THOMASVILLE, Ga. — The response to a letter from Albany lawyers questioning Thomasville City Council action in several areas says city staff is gathering information and documents in response to attorneys’ open records requests.

Lawyers in the Albany law firm of Watson Spence LLC dispatched a May 24 letter to city council that said concerned residents and landowners consider council action on South Pinetree Boulevard null, void and sanctionable.

City and private Pinetree-related communications involving city council members and city staff are requested, along with phone records of Mayor Greg Hobbs and council members Terry Scott and David Hufstetler from Jan. 1 to May 24, 2018.

City attorney Tim Sanders’ letter acknowledges the council took on “plans for road improvements for South Pinetree Boulevard as designed by Falcon Engineering, Norcross, Georgia, for Thomas County and submitted to Georgia Department of Transportation by Thomas County Board of Commissioners” as a non-agenda item at a May 14 council meeting.

Sanders, citing Georgia law, contends that “ … Failure to include on the agenda an item which becomes necessary to address during the course of a meeting shall not preclude considering and acting upon such item.”

The city attorney’s letter to F. Faison Middleton IV says Georgia law “contemplates and explicitly authorizes non-agenda items to be considered and acted upon.”

“Mayor Hobbs introduced consideration of the Falcon plan. Council member Hufstetler made the motion to accept the Falcon plan and Mayor Pro Tem Scott seconded the motion,” the city attorney’s letter says.

After public comment and discussion, Hobbs called for a motion. Hufstetler and Scott voted in favor of the motion. Council members Todd Mobley and Jay Flowers voted against the motion, according to the letter, explaining that Hobbs voted in favor of the motion, breaking the tie and causing the motion to pass.

The letter continues, “By virtue of their actions, it is apparent to me that a majority of the council believed that it was necessary to address and act upon the Falcon plan, even though it was not on the printed agenda.

“With respect to concerns stemming from a perceived lack of due diligence and lack of professional study, as of the writing of this letter I do not have sufficient documents and information with which to formulate a response,” the letter says. “However, as city staff continues to work to gather information and documents in response to the open records requests contained in your letter it is possible that information and documents may come to my attention that will allow me to respond to your concerns.”

In response to potential conflicts of interest expressed in the Albany attorneys’ letter, Sanders said he does not have a copy of the Falcon plan, and without a copy of the plan, he is not in a position to formulate an opinion about whether conditions exist that might create a conflict of interest or the potential for a conflict of interest when he wrote the June 1 letter.

Sanders anticipates an opportunity to view the Falcon plan and might be in a better position at that time to formulate an opinion.

Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 1820