By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizen.com
and JOHN THOMPSON
jthompson@TheCitizen.com

The Fayette County Board of Elections plans to notify the county board of education that BOE member Greg Powers is no longer eligible to serve on the board.

That determination is based on the elections board’s ruling that Powers has moved outside of the geographical district established for his Post 4 seat on the board of education. Georgia law requires that if a local board of education member moves his or her domicile to a location outside that person’s district, “such person shall cease to be a member of such local board of education, and a vacancy shall occur.”

The elections board ruling came after several neighbors of Powers told the board that he no longer lived at his Fayetteville address at 195 Antebellum Way. Powers appealed the elections board’s decision, which was upheld last week by Superior Court Judge Tommy Hankinson.

Powers told the board that he had not moved from the Antebellum Way home, although his family was living at a residence in Brooks.

In his order, Hankinson noted that the record of the elections board showed that Powers said he didn’t plan to live at the 195 Antebellum Way home for the next four years. Georgia law requires a person’s residence to be “that place in which such person’s habitation is fixed, without any present intention of removing therefrom,” Hankinson wrote, quoting code section 21-2-217.

Contacted Wednesday, Powers said he is appealing the decision and hopes to receive decision from a three-judge panel very soon.

“i haven’t changed my domicile and that’s one of the issues we’re appealing,” he said.

Powers also countered that the school board is not governed by districts, but by posts and he counters he has water, cable and other bills to prove the Antebellum Way home is his address.

“In the hearing, all they went on was some neighbors who said I had algae in my pool this spring, and my grass wasn’t cut,” he said.

Powers feels the prime motivation behind the controversy is Board of Elections Chairman Marilyn Watts. He remembers when he first ran for the post eight years ago, and Watts urging him not to run. Powers urged Watts to recuse herself from the Board of Elections hearing, but she refused.

“It’s just Miss Watts trying to disqualify me because she supports another candidate,” he said.

However his appeal turns out, Powers plans to complete his term on the school board.

“I don’t have any plans for resigning. This is just a non-issue,” he said.

Powers also noted that his attorney, Chris Ramig, previously served on the school board and moved to a new home and was allowed to remain on the board.

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