JOHNS CREEK - MACEDONIA CEMETERY DISPUTE
The Macedonia African Methodist Church Cemetery should be a source of pride for Johns Creek, a city recently named one of the best places to live in America by U.S. News & World Report. Instead, for decades, this sacred ground has been neglected by the very governments charged with its care. This timeline traces the ongoing dispute over the Macedonia African Methodist Church Cemetery (the “Cemetery”) in Johns Creek, Georgia (the “City”), from Fulton County's initial 1998 commitment to the 2025 termination of negotiations with the Descendants Group. It highlights official pledges of preservation against persistent inaction, culminating in the current standoff where the City refuses modest funding despite multimillion-dollar surpluses.
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The Fulton County Board directs the Parks and Recreation Department to expend funds on monuments and enhancements to improve its beauty, serenity, and historical recognition. "Upon the acquisition...the Parks and Recreation Department is authorized and directed to expend funds to install monuments and other accoutrements to enhance the beauty, serenity, and recognition of the historical significance of the Macedonia Cemetery."
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This resolution marks the dispute's origin by establishing a statutory public duty to preserve the site, yet no funds were ever expended, allowing neglect to fester for over two decades and setting a precedent of unfulfilled obligations that the City of Johns Creek later inherited.
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November 5, 2008: City of Johns Creek Explicitly Rejects Maintenance Responsibility (click to view)
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Despite being located within Johns Creek, City representatives Bill Riley and Kevin Dye inform Fulton County Attorney Beryl Weiner that the City does not desire to assume maintenance obligations, prompting Weiner's pointed rebuke of the City's self-interested stance "[t]hat is a typical Johns Creek attitude, only out for yourselves."
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This rejection, captured in contemporaneous notes, contextualizes the dispute's early phase by exposing the City's initial unwillingness to accept maintenance responsibility, as the City shirks shared historical duties while Fulton County reluctantly continues minimal upkeep, foreshadowing decades of deferred accountability and resource disparities.
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July 7, 2017: City of Johns Creek Accepts Maintenance Easement from Fulton County
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The City Manager's office recommends, and the Council approves taking over routine maintenance via an easement, including an initial cleanup of a homeless encampment, with annual costs estimated at $3,600 from Public Works. "The City is better positioned to maintain and upgrade [the Cemetery] using existing crews... as a historic asset." – City Manager Warren Hutmacher.
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Interestingly, Mayor Bradberry, then a member of Preserve Johns Creek stated the City’s involvement is a good thing because the Cemetery is “an important piece of history that will become more valuable as generations pass." Bradberry added he'd like the city to secure the site so the headstones and gravestones won't be damaged or disturbed. He also added he hopes the site will become one where local school children can learn about the history of the area. "I think this is a prime example of preserving the best of our past, which says a lot about our community," Bradberry added. "I think a good community will value and preserve its history, and I’m just glad to see it happening."
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This transfer signals a brief optimism in the dispute but proves hollow, as "routine maintenance" remained minimal contrasting sharply with the City's robust funding for other parks and highlighting ongoing disparate treatment of Black historical sites. Further, we will find out that Mayor Bradberry’s words were hollow as he rose to power in Johns Creek and, to this day, the Cemetery is still in neglect and subject to obvious disparate treatment.
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November 16, 2020: Johns Creek City Council Unanimously Approves Eminent Domain Acquisition
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The Council votes to purchase the two-acre site for $52,000 through quick-take eminent domain, allocating an initial $100,000 for restoration and preservation efforts. "Johns Creek to acquire, preserve cemetery of formerly enslaved." – Atlanta Journal-Constitution headline.
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This approval escalates the dispute by committing taxpayer funds to stewardship, yet the allocation's ineffective spending (only $42,000 disbursed over four years) reveals a pattern of underinvestment that undermines public trust and invites scrutiny over fiscal priorities.
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March 3, 2021: Fulton County Board of Commissioners Approves Transfer to Johns Creek
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The Board finalizes the transfer of ownership to the City, with Commissioner Liz Hausmann praising the move as a step toward comprehensive restoration and National Register eligibility. "I look forward to seeing the historic Macedonia Cemetery receive the full attention and restoration it deserves. This will pave the way for descendants and historians to nominate the cemetery for the National Register of Historic Places." – Commissioner Liz Hausmann.
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This handover intensifies the dispute by vesting full responsibility in Johns Creek, but the absence of progress on the National Register or meaningful restoration, coupled with worsening conditions, exposes the transfer as a mere offloading of liability without genuine follow-through.
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​​June 21, 2021: City Council Passes Ordinance Prohibiting Defacement
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The Council enacts a local law criminalizing tampering or defacement at the cemetery, aiming to safeguard its integrity post-transfer. "It shall be unlawful to deface, tamper with, or otherwise damage the Macedonia African Methodist Church Cemetery." – City Ordinance.
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While symbolically protective, the ordinance's significance lies in its irony within the dispute, as unchecked vandalism and neglect persisted under City watch, rendering the law ineffective and underscoring failures in enforcement compared to secured, well-funded city properties.
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August 17, 2021: City Manager Kimberley Greer Testifies in Eminent Domain Hearing
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During Superior Court proceedings, Greer affirms the City's intent to protect the site as a key community asset, emphasizing preservation over any other motive. "The only reason we want [the Cemetery] is to preserve and protect it. It is a cultural and historically significant asset to our community, and we believe it is worth the city’s efforts to take care of it." – Kimberley Greer, Assistant City Manager (now City Manager).
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Greer's testimony embodies the dispute's core hypocrisy, as her later role in 2025's funding rejections and negotiation termination directly contradicts this pledge, eroding accountability and fueling demands for leadership to honor stated commitments.
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February 8, 2022: Fulton Government Television Airs Preservation Documentary
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FGTV releases a segment celebrating the 2021 transfer and highlighting collaborative efforts between the County and City to honor the site's history. "With the help of Vice Chairman Hausmann, the Cemetery... was officially transferred to the City of Johns Creek in 2021." – Fulton County press release.
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The documentary briefly bolsters public perception of progress in restoring the Cemetery, but its timing reveals a facade, as subsequent years brought no tangible advancements, allowing media narratives to mask deepening neglect and building resentment among descendants.
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Admitting limitations in providing adequate care, the City solicits written plans from the public for the cemetery's future. "The City of Johns Creek has realized it can never give the cemetery the same amount of love that the descendants of those buried there could. We are seeking expressions of interest from qualified individuals, organizations, or nonprofits with written plans for the Cemetery's future preservation and protection. Proposals should detail maintenance strategies, restoration ideas, and long-term stewardship commitments." – City of Johns Creek in Johns Creek Herald.
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At this point, the City had spent $42,484 in a span of four years and accomplished nothing restorative. In fact, the City’s actions caused damage. The City constructed a fence through unmarked graves and damaged an existing marked grave. A purported GPR survey has never been provided to this day. After these failures, the City wants to offload its responsibilities but maintain control.
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After receiving its only proposal from the Descendants Group, the City offers to transfer the Cemetery to the Descendants Group pursuant to a Purchase and Sale Agreement containing with strict covenants and a reverter clause allowing City reclaim the Cemetery for perceived neglect. The Agreement includes an indemnification clause which would shield the City from any liability for its actions or inactions ever regarding the Cemetery.
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The agreement crystallizes the dispute's unfair terms, absolving the City of liability for prior negligence without providing funding the Cemetery is owed to the “steward”, effectively shifting an under-resourced burden onto the Descendants Group.
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Attorney Kyle P. Magee, on behalf of the Descendants Group, details the City's historical failures and demands a revised agreement, and funding of (i) the remaining $57,516 the City allocated to the Cemetery, (ii) an additional $57,516 for funding of the items the City has failed to accomplish, and (iii) $15,000 annual maintenance over ten (10) years.
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"The City’s unconscionable attempt to offload its responsibility for the Macedonia Cemetery onto the completely unfunded Descendants Group." - Kyle P. Magee, Magee Law Group.
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Couch confirms the City's unwillingness to meet the full demands, citing the Georgia Constitution's Gratuities Clause as a barrier to funding transfers. "Some of the demands in your letter cannot be met due to the Gratuities Clause... the original demand as a total package is simply unworkable." – Angela Couch, City Attorney.
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Couch's response deepens the dispute by misapplying Georgia constitutional law and labeling the proposal “unworkable.”
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Attorney Kyle P. Magee debunks the Gratuities Clause argument citing Georgia Supreme Court cases that permit expenditures for public heritage benefits, and reiterates funding requests as fulfilling statutory duties. Magee introduces for the first time the issue of the City's $4.8 million surplus as irrefutable evidence of fiscal capacity to support the modest requests without impacting other priorities.
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"The City’s position is completely and demonstrably incorrect. The Gratuities Clause does not bar anything in the First Letter’s 'demands' nor is it applicable to this matter at all... [The City had a] $4,800,000 Surplus in 2025... The City could have provided the requested funding 22 times this year." – Kyle P. Magee, Magee Law Group
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City Attorney Couch abandons the Gratuities Clause argument and instead succinctly states "The City is not willing to pay any funds to anyone with respect to the cemetery." – Angela Couch, City Attorney
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September 8, 2025: Public Comment at City Council Meeting
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Seven speakers, including descendants and activists, address the City Council, urging funding. The speakers include a black former City Council Member and a black Johns Creek resident running for City Council. The City does not respond during the meeting or at any time after.
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Just 36 hours after the City Council meeting, City Attorney Couch emails Magee to end all discussions on the property transfer: "the City has decided to terminate negotiations regarding this matter."
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This swift termination marks the dispute's retaliatory climax, perceived as punishment for public advocacy, and leaves the Cemetery in limbo under a City claiming ongoing maintenance but delivering none, prompting broader media and community mobilization.