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Cochran City Council meets in closed session on personnel, legal, tax and real estate matters
Summary
At a Feb. 19 special-called meeting the Cochran City Council entered executive session at 6:05 p.m. to discuss personnel, potential litigation, confidential tax matters and possible real-estate acquisition; the council reconvened at 7:01 p.m. and took no recorded public action on those matters.
The Cochran City Council convened a special-called meeting Feb. 19, 2026, and moved into executive session at 6:05 p.m. to discuss personnel matters, consultation with legal counsel regarding potential litigation, confidential tax matters and the future acquisition of real estate, Mayor Carla Coley noted.
The session opened with an invocation led by Mayor Carla Coley. Council Member Lonnie Tedders moved to approve the agenda as amended to correct the meeting date to Feb. 19, 2026; Council Member Gary Ates seconded the motion, which carried by unanimous vote of those present.
Council Member Gary Ates then moved, and Council Member Lonnie Tedders seconded, to enter executive session at 6:05 p.m.; the motion carried unanimously. The minutes record the closed session’s subject matter generally as personnel deliberations (appointment, employment, compensation, hiring, disciplinary action or dismissal and evaluations) and other exceptions allowed under state open-meetings law.
The record shows the council reconvened in open session at 7:01 p.m. following the executive session; a motion to exit executive session was made by Council Member Gary Ates and seconded by Council Member Lonnie Tedders and recorded as unanimous. The minutes list no public action taken in open session related to the matters discussed in the executive session.
Attendance at the Feb. 19 meeting, per the minutes, included Mayor Carla Coley and Council Members Gary Ates, Lonnie Tedders, Rufus Veal and Dianne Lester; Council Members Shane Savant and Trecia Gardner were noted as absent. The minutes also note that City Attorney Jim Elliott was absent. Minutes were prepared and submitted by City Clerk Candace Summerall.
A closed-meeting affidavit filed with the minutes cites O.C.G.A. §50-14-2(1) (consultation with legal counsel regarding pending or potential litigation), O.C.G.A. §50-14-2(2) (confidential tax matters), O.C.G.A. §50-14-3(4) (future acquisition of real estate), and O.C.G.A. §50-14-3(6) (personnel deliberations) as the statutory bases for the closed session. The affidavit text in the scanned minutes contains a typographical time entry shown as “6:05 a.m. p.m.”; the body of the minutes elsewhere records the start of the executive session at 6:05 p.m.
No ordinances, resolutions, appointments or contract awards were recorded as acted on during open session at this meeting. The meeting adjourned at 7:02 p.m. following a motion by Council Member Gary Ates, seconded by Council Member Lonnie Tedders, recorded as unanimous.
The minutes and the signed closed-meeting affidavit are part of the official record filed by the City Clerk.
