COVINGTON, Ga. — Tempers flared at times Tuesday night as Newton commissioners narrowly reversed a previous vote to donate funds for the county’s annual Juneteenth celebration.

The Newton County Board of Commissioners voted 3-2 to rescind the May 4 motion that led to a vote to donate $1,500 to the nonprofit Newton County Historical Committee on Black Heritage Preservation that is organizing the event June 19 and 20 at Legion Field.

They also approved a new county government External Appropriations Policy for giving donations to nonprofits.

One commissioner seeking the recission said he was worried the board may have violated state law by voting to give public funds to a nonprofit and wanted a written policy in place.

However, District 4 Commissioner J.C. Henderson objected to the recission and accused three “Republicans” of not wanting to support the event before they asked Chairman Marcello Banes to place the matter on Tuesday’s agenda.

“The reason why we’re rescinding the vote is we’ve got … three Republicans who don’t want to support $1,500 for Juneteenth day,” Henderson said. “Whenever it comes to people of color, they always do this.”

A majority of the five-member board is required to ask the chairman to place an item on a meeting agenda. 

Henderson’s comment apparently was directed at Democrat Demond Mason of District 2, who is Black, after he joined with Republicans Ronnie Cowan of District 5 and Stan Edwards of District 1 to request the recission.

Afterward, Mason said he did not want to respond to Henderson’s comments.

“I know who I am,” Mason said.

During the meeting, District 3 Alana Sanders criticized the three commissioners seeking to reconsider the contribution after four commissioners supported its placement on the agenda and all five members voted for it May 4.

“I find this very disheartening,” she said. 

“This organization reached out to every last one of us,” Sanders said. “If there was a rebuttal to this you should have never put it on the (May 4) agenda.” 

Henderson said he wanted the three commissioners to make public their reasons for rescinding the May 4 vote as a matter of “transparency.”

“Are we hiding behind something?” he asked. “I’ll tell you right now. I will not rescind the motion that we done — what’s hard about that?” 

Cowan said he asked for reconsideration of the motion because he feared the board may have violated the Gratuities Clause in the Georgia Constitution.

Elected officials in Georgia have been convicted of violating state law contained in the Gratuities Clause that prohibits a direct payment of cash or services with public funds to a private organization without receiving something in return.

Cowan said be believed board members were doing something from the “heart” May 4 but “we did it wrong.”

“I felt like we over-stepped our bounds,” Cowan said. “Like I said before, ‘There’s never a right way to do the wrong thing.’ 

“Usually procedures are the way you get in trouble with the courts.”

Mason said he believed all commissioners wanted to assist the Juneteenth organizers but an approved policy with specific procedures for doing so needed to be in place before it was approved.

“We just want to make sure we’re following the proper protocol, that we’re following the proper policy. We just want to make sure that we’re being consistent across the board and we’re not doing something for one (nonprofit) and doing something different for another (nonprofit).”

County Attorney Megan Martin created the policy for the board that specifies procedures and timing for nonprofits to apply for and receive funding — and the board’s review of its effects afterward. 

Martin said the policy would allow the county to treat all groups in a consistent manner.

In turn, that will allow the county government to defend itself against court challenges if groups it opposes asks for the same funding as those it supports, she said.

“I cannot say enough about how important it is that we be consistent with how these are handled,” Martin said.

Among other things, the policy states that a nonprofit seeking funding must benefit the county in some way.

“It’s going to be hard to argue that a hate group benefits the county,” Martin said.

County Manager Lloyd Kerr said the policy mirrors much of the county government’s “standard operating procedure” for reviewing nonprofits before they are recommended for inclusion in the annual budget.

“This is not a new thing because we’ve been doing this for a very long time,” he said. “I just wanted to point that out to the board.”

However, some commissioners agreed a written policy was needed because the county had not operated with one before now. 

Martin said the board could make changes if needed after the policy’s approval.

The Newton County Historical Committee apparently now will be required to provide documentation about its nonprofit status and other information before applying. Cowan assured its leaders during a break the contribution was still forthcoming.

Banes briefly struggled to gain control of the meeting as some commissioners openly complained about the recission vote. Banes said he would not stand for them being disorderly during an open meeting.

“Do you want to go home?” Banes asked at one point.

At the end of the meeting, Sanders said she apologized for an “outburst” during discussions about the recission but said she was dealing with a “touchy ” subject like African-American heritage.

“Sometimes you have to stand your ground on issues,” she said. “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.”