When I first started going to City Hall for meetings, I was mostly observing. I don't think anyone fully understood what I was doing there. Maybe they had an idea, but thought they could smooth things over, and I'd go away.
My first encounters with the Council were with Marc Cohen and Brandon Hembree. Initially, I was also attending the meetings for the Arts Commission, to which Marc is the council liaison, and Historical Preservation Society, to which Brandon is the council liaison.
Marc was pleasant to me when I went there and has been pleasant every time I've dealt with him since our initial social media encounter. He now goes out of his way to speak to me socially at meetings. That's good. Interacting with ALL members of the public is a good thing. Ironically, the person who was a big reason I started watching this government is not the biggest reason I continued watching so closely for so long.
Initially, I really liked Brandon. He comes off as exceptionally polite when you first meet him. All southern manners. When you disagree with him on any level, though, the mask slips. I eventually have found him to have a hot temper that he isn't very good at restraining. He got angry at me at the November 2019 Town Hall, where he was trying to convince local residents that annexation into Sugar Hill was to their advantage. I asked him halfway through the meeting why we were halfway through the meeting, and he had not mentioned HB 687 that, if passed, would have annexed these residents whether they liked it or not. I guess he didn't want to share that, but it was a significant issue. He got angrier still when I asked him if he had used his connections as a professional lobbyist at the Gold Dome to get that bill started. These were and are legitimate questions. If they'd had reasonable answers, the anger would not have been necessary. As it was, it still wasn't appropriate.
He also had gotten angry and contentious with me at a Historical Preservation Society meeting on the topic of a scholarship the Society awards every year. It's a $1000 of taxpayer money that had gone to a young lady who had a prior relationship with the City. I suggested that the Society open up the opportunity to the greater community of Sugar Hill by making a rule that people who are children of employees, appointees, elected officials, or who had served as interns not be eligible for the scholarship. He got angry at that suggestion, and also because I called her an "intern" when he claimed she wasn't. She was a young person who had been around City Hall, cultivating relationships with City officials, and had done at least one task for no pay. That's widely considered an "intern," but he wanted to argue silly semantics in a typical politician style.
During the 2019 election, he attacked me on my own Facebook page. Not just a comment. Not a debate. An attack. The trigger was that I had said that he had mentioned something about starting a police department during an appearance before the Sugar Hill Youth Council. He argued up and down that was not true, and that I was spreading "Fake News." The basis for his attack? That I had said "police department" and not "marshal service" or "public safety." I also consider that useless semantics, because shortly after the election, the budget proposal came out. The City was looking to spend a half-million dollars to establish a "marshal service" with POST-certified officers, who carry guns, have arrest powers, and whose word would have been taken over yours in a court of law. Not so dissimilar from a police officer in terms of power. So not only was he angry and aggressive, but he was also deceitful.
The anger outbursts are very concerning. I'm never sure if he really is unable to control it, or he does it for show to shut down debate. Either way, that's not a good thing and can be dangerous in government. I've wondered if this is just how he acts with residents like me, or if his outbursts also get directed at other elected officials, appointees, and worst of all, City employees who should not have to deal with that in their work environment.
I think Brandon wants to act like I'm "confrontational," "adversarial," or "divisive." (All words he has used to address me directly or talk about me.) I've never raised my voice or lost my temper at him. I'm there to do a job and represent a block of residents. But, I don't back down, and when the response to a question doesn't make sense, I will challenge that response. It's not my job to make any elected official or even the City itself LOOK good. It's my job to help ensure they do right and ARE good. Things that ARE good naturally LOOK good.
The angriest I ever got at the Council was during a public comment I made when they were trying to throw a City employee under the bus when they took an out-of-state retreat and provided very little prior notice to the public. I subsequently reported it to the Georgia Attorney General's office, who found that technically it wasn't a violation but not very transparent or best practice. Even then, I never yelled. I just told them the employees work hard and do what they're told, meaning that the problem was attributable to them, not the employee. I've been mistreated on jobs, so I take inappropriate employer behavior very seriously.
As for the rest, it's very odd. Mayor Steve Edwards acknowledges me, always in rapid passing, making it clear he has no interest in talking to me and giving me no opportunity to talk to him. Once at a meeting, I spoke, and he approached my significant other after the meeting rather than me. My significant other was angry about the meeting, and they got into a little bit of an argument. But, to this day, I have barely ever spoken to Steve. He clearly likes attention, but thinks he's above dealing with any members of the public who aren't already his friends.
The only time I've ever "talked shop" with Taylor Anderson was recently when I sent an email to the Mayor and Council regarding a grant of $5000 to the theatre group because of Covid. At the close of my email, I told them I would stop by to discuss it after the next meeting. I only expected one or two to stay because of quorum rules. When you direct a question at the Mayor and Council, Brandon always will be the one to discuss it. Taylor usually follows close behind him. Brandon started getting angry during the discussion, and finally sat back to let Taylor handle it. Taylor then got visibly agitated because I kept questioning them about this taxpayer-funded grant.
Nic Greene was on the DDA when I started doing this. He didn't have much to say, and just voted along with everyone else. That's the same thing he does on the City Council. While some former and current DDA members speak to the public, including me, to exchange pleasantries, he never did.
Former Council Members Curtis Northrup and Susie Walker didn't speak up much at meetings and seemed to have sidelined themselves. We haven't spoken, and realistically, haven't needed to. For whatever reason, Brandon Hembree and his apparent sidekick Taylor Anderson seem to speak for the group, so that's who you really deal with when you deal with the elected officials of Sugar Hill.