College Park residents call for more transparency after special meeting called in Savannah

Some College Park residents are calling for more transparency after their city council called a special meeting in Savannah over the weekend.

A meeting notice was posted on social media two days in advance. College Park resident Julie McGourik said at least a dozen people made the trip down to attend the meeting.

"Scheduling a special called meeting 200-plus miles away from it — from College Park — is not very transparent," McGourik said.

College Park Mayor Bianca Motley-Broom told CBS Atlanta the city council was in Savannah for the annual Georgia Municipal Association convention.

Motley-Broom also serves as the president of the GMA and was not in the meeting on Sunday. According to the convention's schedule, she is listed as presiding over the business meeting and installation of officers and board of directors from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, June 28.

Since Motley-Broom was not in the meeting, that's why College Park resident Hamlet Autman wanted to go in person.

"We knew that our mayor was there already, and she was there to preside as president of GMA conference, and so she wouldn't be there," Autman said. "So, to have a meeting without our mayor there, we knew that we needed to go."

During the meeting, council members selected a new Destination Marketing Organization called Destination Must Visit Tourism Alliance Incorporated.

The city's website states the selected DMO will provide tourism, trade show, and convention marketing services to promote College Park and generate increased hotel occupancy, visitor spending, and economic activity in the city.

Autman feels like there hasn't been enough transparency in the selection process.

"There's no transparency in the process that we have to find other ways to have accountability, so attending this meeting was, in my opinion, an effort to try to have some accountability about the outcome," Autman said.

In a statement to CBS Atlanta, Motley-Broom said she was "incredibly proud of neighbors and the community for showing up and making sure we maintain our commitment to transparency in local government."

McGourik and Autman said they love College Park and want to work with their local government.

"We don't hate our government, we just want transparency, and we want them to do the right thing," McGourik said.

"We want to be part of the process, and we want to work with them, not against them," Autman said.

The city's selection of the DMO will ultimately depend on contract negotiations.

CBS Atlanta also reached out to a city spokesperson for a response to residents' reactions to the meeting as well as additional details. We're still waiting for a response.