Will the Macon Mayor get a third term? Legislators to make the final call

Macon-Bibb County Mayor Lester Miller has for months been publicly angling for a change to the county charter that would enable him to serve a third term as mayor.

Miller, an attorney and former school board president, started his second and final four-year term Jan. 1. A week later, at a regular meeting, county commissioners voted 6-3 to approve a resolution asking for an amendment to the county charter, a document hat governs how the consolidated city-county operates.  

Any changes to the charter require approval from the Georgia General Assembly, but Macon’s legislative caucus must first agree to put the change up for a vote. 

Most of Macon’s caucus did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the charter amendment from The Melody. 

Rep. Dale Washburn, R- Macon, told The Melody he does not understand the urgency of the county commission’s push to amend the charter this legislative session, which began Jan. 13, just weeks after the clock started on Miller’s second term.

“It is a major change and it needs to be considered carefully,” Washburn said. “I, personally, am just wanting to hear from my constituents about it … The other thought I have about it is that I’m not sure why we need to be thinking about it right now. We are in the early days of the second term, so I’m not sure that I see the urgency of trying to do that this session.” 

Sen. Rick Williams, R-Milledgeville, said he first learned of the proposed change from a Melody reporter.

“I don’t know the basis of changing that charter, what it would involve, if it’s just local legislation or what the next step would be,” Williams said by phone from the funeral home he owns in Milledgeville. “I’ve not dealt with anything like this before.”

Miller, who has publicly mused about launching a gubernatorial bid should the assembly fail to give him a third mayoral term, has said there’s “some good work” that “is not finished.” 

The mayor’s signature programs include tearing down hundreds of blighted houses, beefing up the county’s code enforcement department, building a 12,000-seat amphitheater, demolishing the old Hilton hotel to pave the way for downtown development, improving the Middle Georgia Regional Airport and delivering an upcoming road repair project.

In the December episode of “Ask Mayor Miller,” Miller said he hopes “the delegation will respect the request from the commission and in the upcoming year or two (and) consider three terms for the mayor — whoever that may be.

“We’ve done some good work there and certainly it’s not finished yet and it’s hard to do in a short period of time. We still have a lot to do. We’re just now starting the airport and that’s a job in itself.”

Miller handily defeated his only challenger, Shekita Maxwell, last May, earning 15,755 votes (86%) to Maxwell’s 2,512.

The Jan. 7 pre-commission meeting was the first time a possible third term was discussed during a public meeting. 

County commissioners approved the request in a 6-3 vote with commissioners Stanley Stewart, Donice Bryant and Paul Bronson voting “no.”

Mayor Pro Tempore Seth Clark, who introduced the resolution to bring the mayor’s term limit in line with commissioners’, told The Melody continuity is important but the decision on term limits in the original 2014 charter was “arbitrary” and “inherently political.” 

“I really empathize and understand the message or the idea that these teams need to stick together in projects that they start and I really did not feel that the county charter awarded that with having a disparity in terms,” Clark told The Melody. “This is a clean up I thought was necessary.” 

Stewart proposed reducing the commission’s three-term limit to two terms as an alternative to equalizing term limits.  

Bronson, who also voted against the term extension, said at the meeting his decision was “not about a person.” 

“I want to ensure we’re doing the best we can to incorporate checks and balances,” he said. 

Just before voting, Bryant said she wanted to make sure Miller knew she wasn’t voting against him, just the third term. 

“I know what it is to lose leadership, a lot of leadership at the same time,” Bryant said. “It makes the city vulnerable. We lose experience. We lose knowledge. We can’t afford that.”

Miller responded and said, “No matter what rules are set, everybody can all lose an election and we would go out at the same time if the voters so choose to do that.”  

Reached by phone, former Mayor Robert Reichert said the county’s “strong mayor form of government” was a point of consternation in 2014 and years prior as state and local officials worked to craft a charter for the new consolidated government in a process that included many public meetings. 

Reichert, because his mayoral terms straddled consolidation, served as mayor for 13 years.

“The overwhelming sentiment, as I recall, is that people were in favor of term limits, especially if you give the mayor a lot of power,” Reichert said. “As a safeguard to abuse of power, it was felt the term limits for mayor needed to be two terms.

“There’s always unfinished business. I think [the proposed change] violates one of the principles that was incorporated into the charter that was passed.”

Miller did not return multiple requests for comment for this story.