England says legal opinions differ on veto power of county chairman

However, England said he consulted Monday morning with one of the state legislature’s attorneys, who reviewed both the county and airport authority charters, and that attorney came to the conclusion that the county chairman could not veto Holliday's appointment.

England did not identify which attorney he asked to look at the issue. A source said it was Wayne R. Allen, the Georgia General Assembly’s deputy legislative counsel.

“He said the way he interpreted the two charters is that the veto authority given in the charter for the county would not have a bearing on the charter for the airport authority — because they are two different charters for two different organizations, and the veto language in the county’s charter is not carried over into the airport authority’s charter,” England said.

That is not the opinion of county attorney Angela Davis, who told the commission that though the airport authority charter does not include a veto provision, the county charter does grant the chairman that authority.

In an interview Tuesday, she expressed surprise that England had gotten involved in the matter and that Allen had come to a different conclusion. She tried to call Allen, but was told that he would talk to her only with England’s permission.

England said he is not picking sides in the controversy, but after thinking about the issue last weekend decided to seek legal advice because both the county and the airport authority are state-chartered entities.

“I’m not trying to stick my fingers in it,” he said. “But my obligation is to take and uphold the constitution of the state of Georgia and in doing so, if something is in doubt, it is my obligation sometimes to point that out, sometimes to make sure the parties that need to know are aware of it.”

Commissioner Billy Parks raised the same legal issue during Monday’s called meeting of the Barrow County Board of Commissioners. After the meeting, he said he contacted England, who in that conversation agreed to find out how the commissioners could get a more formal legal opinion from Georgia Atty. Gen. Sam Olens.

Parks said he received England’s promised instructions in an email around noon Tuesday.

The email advised him to send to Olens’ office a copy of the county attorney’s opinion, plus copies of both charters.

However, Parks said Davis has only written an informal opinion, and he is concerned about the potential cost of having her draft a formal opinion to submit to the attorney general’s office.

Parks said he would ask Davis for an estimate of the cost to do that, and he might be willing to pay a portion of her fees out of his own pocket rather than have taxpayers cover the expense.

“I said the other night I would not spend taxpayers’ money on this issue,” Parks said.

Davis said Tuesday that Commissioner Ben Hendrix already had spoken with Olens about the matter, and the attorney general agreed with her that the county charter would grant the chairman veto power over an authority appointee.

But Hendrix said Olens offered that opinion in a five-minute conversation without reading either charter.

During Monday night’s meeting, Yearwood called for the board to abolish the airport authority and for the county government to take back the facility.

However, he also noted that the city of Winder owns half of the airport and has not contributed to its upkeep or other expenses.

England said abolishing the airport authority would require action by the Georgia General Assembly, and that Yearwood’s suggestion likely would be a “moot point” without a majority vote of the BOC.

He said in order for the county’s legislative delegation – comprised of England, Rep. Tommy Benton and Sen. Frank Ginn – to carry forward a piece of legislation, the request would have to be backed either by a majority of the commissioners or possibly by the entire commission.

He said he contacted Benton and Ginn this week to try to set up a meeting where they would determine such “rules.”

“We have yet to decide what our delegation’s rules are as to whether a motion like that requires a unanimous vote of the commission or school board or city council, or whether we would require only a majority vote,” England said. “We have not had an opportunity to meet.”

England’s entrance into a local controversy is unusual. However, his opinion carries considerable weight in the legislature due to his recent appointment as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

Davis said Yearwood is the first chairman in her seven years as the county attorney to exercise veto power.

Yearwood’s candidates did not win seats in the 2010 county elections, and there was some political scuttlebutt about whether he would use his veto power to override the board majority that often opposes him.

With commissioners Larry Joe Wilburn and Eva Elder often siding with the chairman, it would be virtually impossible for the four-vote majority of the board to override vetoes and retain control of the board’s business.