---
title: HR 1753. Forsyth County Board of Commissioners; continue to conduct official business within the designated county site and to coordinate with the City of Cumming to have the new administration center annexed into such city; urge
collection: bills
id: 2025-2026/hr1753
cite_as: HR 1753, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr1753
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr1753.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr1753/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/74200
date: 2026-03-20
status: introduced
corpus_version: bills-2026-09-13
license: Public record of the Georgia General Assembly, via LegiScan; see about.md
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
up: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr1752.md
next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr1754.md
index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md
omitted: votes and history
omitted_chars: 129
omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr1753.md?full=1
bill_number: HR 1753
session: 2025-2026 Regular Session
session_slug: 2025-2026
chamber: House
bill_type: resolution
status_date: 2026-03-18
last_action: House Second Readers
sponsors:
  - Brent Cox
  - Carter Barrett
  - Rick Jasperse
  - Lauren McDonald
  - Todd Jones
  - David Clark
text_version: Introduced
has_text: true
legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/HR1753/2025
upstream_id: 2135928
summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5
topic_tags:
  - Forsyth County government
  - county seat law
  - Cumming annexation
  - local government meetings
---

# HR 1753. Forsyth County Board of Commissioners; continue to conduct official business within the designated county site and to coordinate with the City of Cumming to have the new administration center annexed into such city; urge

## Text

House Resolution 1753
By: Representatives Cox of the 28th, Barrett of the 24th, Jasperse of the 11th, McDonald III
of the 26th, Jones of the 25th, and others
A RESOLUTION
Urging the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners to continue to conduct official business
within the designated county site and to coordinate with the City of Cumming to have the
new administration center annexed into such city; and for other purposes.
WHEREAS, Georgia law requires that the official business of a county government is
conducted within the designated county site, also known as the county seat; and
WHEREAS, an Act to make permanent the public buildings in the town of Cumming in the
county of Forsyth, and to incorporate the same, approved December 18, 1834 (Ga. L. 1834,
p. 253) and an Act to incorporate the town of Cumming in the county of Forsyth, and to
make permanent the site of public buildings of said county, approved December 22, 1843
(Ga. L. 1834, p. 255) designated the City of Cumming as the county site for Forsyth County;
and
WHEREAS, in recent years the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners has planned and
constructed a facility located outside the corporate limits of the City of Cumming to serve
as the new administration center of the county government; and
WHEREAS, based on knowledge and understanding, it is the stated intention of the Forsyth
County Board of Commissioners to conduct its official business, including voting upon and
approval of ordinances and resolutions, at said new administration center; and
WHEREAS, the Georgia Supreme Court in Brewster v. Houston County, 235 Ga. 68, 69
(1975), found that "official county business is defined as the decision making process of the
board [of commissioners] which includes the deliberation and voting on any issue of county
business. Deliberation and voting on any issue must be conducted in the county site and
citizens of the county must be afforded an opportunity to be heard at the county site as to any
issue of county business"; and
WHEREAS, if the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners proceeds to conduct official
county business at the new administration center located outside the designated county site,
it runs the risk of placing a cloud of illegality and voidability over any such official county
business that could lead to large swaths of its actions declared invalid and unenforceable; and
WHEREAS, such actions would place the citizens and taxpayers of Forsyth County at
substantial risk, both to matters of public safety and affecting the county treasury.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES that
the members of this body urge the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners to reconsider its
decision to conduct official county business outside of the designated county site and to
coordinate with the City of Cumming to have the new administration center annexed into
such city.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the members of this body urge the Forsyth County
Board of Commissioners to continue to conduct official county business at county buildings
located within the corporate limits of the City of Cumming.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Clerk of the House of Representatives is authorized
and directed to make appropriate copies of this resolution available for distribution to the
Forsyth County Board of Commissioners.

## Summaries written by Georgia Commons

The following was written by claude-sonnet-5 from the text above and is not part of the resolution. Quote the text, not the summary.

A Georgia House resolution urges the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners to keep conducting official business inside Cumming, the legal county seat, rather than at a new administration center built outside the city limits.

### Plain-language summary

Georgia law requires counties to conduct official business, like voting on ordinances and resolutions, at the designated county seat. Two 19th-century laws set the City of Cumming as Forsyth County's official county site. In recent years the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners built a new administration center outside Cumming's city limits and reportedly plans to hold official votes and deliberations there.
This resolution does not change any law. It urges the county commissioners to reconsider that plan, to keep conducting official business inside Cumming's corporate limits, and to work with the City of Cumming toward annexing the new administration center into the city so it would fall within the county seat. It also directs the Clerk of the House to send copies of the resolution to the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners.

### What it does

- Urges the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners to reconsider conducting official county business at a new administration center located outside Cumming's city limits.
- Calls on the county commissioners to keep holding votes, deliberations, and other official business at county buildings within Cumming, the designated county seat.
- Urges the county to coordinate with the City of Cumming on annexing the new administration center into the city.
- Directs the Clerk of the House of Representatives to distribute copies of the resolution to the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners.
- Does not create any new law, penalty, or funding; it expresses the House's position without binding the county commissioners.

### Who it affects

The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners, the City of Cumming government, and Forsyth County residents and taxpayers whose access to public meetings and whose county's official actions could be affected by where business is conducted.

### Why it matters

If the county keeps voting and deliberating outside the legal county seat, the resolution warns that those actions could later be challenged as invalid under a 1975 Georgia Supreme Court ruling, which could create legal uncertainty for ordinances, contracts, and other county decisions affecting residents and finances.

### Key provisions

- The preamble cites Georgia law and two 1834 and 1843 state laws that designated the City of Cumming as Forsyth County's official county seat.
- The preamble quotes Brewster v. Houston County (1975), where the Georgia Supreme Court held that deliberation and voting on county business must occur at the county site.
- The first resolving clause urges the county commissioners to reconsider using the new administration center for official business and to pursue annexation of that site into Cumming.
- The second resolving clause urges the commissioners to continue conducting official business at county buildings within Cumming's corporate limits.
- The final resolving clause directs the Clerk of the House to distribute copies of the resolution to the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners.

## Status

- Status: Introduced (2026-03-18)
- Last action: House Second Readers (2026-03-20)
- Sponsors: Brent Cox, Carter Barrett, Rick Jasperse, Lauren McDonald, Todd Jones, David Clark
- Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/74200

> The history, votes, and amendments (129 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr1753.md?full=1