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City of Winship bill introduced

Annexation and new cities Avondale Estates Decatur Metro ATL

City of Winship bill introduced

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Rep. Michele Henson. Source: Facebook

Rep. Michele Henson. Source: Facebook

This story has been updated.

A bill for the city of Winship has been introduced in the House as HB 612.

Georgia House Representatives Michele Henson, D-Stone Mountain, and Karla Drenner, D-Avondale Estates, are listed as the sponsors.

The summary describes it as, “A BILL to be entitled an Act to incorporate the City of Winship in DeKalb County; to provide for a charter for the City of Winship; to provide for other matters relative to the foregoing; to provide for a referendum; to provide effective dates and transitional provisions governing the transfer of various functions and responsibilities from DeKalb County to the City of Winship; to provide for severability; to provide an effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.”

The bill calls for a special election in November by the election superintendent of DeKalb County. If passed, the bill says there will be a two-year transition period in which DeKalb County will provide government services and functions.

The bill also calls for a city council of six members, plus the mayor — all serving four year terms. It includes an annual salary for the mayor of $20,000 and $14,000 for each councilmember. It also says the city council can create a Winship Convention and Visitors Bureau.

An ad for the proposed city mysteriously appeared in the DeKalb Champion during the first week of March. Decaturish learned it was Rep. Henson who purchased the ad.

There are still a lot of unknowns in regards to this legislation. Decaturish has reached out to Reps. Henson and Drenner and will update when more information is available.

This past week the Georgia House passed measures to allow citizens to vote on creating the cities of LaVista Hills, Tucker, and South Fulton. Those must now go through the Senate.

HB 613, which would create the city of Greenhaven, has also been introduced. A cityhood meeting is being held this Wednesday at Wesley Chapel Library at 6:30 p.m.

You can read the City of Winship bill here.

city of winship

Editor’s note: This story previously said the corporate boundaries of Winship will include DeKalb County districts 1, 2, and 3. Rep. Karla Drenner clarified the bill numbers have nothing to do with commission districts and said the city of Winship is a placeholder. We’ll update as we get more information.

 

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