The Marietta City Council convened for its 2026 organizational meeting to appoint key city officials, including the Mayor Pro Tem, City Manager, City Clerk, City Attorney, Judicial personnel, and legal staff. The meeting featured extensive discussion regarding the staffing of the Municipal Court, specifically the role of the Prosecuting Attorney and Assistant Prosecutors, addressing concerns about case backlogs, judicial policies, and the need for timely appointments to ensure court operations continue after current contracts expire. The Council also reviewed and adjusted travel expense policies for council members and voted to enter an executive session regarding pending arbitration and annexation disputes.
Good afternoon. I'd like to welcome the new duly appointed and sworn in group that looked forward for us seven a good four years together. Which is divine of the citizens ever that would benefit them. So the first order the have a force. Or our governance setting up our committees, the mayor of pro team, the presiding officer, and BLW Council representative. The city clerk. Most two are they're normal staff type positions, but they're pulled out and made they're basically under contract right now. But each term of council has more form. So it's kind of we're basically reinforcing that in that particular case. And then the city attorney is purely at the will of council. And so it comes up this year, and then it doesn't even have a term. It's just as at the will of council. And then appointment of the chief judge, an associate judge. The main difference is that the judge is a judge, except the chief judges treat as if a full-time job. The department of associate judges there ad hoc by when they work. And the same thing for prosecuting attorney and the associate prosecuting attorneys. There's no provision in our code to present any nominations before you other than report. The council. So we we wanna this part and just see how well we can work together to come up with a appointments. Who came up with this separate list? The ones where it says uh the current assistant prosecuting attorney. No, those are the current, there's a separate list in here that are recommendations for counsel approval, and it moves Donna Merrill from being a prosecutor to the president. Yeah, let me ask Kim O'Me to come down and she can speak to that. Good morning. Good morning. I received a request from city clerk and HR director to send the current list, which is the the people who were active in 2025. And I made a note to them that there were going to be changes. I know there are going to be changes, but I don't have the current, you know, the new list yet. So as soon as I got the new list, I sent it under second cover, separate cover, and Donna Merrill is the new list. Those are the people who we were able to make contact with, and or they requested to be reappointed. Okay, so we've not heard from Lance McCoy, or do we know that Lance McClay is not interested? Lance McCoy is the judge in Emerson. Okay and their dates conflict with our dates, so he wouldn't be able to sit. Okay. And then on the prosecutor list. Um there's a new one, and then there is also Courtney Brewbaker is not on this list. We did not receive a response from Miss Brewbaker, so we did not assume that she wanted to serve as an assistant. And Tom Campbell is set to retire from Cobb County, I think in May. And he would like to be appointed as an assistant so that when he retires from Cobb County, he can start helping us down here. Okay. And it is my understanding he won't be able to help us until he actually retires, though. Okay. And Rachel Plevick? She is currently employed with Cobb County, and their district attorney will not allow them to work in both jurisdictions at one time. Okay. So she's not able to serve with us. Okay. And Tom Campbell. Who is this? He is currently an attorney in Cobb County as a process.