The mayor of South Fulton will not be seeking reelection about six months ahead of Election Day. Mayor khalid kamau announced in a late April council meeting that he officially reversed his previous decision to run again.
During the meeting, kamau cited several reasons to withdraw. He specified the high expectations of the position while making a low salary.
“To do all of this for over 100,000 people, I am paid about $40,000 per year — about $20 an hour,” kamau said. “The salary of a park’s groundskeeper or a sales associate at Target.”
kamau took office in 2022 following his stint as a city council member. However, issues among the city’s council began shortly after.
Councilmembers alleged dishonesty from kamau and wanted to remove him as mayor. The dais had a vote of no-confidence when kamau had just begun his term a few months prior.
County and federal investigations into the mayor’s use of city credit and purchase cards came after.
“Earlier this year, the city directed financial analyst firm JIPH Consulting to review all credit card transactions made during the last quarter of 2021. The charges were discovered during the audit of the city’s credit card records, and city officials subsequently requested the investigation to ensure transparency regarding finances,” the city wrote in a 2022 press release.
The following year, 2023, kamau was arrested on trespassing charges on residential property, which were later dropped. A lawsuit was filed by five council members for the mayor’s removal, and later dismissed.
At the same time, the mayor wanted to address issues in a south Fulton residential complex, Camelot Condominiums. The crime and violence-riddled complex gained attention as kamau chose to live there for several months.
“People are posturing, pretending to care about something that they have twice removed public discussion from our council meetings. So, I don’t know why now they’re ready to have public conversations about Camelot,” kamau said in 2023 regarding the council’s handling of Camelot.
Other issues involving the mayor and council arose. Around the Easter holiday, the mayor hosted an Easter egg hunt that ended up being shut down by city police “for not following the appropriate approvals through the City of South Fulton’s special event process.”
Later, alleged misconduct continued to circulate in South Fulton, resulting in lawsuits by former city employees. The case was dismissed over a year later.
Last year, the mayor proposed a pay raise that would bring his salary to over $80,000. The boost would’ve been close to double his current salary of about $47,000.
However, the proposal met challenges due to the mayor’s part-time status based on South Fulton’s city charter.
According to a 2019 compensation report for the city, the recommended salary for the mayor would range from about $38,000 to just under $52,000.
“Most folks agree that… we do not agree with an $86,000 raise for the mayor,” said Kristen Smith, a resident who attended an October council meeting.
“However, if there was some type of raise that matched the national average… that would be acceptable,” Smith added.
At the start of this year, the mayor faced more issues around financial endeavors and city-funded purchase cards.
Though councilmembers said there was no city policy in place at that time, the mayor was questioned about using city funds for international travel to Ghana.
“What’s most disheartening to me is that when I look at the budget, our largest amount of money that comes in… is property taxes, and you don’t even pay that,” said Councilwoman Helen Z. Willis during a January council meeting.
However, in a February town hall called by the mayor, he said otherwise.
“We’re over legislating,” kamau said. “We looked up travel policy, turns out we had two travel policies.”
As a result of the events, a new policy is now in place for city travel.
In the same month, kamau was escorted out of City Hall “in response to concerns regarding unauthorized use of city resources and noncompliance with established policies.”
And his withdrawal from the city’s mayoral race came a couple of months before his State of the City address.
“Our job is to be in conflict with one another. Principled conflict… so that the people we represent aren’t fighting in the streets,” said kamau in his farewell speech, addressing tensions with the council.
“As mayor, I have come to take very seriously, especially in today’s increasingly hostile political climate, the role I have — that we all have as elected officials to role model civility in our political discourse,” he added.
