Mayor's 'Election Year' Comment Causes Outrage From Some Citizens

The Snelville City Council meeting Monday (Aug. 12) was, for the most part, smooth sailing until the end during the mayor's report. 

At the beginning of her report, Mayor Kelly Kautz addressed some rumors that she encountered at the Snellville Farmers Market. 

"I've had several vendors tell me the volunteers are going around trying to say the mayor wants to close the farmers market," she said. 

Kautz added that there were also rumors that the council wanted to stop the construction of the veterans memorial, an agenda item that was approved 6-0 earlier that same night. She pointed out that she had voted in favor of everything concerning the agenda item since the beginning. 

She reasoned that talks concerning the memorial, the farmers market and other projects were springing forward because it is election season. "Sometimes I think people have to come out and say people are against things so that there's a controversy to talk about them come election time," she said. 

But a few citizens came forward during the time for public comments to speak out against the mayor's remarks.

Barbara Bender, a former mayor pro tem who played a huge part in getting the veterans memorial moving, gave an emotional speech. She explained that the memorial had been in the works for two years, so to say that the project is now happening because it's simply election season is false.

"By your comments, what you do is you tear down the integrity and the dedication and the true public servant's spirit for the people that are working, not only in this project, but other projects that are going on in the city," she said. "I just don't appreciate the connotation that you made that this is all driven by politics and all driven by election season."

Bender's comment gained much applause from the audience. Snellville Farmers Market Chair Gretchen Schulz echoed her speech.

"To suggest that our volunteers go around talking to vendors saying that the mayor does not support our market and plans to close it down is a real insult to our integrity," Schulz said. 

She added that market vendors have asked if the mayor supports it since she's "rarely there," but the volunteers "have never once said that the mayor does not support the market."

At one point during Schulz' comment, the mayor left her seat and dais to ask city attorney Tony Powell a question. Schulz' husband, Kurt, gave a passionate remark in regards to that action. 

"I can't believe how rude you are," he said. "Your problem is you don't know how to be a leader."

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