Update on Oct. 7, 2024 @ 5:45 p.m.
The Georgia Supreme Court ruled in a unanimous decision that the Mulberry City Council elections will proceed as scheduled in November.
The Supreme Court's ruling said that if Stephen Hughes wants to continue his legal challenge of the City of Mulberry he can only challenge Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge Tadia Whitmer's standing ruling from nearly a month ago.
There are other lawsuits pedning against the city, but as of now the inaugural city council elections are scheduled for Nov. 5.
Original story publish on Oct. 7 @ 2 p.m.
With less than a month until the November 5 general election, several new lawsuits have been filed challenging the constitutionality of the new city of Mulberry.
The city occupies the northeastern portion of Gwinnett County and was approved by lawmakers, Governor Brian Kemp and voters in the area earlier this year. Since then, it has been the subject of several suits claiming its charter approved by the state legislature is unconstitutional.
Resident Stephen Hughes filed multiple suits attempting to stop both the vote to incorporate the city in May and to stop the first city council elections, which are scheduled to take place on November 5. Neither of those lawsuits succeeded, with the most recent being dismissed on standing by Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge Tadia Whitner.
Hughes has since filed an appeal to that decision on Wednesday, October 2 in the Supreme Court of Georgia. His complaint is, largely, based on the city charter not allowing the municipality to levy any additional property taxes, which Hughes claims violates the Georgia Constitution.
One party that supported Hughes in his September lawsuit was Gwinnett County. The county has since filed its own lawsuit on Tuesday, October 1 against both the state of Georgia and three state legislators who were appointed by Kemp to the Mulberry Transition Team to get the city operation until a city council can be elected.
Those legislators include Georgia House Majority Leader Chuck Efstration (R-Auburn), State Senator Clint Dixon (R-Buford) and State Representative Derrick McCollum (R-Chestnut Mountain).
The lawsuit, similar to ones filed by Hughes, is asking the court to strike down the State Senate bill that created Mulberry.
"Gwinnett County asks this Court to declare that Senate Bill 333, a local law that creates and serves as the Charter for the City of Mulberry, is unconstitutional and otherwise violative of general law," the lawsuit says.
Meanwhile, days before Hughes and Gwinnett County filed their most recent suits, one of the candidates for Mulberry's first city council elections, Harris Roth, filed a lawsuit in Gwinnett County Court asking to have the city's charter declared unconstitutional.
Roth, whose campaign website says voted against the city's creation in May, cited similar concerns to Hughes and Gwinnett County in his filing.
"(Roth) did not want to have to bring this lawsuit, but he feels compelled to do so as a duly authorized candidate for the city council election for the City of Mulberry," "This uncertainty must end."
Robert Michael Coker, who himself is a city council candidate in Mulberry, has entered to intervene in Roth's lawsuit in opposition to Roth's complaint.
No hearings have been set for any of the most recent lawsuits. Information on the Mulberry City Council elections can be found on the Gwinnett County Board of Elections website.
