Juneteenth:

Continued from Page 1 brought attention to the issue at the Feb. 28 work session. She also added that while city staff have Martin Luther King Day off, the city doesn’t observe the holiday with an event. Cities typically host a Day of Service, Elwood said.

If resources aren’t available, Elwood said the city should look into leveraging and supporting existing Black History Month events, like one hosted by the Johns Creek Arts Center.

Elections:

Continued from Page 1

“I think that there have been folks [who] have tried to maybe turn this into something different than I think the way it started, which was simply kind of a real sticker shock situation,” Bradberry said.

While ideas for 2023 locally controlled municipal elections were put to rest, there was consensus among councilmembers that the city should continue efforts to study selfrun elections, entailing more public engagement and an elections taskforce. The taskforce should be a 2023 event, Councilman Chris Coughlin said.

“We need to start looking at it over the next few council meetings from the public engagement and project planning perspective,” Coughlin said.

Councilwoman Stacy Skinner asked if the task force would be led by a consultant to advise the group on legal requirements. As Councilwoman Erin Elwood nodded her head “yes,” Johns

Black history

At the City Council meeting, several Johns Creek residents voiced their support for Juneteenth and Black history. Accompanied by their sponsor, four students in Northview High School’s Black History Club shared their experience and urged for more diverse representation.

“I know it’s the last day of Black History Month, but I hope that we don’t only have these spaces or create these spaces during this month,” said Ibrah L.J. Thornton, a club member.

“I hope that we do it throughout the entire year.”

Anisa Washington, a junior from Chattahoochee High School, provided

Bradberry moved to conclude the agenda item.

With municipal elections on the backburner, Bradberry announced that sustainability and Green Communities will now be one of the city’s five strategic priorities at the following City Council meeting.

Public speaks out

The elections topic saw several public comments, around half from nonresidents — the same individuals seen throughout Milton’s election committee meetings.

Lucia Frazier, a Roswell resident and former poll worker, advocated for paper ballots for Johns Creek, citing the number of voters each day during early voting. There were around 200 votes cast each day during early voting in Johns Creek, Frazier said. On election day, she said there were 7,000 votes.

“It’s really easy to hand-count all the ballots at the end,” Frazier said.

Matt Rowenczak, another Roswell resident who frequented the Milton Municipal Election Feasibility Committee meetings last year, brought forth a a short Black history lesson to the City Council and said “MLK wasn’t the only African American with a dream and vision for a harmonious society.”

“Standing here today, I am a product of my ancestors’ hopes, dreams and desires that if we draw focus to unification, positive change and recognizing unjust treatment, the opportunities will be endless,” Washington said.

On behalf of the Johns Creek North Fulton Rotary Club, Shinjini Das thanked the City Council for ushering in a Juneteenth event.

“I thought we had to fight for it, but I had to say thank you for making this a reality,” Das said. “I hope that we live in a world where women, where Black people — we don’t have to fight for equality, that this is just given to us because this is a right.”

2021 audit report from the Fulton County Office of the County Auditor. The report covered all of 2020 and lists nine findings regarding Fulton County elections inadequacies.

That same report was discussed at the Feb. 9 Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections meeting. Patrick Eskridge, deputy director of the Registration and Elections, said the department met with the county auditor, who provided a list of items for review to compare and contrast with the original audit. Eskridge said the department was collecting that data to be reviewed by the auditor Feb. 15.

Das’ media company works with a lot of Black-owned businesses. Economic empowerment is one path forward for minorities, she said, but there’s also respect.

“My whole brand is to help dreamers become go-getters. But the other part of it is respect. The other part of it is really making sure that we respect the sacrifices that the people who built this country have made, and we continue to honor their sacrifices and the celebrations that will ensue later this year.”

Johns Creek residents also provided public comments at the City Council meeting later in the evening. Some said they were in favor of the elections task force. J. Campbell O’Keeffe said he appreciated the City Council for holding out on self-run 2023 municipal elections.

“I also appreciate that you’ve asked for input from your citizens willing to work with the city to do anything possible to make sure that we have an election that fits Johns Creek, not based on innuendo, based on comments from people who don’t live here …” O’Keeffe said.