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Residents raise concerns about city legal contracts, data centers and a Homeland Security panel
Summary
During public comment residents pressed the council over an expensive outside city attorney contract, utility and safety tips, support for a moratorium on data centers, and concerns about Homeland Security’s presence on a community panel that prompted one group to withdraw.
Four public commenters addressed different issues during the Jan. 20 public-comment period.
Ernestine Pittman told the council she was “past disgusted,” alleging the city is paying an outside city attorney $300,000 a year without a written contract or daily presence and said residents needed more transparency and local legal staff. Pittman called on the council to hold leadership accountable and said, “Now you need to fire that city manager,” while citing event-budget numbers (budgeted $943,500; money on hand $294,312.54).
Napoleon Black urged residents to maintain home and renter’s insurance, file homestead exemptions with both Fulton County and East Point, and to mark house numbers clearly so EMS and police can find addresses. He provided what he said is the East Point Police Department number: (404) 761-2177, and advised reporting broken streetlights to the East Point power department.
Ralph Berry, a Ward B resident, voiced support for the council’s six-month moratorium on data-center construction, noting data centers can bring revenue but also consume large amounts of electricity and water and can produce continuous noise that affects nearby property values and businesses.
Jeremy Taylor said the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights withdrew from a planned community conversation after learning that Homeland Security would be on the same panel. "Latino Alliance did not have prior knowledge to the presence of Homeland Security also being on the panel," Taylor said, and urged the mayor and police chief to clarify that local law enforcement would not support organizations that infringe on human rights.
What happens next: Council acknowledged the concerns. The mayor and council members thanked speakers and asked staff for follow-up where appropriate; no formal council actions were taken in response to the public comments at the meeting.
