While Mayor Jack Ellis and three members of Macon City Council are half a world away, Councilman Willie Hill questioned their weeklong trip to Africa and pushed for tighter controls on the sister city program.
Ellis and council members Henry Ficklin, Elaine Lucas and James Timley are among a group of eight visiting Elmina, Ghana, this week. The trip is costing city taxpayers nearly $19,000.
Elmina, on Africa's western coast, is Macon's newest sister city, established last year by Ellis. It joins a list of other Macon sister cities in France, Taiwan and Japan.
"I've been here 25 years, and it's been the practice of the City Council in the past to approve this type of relationship between cities," Hill said Tuesday. "Not that I have anything against Africa, but I think (the trip) shouldn't have happened."
Hill successfully lobbied the council Tuesday to add an ordinance to the agenda that would require the council's approval of sister cities. Ellis hand-picked Elmina last year, but currently there are no city regulations that require he receive the council's approval.
With the threat of no pay raises for city employees looming, Hill said the Africa trip is in excess.
"We're spending nearly $20,000 and what is the justification for it?" he said. "What is the purpose of that trip?"
Ellis said last month the trip will help establish "humanitarian and cultural relationships with cities in other parts of the world we have something in common with" and could encourage business and industry ties.
The council's Ordinances and Resolutions Committee failed to secure enough votes Monday to recommend that Hill's resolution be included on the agenda, but Hill received unanimous support Tuesday for Council President Anita Ponder to send the matter back to the committee.
"I think it's high time we have an ordinance governing sister cities," Councilwoman Filomena Mullis said. "This relationship with Ghana never came before this council."
Selecting a sister city "ought to be an official act of more than just one person," Councilman Jimmy Patton said. "Every time we get a new mayor are we going to get a new sister city?"
Councilman Alveno Ross, who often supports Ellis' initiatives, sarcastically called Hill's ordinance "a wonderfully timed issue."
"One would question why the issue is coming up now," Ross said. "Why would you wait until the mayor is out of town visiting a sister city to propose this legislation? I don't know. Maybe (Hill) wasn't invited to go."
Councilman Charles Jones said he'll likely support Hill's resolution, but he doesn't think Ellis did anything wrong.
"I think the mayor made a conscientious decision about the city he was going to choose," Jones said. "It's not like they're going to the Bahamas or anything. They'll see a lot of things and find out a lot about our sister city, and it will help them appreciate where we are right here in Macon."
Councilman Charles Dudley said he would reserve judgment on Hill's proposal.
"I'm sure we can come to a conclusion on this without it being a big issue," he said.
The delegation from Macon is expected to return from Ghana on Thursday.
