Snellville — During the public-comment period at the city council meeting, multiple residents spoke in support of newly sworn members and also raised concerns ranging from alleged harassment and divisive social media activity to financial hardship and requests for small grants for student programs.

Several speakers praised newly seated council members and urged the council to pursue civility and inclusiveness. Former council member Solange (name appears inconsistently in the record) congratulated the new members and offered her support. Claudette Forbes recited a poem honoring Council Member Catherine Hardwick and called for community collaboration.

Other speakers offered sharper criticism. One resident described what she called targeting and harassment of a former council member and criticized local social media pages that she said spread division; speakers named individuals and social-media administrators during their remarks. Those allegations were presented as citizen claims in the meeting record and were not resolved during the session.

Several residents raised practical concerns. Eugenie Cartiero described severe financial strain on a roughly $500 monthly retirement and said property taxes and utility costs had become unaffordable; the transcript contains garbled numeric lines and the exact dollar figures were not clear in the record. A student, Eza Ferguson, asked the council and community to consider donations to the South Gwinnett High School marching band for travel and uniforms ahead of a Nov. 24 parade to Chicago; the mayor said the city would issue a proclamation and look into support.

State Senator Tanya Anderson (who noted she does not live in the city but represents Gwinnett County) congratulated the council and offered assistance. The mayor closed public comment and the meeting adjourned after a final motion.

The meeting record shows a mix of praise, requests for local support and citizen allegations; council staff or city leadership were not recorded as taking immediate action on the contested claims during this session.