Columbus City Council got an earful Tuesday from local residents including animal advocates concerned about the city’s recent order to remove an East Columbus cat colony. There were 15 citizens scheduled to speak on the public agenda during the September 8, 2026, council meeting. Ten of those listed wanted to talk about cats.
The city’s official response to complaints about a cat colony in the Georgetown subdivision exploded into a community wide controversy after the August 25 meeting when neighbors of the subdivision brought their complaints about unwanted feral cats before council. Two days after that council meeting at the behest of Councilwoman Toyia Tucker who first responded to the cat crisis in April, the city’s auditor and compliance officer fired off a letter to Paws giving the city run animal shelter 10 days to relocate the cats.
Allie Johnson said the move by council ordering the removal of the cat colony was a direct violation of the Georgia Open Meetings Act. “This raises red flags because city council did not take any public action at the August 25 meeting to order the removal of the cats. And there was no other public meeting at which, quote, ‘city council’ end quote could have taken action before that letter went out two days later.”
Johnson said the letter to remove the cat colony was drafted behind closed doors and “the law requires meetings be open to the public and states that any official action taken outside of a public meeting is not binding. I just want to pause on that for a second. It’s not binding.” Johnson told council members this is the kind of behind-the-scenes action that the law exists to prevent and since her questions to the city have gone unanswered, she filed a complaint with the Georgia Attorney General’s Office, and the matter is now under review.
Natalie Hanna does not live in the Georgetown subdivision but said the city’s order to remove the cat colony is inhumane. “Euthanasia, seizure or forced removal, and prohibiting feeding are both inhumane and ineffective, and attempting to impart such strategies presents no long-term strategic plan for addressing this issue on a broad scale.”
Frustrated residents from the Georgetown subdivision who support the order to remove the cat colony also appeared on the public agenda. Deborah Coleman presented a petition with 76 signatures from the neighborhood in favor of removing the cats and told councilors she was fed up with the feral cats. “They will approach your porches, cars, and use your lawn/yards as their litter box, and we all know what a cat uses a litter box for.”
City councilors did not directly respond to any of the citizen’s comments during the public agenda or take any official action. Councilor Glenn Davis told NowGeorgia.com that Paws has not relocated the cat colony from Georgetown even though the ten-day deadline to do so has passed. Councilor Davis also disputed the idea that the council was in violation of the Georgia Open Meetings Act. Davis said Councilor Tucker followed the chain of command and proper protocol by appealing directly to the auditor in response to citizen complaints about the cats.
Don’t miss what everyone in town is talking about.
Join 4,000+ locals and choose our free newsletter covering news, events and the stories shaping our region.
