councilman Jan Pourquoi as defendants “individually and in their official capacity” as Varnell council members and focuses on the actions taken at a July 11 City Council meeting in which Pourquoi made a motion to dissolve the police department. The motion was seconded by Owens, who participated in the meeting by telephone, and Gordy was the third vote in favor. Councilwoman Ashlee Godfrey voted against the measure, and Mayor Anthony Hulsey expressed his displeasure with the motion but typically votes only in the case of a tie.

Morris said the Morgans plan to speak at tonight’s City Council meeting at 7 at the Varnell gym and had no comment on Monday.

Gordy and Pourquoi fired back at the Morgans on Monday.

“I actually haven’t read all of it yet, but I think the most important thing is that it illustrates how in small towns some families almost claim ownership over the town and do what they want,” Pourquoi said. “The Morgan family has been identified with and is identifying itself as the city and that is not helpful in a democratic process. I am not going to worry about it. I stand by my opinion and we will see.”

Gordy said the suit is “legal intimidation” of the three council members who voted to dissolve the police department, a vote that was later vetoed by Hulsey. Gordy, Owens and Pourquoi said at a meeting last week they plan to put a referendum on whether the police department should be dissolved on the November ballot. 

“I agree with Jan,” Gordy said. “The Morgans do think they run the city and anyone who disagrees with them, they make them a target. I wish they would focus on getting people out to vote and not focus on us. They attack me and Jan and David every day and now they have their lawyer attacking.”

A voicemail message left for Owens was not immediately returned Monday afternoon.

Gordy said concerns over her residency have been looked at by the council. 

“The residency issue was brought up before the council and the council was satisfied,” she said. “Anthony (Hulsey) brought this up at his own Q&A meeting. They are looking for any weak link, and they see me as the weak link and that is why they are pushing so hard.”

In a post on Facebook concerning Gordy, Morris wrote that Gordy resides in Rocky Face. He said her car is parked at a residence overnight, states she receives mail at the Rocky Face address and wrote, “Ms. Gordy has not laid her head on a pillow in Varnell, Ga. in at least 6 mos.”  

“I own property in the city and that is a known fact,” Gordy said. “It is the residency thing we will address. I am working with (City Attorney) Terry Miller to do this as legally and tactfully as we can. I read Marcus’ post about going through my trashcans and we aren’t going to get on that level.”

City Manager Mike Brown declined to comment on the lawsuit, but an agenda for tonight’s meeting lists the possibility of an executive session closed to the media and the public to “meet with attorneys on lawsuit.”

The suit does not name Hulsey, who presided over the meeting, or Godfrey as defendants. It does not name the city of Varnell or the council as an entity. 

“I think the defendants as outlined were the ones responsible and the ones who need to be accountable and not the body itself,” Morris said. “The other thing is Miss Gordy is not as a matter of law sitting legally on the council. When she moved outside of the city that seat of hers became vacated, which raises the question of the validity of every vote taken since that time. All I do know is she should resign.”

Miller said the council as a whole will be affected. He said he will answer questions from council members during the executive session if it is called tonight but said he did not expect to represent the three council members named in the suit in court.

“When a member of a governing body is sued, it is the same as the entity itself,” Miller said. “There is a municipal component and will be something we are looking at as far as how that will be staffed. It will probably not be the city attorney’s office which will handle this. It is the council at large that is our client, so outside counsel may be sought.”

All four Superior Court judges — William T. Boyett, Scott Minter, Cindy Morris and Jim Wilbanks — have recused themselves. Court Administrator Brad Butler said it will be up to the administrator of the Seventh Judicial District to assign a judge from the district courts that include most of northwest Georgia. An official with the Seventh Judicial District said district officials are aware of the situation but a judge to handle the case has not yet been assigned. The majority of judges in the state are attending a week-long summer conference on St. Simons Island this week. 

Morris is also the attorney for Police Chief Lyle Grant, whose actions while responding to a 911 call for then-councilman Sheldon Fowler drew the ire of council members when the incident came to light. 

The council members voted to dissolve the department following the reinstatement of Grant by Hulsey. Grant had been on paid administrative leave following his handling of the domestic call on June 13 at Fowler’s residence during which Fowler called his stepdaughters vulgar names and “poked” officers in the chest with his finger, according to an incident report. In that report, Grant wrote that “officers were tolerant of his behavior because of his position on the Varnell City Council.” Fowler later resigned from the council.

After Hulsey read a statement reinstating Grant, Pourquoi made his motion to dissolve the police department.

The suit claims the move to dissolve the police department violated the procedure for amending the city’s code of ordinances because it was in the form of a motion rather than an ordinance, and the motion was thus “out of order” and “illegal.” With the motion “defective” because an agenda for the meeting was not published “alerting the public of the proposed motion,” the move to disband the police department violated the state’s Open Meetings Act, the suit says.

The suit wants the court to require the defendants to “officially” recognize “on the record … the illegal nature of the vote taken to disband the police department …” 

Hulsey, as the executive running the meeting, could have failed to recognize Pourquoi’s motion and ruled it out of order and insisted that the motion be placed on the agenda for a future meeting.

Morris, who is joined in the complaint by attorneys Jeffrey Dean and Brandon Sparks, said the Morgans don’t hold Hulsey and Godfrey responsible for any violations and defended not including them in the lawsuit. 

“Because the motion was made by Mr. Pourquoi and the other two voted for it,” Morris said when asked why they were the only three named and not the council as a whole. “Technically, (the mayor not recognizing the motion) is what should have happened. The mayor and everybody else in the room was just blindsided by it, so I think the emotion and the shock of what happened may have affected someone’s ability to properly preside over the meeting. Technically, you are right that when that motion was made the motion was out of order.”

The lawsuit seeks the court to access a civil penalty of $1,000 against each defendant for violating the Open Meetings Act and to cover the Morgans’ attorney fees and court costs.