Council voted 5-0 to return to the 2018 charter removing the authority/power to hire and fire a city manager from the mayor and giving it back to council
by Janice Daniel
The Mayor and Council of the City of Villa Rica met for their Work Session on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2026 at 10:00 a.m., at the Holt-Bishop Justice Center, Municipal Courtroom, 101 Main Street, with all councilmembers present.
NOTE: At a Special Called Meeting on February 25th, 2026 at 2:00 p.m., the Mayor and Council met in order to award the bid for the Villa Rica Parkway Road Improvement project. The award was to Southeastern Site Development, Inc. as recommended by Falcon Design Consultants, LLC, for the total amount of $4,692,469.81 (including the base bid, alternates 1 and 3, and $550,000 contingency) with the TAD Bond Proceeds as the funding source. The construction will continue the Villa Rica Parkway from Cleghorn Street to North Carroll Road. This meeting was not livestreamed.
Opening the Work Session of 3-3-26, Mayor Leslie McPherson thanked staff members who adjusted the dias to a slightly V-shape so that councilmembers may more easily see each other.
Amanda Long, Interim Finance Director gave a presentation of the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) of the United States and Canada to the City of Villa Rica Finance Department the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for FY24. This is the fifth consecutive year the city has received this award. In order to achieve this award the city government must publish an easily readable and efficiently organized comprehensive financial report which must satisfy both generally accepted accounting principles and applicable legal requirements.
CFO and Interim City Manager Jennifer Hallman said an update on the Veterans Memorial Park located on a 2,500 square-foot plot of land beside the Mill “We Are Villa Rica” sign, leased to the Villa Rica Veterans Association by the city for a nominal annual fee, would be presented by General Charles Wilhelm and Veteran John Hannabach in order to keep Council informed on the park’s progress. Hannabach said that in 2018 six veterans met at the Trading Post for breakfast, started a monthly veterans meeting. The group has now grown to 53 members who meet at the Villa Rica Library, discuss projects, visit veterans and attend the funerals of deceased veterans. He said that with the land leased to them being small, they want to put up a Veterans Memorial Monument which will have to go up rather than out, seeking visibility and accessibility.
The monument has been designed by a Columbus, GA firm that – hopefully pro bono – is the same firm that designed the National Rangers Monument at Fort Benning and the Infantry Museum and entry to the Fort. Their engineered design for Villa Rica is a 27-foot-tall landmark lighted 24/7 and flying the U.S. flag. On top of the monument will be an eagle landing.
The Villa Rica Veterans Association has had great support from the city staff in achieving the 501(c)3 and 509(a)2 non-profit status, and with the help of City Attorney David Mecklin, have been designated by the IRS as a tax-free organization. Having tried and failed to obtain a grant for the monument, they are in the fundraising stage of this process. They are only soliciting funds from private donors, corporations and community members because they want the monument to be created and funded by Villa Rica, not the veterans.
Ward 3 Councilmember Stephanie Warmoth said, “If people can see how incredible this proposal is, they will be willing to help. It is absolutely phenomenal.”
The info sheet for contributions is on Facebook, the city news email, and the veterans’ website: www.vrveterans.org. Jennifer Hallman said it can be put on the city’s website as well.
Ward 5 Councilmember Dominique Conteh asked what the monetary goal was for the monument and Hannabach replied, “As much as $700,000.” General Wilhelm said the site preparation alone will cost a lot of money. They will need to level the land, install a retaining wall, and lay the 16-ton granite pad made in Elberton, Georgia. Lots of dirt is needed, and there will be a cast-iron ornamental fence. Wilhelm added that Bill Campbell of Campbell Civil Construction has completed a very detailed engineering rendering of the site, pro bono, and said this has been a great help for the veterans organization financially because the site plan has to be technically competent and they are trying to “get it right.” Hallman said the park will be maintained like any other city park. Mayor McPherson thanked Wilhelm and Hannabach for all the work they have done and added, “This will inspire people to give their support.”
A Consent Agenda was prepared as follows for the next regular meeting for a one vote approval of all items:
- Proclamation to make the week of March 16th thru the 20th Government Finance Professionals Week in the City of Villa Rica. The entirety of the Proclamation was read by the Mayor.
- Request to fill three (3) vacancies on the Villa Rica Convention & Visitors Bureau Board of Directors as follows: Kascia Polk, Shasha Jackson, and Richard Argo. Their backgrounds and qualifications can be seen at City Hall. Tourism Manager Collin Cash answered some councilmember questions about this board, advising that members are selected by the Board rather than taking applications from citizens. She said the Board by-laws dictate that members have extensive background work in tourism and hospitality. Councilmember Conteh asked what is the diversity on the Board, and Cash said Tracie Ivie, the city’s Parks & Recreation Director, white, Frank Pritchett of the University of West Georgia is an original member, Camelia Chandler is a white marketing professional, Kascia Polk is black, Sasha Jackson is black, and Richard Argo is white. The current 6-member board needs one additional member to be complete and they are looking for someone in the restaurant business.
- HR Director Tiffany Lanford requested approval of $27,000 from the Education and Training Fund for the Leaders of Tomorrow Program with One-Digital Training Consultants for all Department Head positions. Lanford said this training represents an intentional investment in executive-level leadership across all departments, ensuring alignment, accountability, and consistency in management practices at the highest operational levels of the city. She said the timing of this training is especially strategic since the second session will concentrate specifically on the effective administration of employee performance evaluations, which the city has not consistently completed annually in recent years. “This training will provide Department Heads with the tools, expectations, and best practices necessary to successfully carry out the performance evaluation process in a fair, consistent and constructive manner.” Mayor McPherson commented that she thought annual employee performance evaluations were taking place, but Lanford said they are not.
- Request to fill a vacancy on the Villa Rica Library Advisory Board by Tracie Ivie for Library Manager, Rachel Linn. Linn asks that Kelly Vines be appointed by Council since the Advisory Board had voted unanimously to recommend her.
- Tracie Ivie, Parks & Recreation Director, also provided a July 3rd Fireworks Display Contractor Recommendation for Pyro Shows East Coast, Inc. to provide a fireworks display for the city’s Fireworks Display Extravaganza which includes the special effects close-proximate enhancement segment for the America’s 250th anniversary event in 2026. The initial contract term is for one (1) year (2026) for a total of $48,500, with the option to renew annually for an additional two (2) years, 2027 at $44,000 and 2028 at $46,200. This item brought up an extensive discussion of adding Juneteenth (this year would be on a Friday since it is specifically June 19th every year) as an annual city event since it is the African Americans’ 4th of July. Councilmember Conteh stated she doesn’t want it to be combined with another city event, such as the Thomas Dorsey celebration (also in June) because it is date specific. Ivie advised there is not enough time to carry out the logistics for an event on the scale of the current July 3rd celebration because it has to have a location, vendors, coordination with the police department and public works along with a multitude of other planning activities. It is also not a city holiday, although Conteh pointed out that it is a federal holiday. CFO Hallman said “We can have a discussion about it if it needs a budget amendment,” and Ward 3 Councilmember Warmoth stated the city would need quotes on the cost. “It is not something we can vote on next week.” The consensus was to start discussions with the City Events Planner and all others who would be involved to possibly plan it for next year, with Ivie to research and talk with other cities about what they have done. Hallman added that the idea to celebrate Juneteenth together with the Thomas Dorsey Festival was intended to enhance, not overshadow, Juneteenth, but Conteh insisted it must be an event to itself, not combined with anything else.
- Request by VRPD Eddie Thompson to install a warning beacon light at the school zone signs one hour before and one hour after school starts at Mirror Lake Elementary, Villa Rica High and Villa Rica Elementary for a cost of $42,189.07 to be funded from the School Zone Camera Revenue. Police Chief Michael Mansour said these lights should clear up any confusion as to when the speeds are reduced during the busiest times of school days and let the public know when they need to slow down. Due to some questions among Council about the cameras and speeding tickets, Mansour explained, “The speed study done by the camera people showed that Glanton-Hindsman and Villa Rica Elementary did not have enough violations to warrant cameras,” but he also told everyone that there is a Blue Line Appeal Process on those tickets at the VRPD where a citizen can ask for a Municipal Court hearing and a city police officer presents the photo of the car and the speed it was traveling at for the court to decide if the ticket is warranted.
The rest of the agenda items were discussed, some at length, and the ones requiring a Public Hearing will be brought back at the Regular Meeting scheduled for Tuesday, March 10th, 2026 at 6:00 p.m.
An update by City Attorney Nicole Smith regarding the Joint Commission Ordinance Update brought to light a need for council to look into the need to appoint initial representatives to the Joint Review Committee and their terms to be defined, so these two items will be brought back at the regular meeting also
Attorney Smith also advised that a decision on hiring Sumter Consulting to look for a permanent city manager for Villa Rica was held over since January waiting for the mayor and council to agreement on the verbiage for the city charter to be amended to give the mayor some kind of authority over hiring and firing the city manager. Smith said the city attorneys have been unable to find language to address all the concerns of the mayor as well as council.
After a very lengthy discussion, council voted 5-0 in the Regular Meeting of 1-13-26 to go back to the 2018 charter which gives power to hire and fire a city manager to the council. The city is currently operating under a city charter which had been amended by the State Legislature in 2024 to give the Mayor the sole authority to hire and fire the city manager. Attorney Smith said the mayor and council have been in a “holding pattern” because the Mayor wasn’t in agreement with council’s vote and Georgia’s Legislature has already advised they will not approve any change unless the entire governing body, which includes the mayor, is in agreement.
Mayor McPherson said her biggest problem with the 2018 charter was that the mayor is totally excluded in the hiring and firing of the city manager, as she discovered when she first took office in January 2024. Then city manager Tom Barber refused to meet with her or work with her in any way. The issue is preventing consensus between the mayor and council on the hiring of a permanent city manager for over two year now, and citizens as well as councilmembers are very frustrated at this roadblock in their ability to govern the city.
In January, Attorney David Mecklin had changed the language in the 2018 charter from “Council” to “Mayor and Council” in the section regarding the hiring and firing of the city manager, but that was the only place he changed “Council” to read “Mayor and Council” in the charter, so McPherson was not in agreement with that.
At this meeting, Ward 4 Councilmember Tyler Barr, who took office in January of 2025 and was not involved in the 2024 “airing of dirty laundry” the city went through in full view of the press and public, asked the mayor “If we change the language of ‘Council’ to ‘Mayor and Council’ in all the language of the proposed charter amendment, would that suffice?” The Mayor responded that she was not in agreement with the language that the mayor would be “included” in the amendment, because the word included could mean verbally or simply her opinion, not necessarily true power of a vote for the city manager. In the January meeting the language McPherson wanted was that “The Mayor would bring forward the candidates for city manager,” thus barring councilmembers from any authority other than at least four of them to vote against any candidate she “brought forward”.
“You’re going in circles with your words,” Councilmember Warmoth stated. “If you wanted a vote you should have remained a councilmember rather than running for mayor.”
Warmoth also brought up a “six-page E-Blast full of crap” which the mayor sent out to everyone on her email list except for councilmembers, but Warmoth had a written copy of it. “You have no proof of these allegations, and you’ve always been unwilling to work with council. Property and business owners are vested in Villa Rica, and they should know if a public comment is made as a citizen, or as an elected official.”
The mayor responded, “I created an email list when I was voted onto council, and I’ve always communicated with anybody who wants to be on that list. I chose not to use social media because I didn’t want to see a bunch of negative on-line comments. There were no new revelations [in the email Warmoth referred to]. I was just letting anybody who hasn’t already seen and heard about what happened [in 2024] know what the history was. Citizens already know through open records that rules were broken by the former mayor and city manager.”
Councilmember Conteh said she was not on council at the time, but she has heard the former mayor has hired council about the defamation of character against him, and “the city can’t afford to be sued. Who’s going to pay for what happens?”
The mayor said that was a legitimate concern, but what happened in those years “is a matter of public record. Sometimes people use intimidation just to scare someone into shutting up. I’m ready to back up anything I said. Things are out there, mostly public and documented.” Conteh countered, “You should deal with those things on your own personal time.” Conteh said she herself maintains an email list to her constituents, but as an individual citizen, not as an elected official. But McPherson was adamant “This is all revolving around CITY topics of the CITY charter of the city where I am MAYOR, not as an individual.”
Ward 2 Councilmember Matthew Montahan intervened, “We need to move this meeting forward. I haven’t been on the mayor’s email list since the 2023 campaign.” And directly to the mayor he asked, “Will you provide to us in writing what language you want for the city charter?”
McPherson replied, “I gave ideas in the [January] meeting, but council didn’t seem to be receptive to any of them.”
Ward 1 Councilmember Shirley Marchman then said, “Tell us exactly what you want now and go forward and let’s not go through all this again.”
McPherson responded, “I am willing to consider other options, but I don’t want to sound demanding.”
A clearly exasperated Councilmember Warmoth said, “Don’t worry about how you sound. Just tell us what you want.”
Momtahan added, “We need it by next Tuesday [Regular Meeting date 3-10-26].”
When McPherson said “I will try, but I have massive open records requests to deal with, along with attorneys.” C
Conteh shot back, “The situation with the charter needs to be a priority. The Legislative Session closes in April, so don’t put this on the back burner. You have a whole week to get it done. Council is in consensus on how important this is. You need to put the people’s business first so we can move forward with the charter. We don’t want to do this through email games. Give us something in writing so we can get together and get this done.”
Mayor McPherson agreed, “We’ve got to pull together one way or another. The charter currently in place gives the Mayor the sole authority to hire or fire the city manager, but the council has the power to override my choice, which they did on the last interim I brought before them.”
Councilmember Barr asked, “Are you happy with the 2024 charter currently in place?” to which she replied she has some issues with it.
[Side note: Council voted 5-0 in January 2026 to revert back to the 2018 charter, which the mayor also has issues with.]
The disagreement seems to revolve around whether the mayor would be happy with a single vote to approve or deny any person which any councilmember (including herself) could bring before council, or whether council will give in to her desire to be the only one to bring forth city manager candidates for them to approve or deny. There are valid arguments on both sides, but the mayor and council continue to carry forward with Villa Rica business, having Jennifer Hallman and John Bain as Interim and Deputy Interim City Managers.
This one disagreement over the city charter continues to come up unresolved at every meeting.
The monthly Development Update was given by Building Director Tracy Jarvis since his Deputy, Nic Griffin, is off in training. Jarvis said most developments are as they were last month, but he updated council on some activity:
– Liberty Pointe Phase 5 is waiting on bonds.
– Crowe Holdings at 700 Edge Road has been issued a Building Permit and is going forward with that
– Kona Ice on Highway 61 has been issued a Land Disturbance Permit
– The Fortune Parkway Inline projects’ stop work order was lifted and they are also moving forward
– Gordon Street apartment behind the Olive Tree is at the redesign stage after a technical meeting
– Legacy @ Walton Phase II has been issued Certificates of Occupancy
– South Harbor 2A is on hold under stop work orders
– Larry Boggs SF development on Old Tanyard Road has applied for a small plat revision
– The Highway 78 Liquor Store is in the Engineering Phase
– Benchmark at 111 Boggs Road has been issued a Grading Permit
– Arpit Punkintown Road commercial has an LDP for grading only
– Scott Evans Dealership changed engineers and will resubmit plans
– Liberty Logistics had a Tech meeting with the city and is inching forward
– Waffle House near CVS on Highway 78 is complete
– Fuqua Shoreline Apartments off Mirror Lake Blvd. are going vertical
– Ultimate Carwash Retail is in the Design Phase
– Fuqua Townhomes on Shoreline are waiting on Final Plat approval
HR Director Lanford was back with a request to approve GoPivot as the city’s wellness program partner and authorize the launch of a new incentive-based employee wellness program at a cost of $22,592 to be funded from the Wellness account. This will be voted on at the 3-10-26 meeting.
Whitney Cox, Licensing Specialist, presented an application by Georgia Food Industry Association Education Foundation to pour beer and wine at a one-day golf tournament located at the Mirror Lake Golf Club on Wednesday, April 29th from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. This item requires no notice or public hearing, so it was approved by Council 5-0.
The items which require a public hearing will be voted on at the Regular Meeting 3-10-26 or were tabled to April at the applicants’ request.
Mayor and council then went into Executive Session and the Regular Session was adjourned.