The city council meeting scheduled December 9, 2025, is shaping up to be a showdown between councilors and the mayor over the hiring process of a new city manager. Mayor Skip Henderson told Council he was putting a pause on the search for a city manager after five finalists failed to rise to the top. At least one councilor is demanding to know who those five finalists are by name.
In a Facebook post Councilwoman Toyia Tucker said she filed an open records request for the names of the city manager finalists citing the law and the city charter after her efforts to get transparency from the mayor failed. According to Tucker there were at least two “extremely, highly qualified candidates with one being from Fort Benning.”
Councilor Tucker wrote under the Georgia Open Records Act “there are clear provisions governing executive searches, including those for a City Manager. The statute allows early-stage applicant information to remain confidential; however, once a search firm or the City identifies three or more finalists, the law requires that their names be made public and available to the appointing authority which in this case is the City Council.”
The Councilwoman is requesting the names of the finalists identified by the Mercer Group, the dates the finalists were identified and any offers made to any of the finalists for city manager. Mayor Henderson has declined multiple calls for comment on the hiring process from Now Network News.
