City Assigns Marshal to Watch Me as They Meet Behind Closed Doors

At best, it was a waste of tax money. At worst, intimidation. Either way, the City seems confused about where the real criminals are in Sugar Hill.

As you all know, I go to almost every single meeting the City of Sugar Hill conducts, rarely missing one. At almost every single City Council meeting, even the work sessions, the City Council leaves the public meeting to go behind closed doors and talk privately. I’ve talked about it multiple times, because the number and length of the Executive Sessions in Sugar Hill is odd.

They come back to the public meeting afterward, because they are legally required to vote on certain things they decide in the private meeting in full public view. They don’t usually have anything to vote on, but when they do, it’s usually something big, like a lawsuit settlement or purchasing land and overpaying for it. I stay to observe and record the votes.

At last night’s City Council Work Session, they did something new. They stationed a City Marshal in the Council Chambers while they were in the side room behind closed doors. While a few people hang around and talk at first, I’m usually the only one left after about 10-15 minutes. So, I think it’s pretty reasonable to figure he was put there to watch me.

At best, that was an egregious waste of taxpayer money and public safety resources. At worst, it was a low-key intimidation tactic.

After awhile, even he seemed to find it odd. He said something to me about how they were not just gone for a short while. I told him they’re often in there for at least an hour, sometimes close to two. He revealed to me that he was told to be there.

To be clear, the officer was not threatening at all. Turns out, we’d both worked in Gainesville - he was a police officer there and I was an algebra teacher at the middle school - and we had an interesting conversation about that.

But, the political hacks who wasted his time and tried to use him rather than simply do their jobs correctly should be ashamed of themselves.