Attorney general responds to complaints about special College Park city council meeting held in Savannah

The State of Georgia is stepping in after the College Park City Council held a special meeting in Savannah over the weekend.

Residents sent in complaints to the Office of the Attorney General on Friday and Saturday before Sunday's special meeting in Savannah.

Elizabeth Lester is one of the College Park residents who sent an Open Meetings Act complaint to the attorney general.

"The fact they were having a meeting over four hours away was kind of a problem," Lester said.

Sunday's special meeting included the selection of the city's new Destination Marketing Organization.

While Lester didn't make the trip, she watched a livestream.

"I don't think that they've established that there's a reason to change, but even if they did have a reason to change, the problem is the way they did it," Lester said. "The problem is the fact there is no transition period."

Days after residents sent in complaints to the attorney general's office, the State of Georgia sent a letter to the College Park City Attorney Winston Denmark.

The letter addresses allegations about two meetings regarding the same DMO contract: one scheduled for June 15 at 11 p.m. in College Park and the meeting in Savannah.

The letter states in part: "In both situations at hand, it is unclear whether technical violations of the Act occurred in how the called meetings were noticed. At the very least, however, it does not appear that the city's actions fostered public transparency."

Lester said she was pleasantly surprised to see the state's quick response.

"That was a lot quicker than a lot of what we've seen in the past," Lester said. "And honestly the language was a lot sterner than what we've seen before as well."

On Wednesday, Lester attended Councilman Joe Carn's Ward Two meeting in the Hawthorne Station neighborhood.

"I don't even live in his ward, but at the same time, the city hasn't made any comments since then," Lester said. "They've tried to justify it; they've tried to say 'Well, the contract was expiring,' but there were other things that they could do, and they simply chose not to."

CBS Atlanta also attended Ward's meeting to try and speak with him. Carn was not providing any comment.

City Manager Michael Hicks was also present and told CBS Atlanta to reach out to the city attorney with any questions. CBS Atlanta has reached out.

CBS Atlanta is also aware of a complaint filed on behalf of the Georgia Hotel and Lodging Association with the Georgia Department of Community Affairs' Hotel-Motel Tax Performance Review Board about the city's selection of its new DMO.

College Park Mayor Bianca Motley-Broom sent CBS Atlanta a statement saying she shared the concerns of both Attorney General Chris Carr's office and the Georgia Hotel and Lodging Association.

CBS Atlanta is looking into that complaint and those allegations. The city has 10 business days to respond to the allegations in the attorney general's letter.