News release: Camilla councilman determined a resident of city

CAMILLA — A news release sent to The Albany Herald late Saturday declared that a Mitchell County Superior Court Judge has ruled that Camilla City Councilman Corey Morgan is a resident of Camilla and is, therefore, eligible to serve on that southwest Georgia city’s City Council.

The Herald has not yet confirmed that report.

The release said that Mitchell County Superior Court Judge Henry Balkcom IV had ruled that Morgan, whose residency had been challenged, is indeed a resident of Camilla. Morgan and fellow Council member Ventarra Pollard had been removed from office and their seats vacated when a judge ruled in July that the two were not legal residents of the city of Camilla and were, therefore, ineligible to hold seats on the council.

Even after the ruling, though, the pair continued to attend — and vote in — council meetings, and Morgan went on to qualify for the Nov. 7 municipal election in the city.

Camilla Elections Superintendent Cheryl Ford held a hearing to determine Morgan’s eligibility after his opponent in the Nov. 7 District 1 race, Ginger Kimmel, filed an eligibility challenge, citing residency requirements as cause. Ford, noting Morgan’s Georgia driver’s license that has a Camilla address and other mailed documents, including tax filings and bills for his Camilla address, ruled that Morgan is a resident of the city and is eligible to run for office.

Balkcom’s ruling, according to the news release sent to The Herald, apparently confirms Morgan’s eligibility.

Morgan was elected in 2019, but the challenge by Kimmel was not the first time his residency was questioned. In 2017, he was disqualified from running for a council seat after a challenge from a former city clerk. That case also went to Mitchell County Superior Court, where a judge ruled that Morgan did not qualify to run for office. In that instance, he reportedly had voted in a presidential election in LaGrange within a year of the qualifying period.

Camilla’s ordinances require that a candidate must live in the city and in the district for which he is seeking office for at least one year prior to running for office.

In the lead-up to the apparent court ruling, Albany attorney Chris Cohilas, who represented the plaintiffs in the case against both Morgan and Pollard, said he was prepared to present the testimony of the pair’s respective landlords as proof that they lived in Albany and Pelham, respectively, along with other evidence. During investigation in the case, a private investigator performed 75 days of video surveillance of the 70 Dogwood St. residence in Camilla where Pollard has claimed to reside and the 74 Sunset Circle residence where Morgan has claimed he lives. During that time, Cohilas said, neither council member spent a night in Camilla.

Both had been watched driving to and from Camilla for council meetings, in Pollard’s case from Westover Place apartments in Albany, and for Morgan a Pelham residence, according to court filings. Neither has a lease for a Camila residence or pays property tax on residential property in the city, Cohilas said.

File Photo: Alan MauldinAlanMauldin[email protected]
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