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South Fulton mayor gives State of the City address
South Fulton Mayor Khalid Kamau delivered the State of the City address on Thursday evening at the Southwest Arts Center. Kamau previously announced that he would not be seeking re-election because of the low pay.
SOUTH FULTON, Ga. - South Fulton's embattled mayor gave his "farewell address" during his State of the City on Thursday evening.
Mayor Khalid Kamau's speech comes a week after he announced at a South Fulton City Council meeting that he plans not to seek re-election.
What we know:
The address, which marks South Fulton's eighth anniversary as one of metro Atlanta's newest cities, began at 7:30 p.m. at the Southwest Arts Center on New Hope Road.
The backstory:
Kamau has fought with other city leaders over the salary, which he said was the main reason he did not want to run again. He claimed that the salary forced him to sell his mother's house and temporarily be on food stamps.
According to South Fulton records, the salary of the mayor of South Fulton is $47,000. Kamau proposed raising the salary to $85,000 last year. That proposal was not approved by the City Council.
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South Fulton mayor not running for re-election
South Fulton Mayor Khalid Kamau announced at a recent city council meeting that he will no longer seek re-election.
In January, city council members accused Kamau of making tens of thousands of dollars in unauthorized expenditures with his city purchase card.
Officials accused Kamau of using his city-issued purchase card to make unauthorized purchases, including a 20-day trip to Ghana, spending approximately $26,000 without the city's approval. Kamau has defended the trips as part of his economic development plan.
In March, the City Council said that Kamau had used city funds to commission a mural for his office without proper authorization, taking the funds to pay for finishing the work directly from the mayor's salary.
For the remainder of his term, Kamau says he will be scaling down his work, spending the last seven months in office as the "part-time mayor" that the city's charter identifies him as.
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What's next:
Former Mayor Bill Edwards, Councilwoman Carmalitha Gumbs, and Navy veteran Kelvin J. Davis have announced campaigns to succeed Kamau for South Fulton's top job in November's election.
The Source: Information for this story was taken from previous FOX 5 reports.