Henry County residents hoping to create a city of Eagle's Landing filed a complaint Tuesday with the Georgia Attorney General's Office over the failure of Stockbridge to provide an accounting of its spending in opposition to the cityhood effort.
An attorney for the Eagles Landing Educational Research Committee, which is leading the cityhood charge, said in a letter to Attorney General Chris Carr that his firm filed five open records requests April 5 seeking the cost of mailers and other materials which Stockbridge has used in its opposition to Eagle's Landing cityhood.
Stockbridge, however, has not provided the information, even after the city’s leaders twice said they needed more time to pull the costs together, said Tom Kurrie of law firm Coleman Talley.
Kurrie said that Stockbridge said on Monday that the city attorney was reviewing the files, but did not indicate when they would be ready. Most open records requests are due three days after a request is made.
Stockbridge City Attorney Mike Williams said the city is working to fulfill the open records request.
“Upon receipt of the open record request, the city has been actively collecting the requested documents for submission and continues to update the requestor of the status,” he said in an email. “Due to the nature of the request for emails, as the City Attorney, I am in the process of reviewing over 1,000 possible emails, generated over the last year. Upon completion, documents will be forwarded. As always the city of Stockbridge will follow protocol and state law regarding open record requests.”
Kurrie said many of the requests were simple in nature and worried about the outcome.
“I understand there are issues in regards to getting things together,” said Kurrie, who added that he has worked with cities on pulling together public information and appreciates the effort that is oftentimes involved. “But this information should have been readily available.”
Stockbridge is in a pitched battle with Eagle's Landing supporters, who want create the new city by de-annexing parts of Stockbridge. The Georgia Legislature approved legislation creating the city last month, but Gov. Nathan Deal said recently he is still deciding whether to support or veto the measure.
