The attorney for the Fayette County School Board has determined that board member Greg Powers can keep his position, even if he had moved out of the geographical district he initially qualified for office in.

The county’s board of elections has disqualified Powers from seeking re-election this year after determining that he no longer lives at his Fayetteville residence at 195 Antebellum Way and instead lives at a new home in Brooks. The decision was upheld in Superior Court, but Powers has said he will appeal the matter again to a higher court.

In a letter to the school system Wednesday, attorney Phillip L. Hartley says the code section governing the potential vacancy is only in effect when the board member moves “from the district which that person represents.”

“Even if Mr. Powers is deemed to be a resident of another election district, we do not believe this disqualifies him from serving the remainder of his term,” Hartley wrote. Hartley added that the opinion was based on the fact that Fayette school board members — who are chosen at-large by all county voters instead of by voters solely in a specific district — “represent the citizens of the entire county within the meaning of this code section.

“Therefore, a board member’s position is not vacated if the board member moves to another district, within the county, after that member has been elected and takes office. Though, in future elections, the board member must thereafter qualify to run again for the board of education from the new district in which he is domiciled rather than the district from which he was originally elected.”

Hartley said his opinion was supported by a 1974 Georgia Supreme Court ruling that although a county commission member moved to another district after being elected to the seat, that commissioner was elected to serve the entire county. The county in that case also used at-large voting instead of district voting to elect the county commission, Hartley noted.

“It is our opinion, based on the holding of the Georgia Supreme Court and the constitutional and statutory provisions applicable to school boards, that each member of the Fayette County Board of Education represents the entire county and not just the local board of education from which that member initially qualified,” Hartley said.