A bill proposing changes to the city charter of Columbus passed the House and is currently under review by the Senate. House Bill 1339 would change the way vacancies are filled for city council and mayor. The bill is sponsored by Representatives Carolyn Hugley, Teddy Reese and Debbie Buckner.
“The bill is simple. It says if a vacancy occurs within 90 days of the end of a term the council would make an appointment and if it’s more than that the council would call for a special election so it’s a simple proposition which keeps citizens involved in electing who represents them,” Hugley said.
The House Minority Leader told Now Georgia it was the citizens who came up with the idea after council abruptly filled a vacancy with no input from the public when John Anker was appointed within hours to the seat vacated by Judy Thomas. “A good representative is a good listener, and citizens were very concerned about how these appointments have been made to Columbus Council and of course you know the charter says they can do the same thing for mayor.”
“If something happened to the mayor they could make the same kind of appointments. The problem appears to be that there is no citizen input. There’s no notice of when this is going to happen that a position has become vacant and citizens want to have their say in who elects them,” Hugley said.
Critics of the bill have taken to social media suggesting the proposed changes to the city charter should begin with discussions at the local level and that the bill was prompted by political sour grapes. Two of the most recent council appointments Anker and Byron Hickey voted to fire Carolyn Hugley’s husband Isaiah Hugley six months prior to his retirement as city manager last May.
“I don’t know because I haven’t read all the stuff on social media, but I know that citizens are concerned that somebody can be appointed to council and nobody knows about it unless you happen to be sitting there at council in that particular meeting. They want some orderly process and the way the charter is being interpreted the council can do whatever it chooses whenever it chooses to do so,” said Carolyn Hugley.
House Bill 1339 passed the Georgia House by an overwhelming majority March 19, 2026. The current status shows Senate read and referred on March 20, 2026.
