LaGrange, Georgia

==Government==
[[File:LaGrange, Georgia City Hall.JPG|thumb|LaGrange City Hall]]

LaGrange is governed by a mayor and six-person city council. The mayor is elected citywide ([[at-large]]). Three  council members are elected to one post each from each of two council districts, designated as 1a, 1b, and 1c from the first district, with similar naming for posts in the second district.<ref name="council">[http://www.lagrange-ga.org/Home/About "City Council"], city of LaGrange, GA</ref> Candidates must declare for a post in one of the districts at the time of their filing, and must win a majority to be elected. This system was established for the first municipal election in 2011.<ref name="consentDecree">[https://www.municode.com/library/ga/lagrange/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=PTICH_CH6EL "CHARTER Chapter 6 - ELECTIONS"], LaGrange, GA Code of Ordinances, 2016</ref> (This was in compliance with a consent decree and court order settling litigation since 1982 under Section 5 of the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]].)

Previously a smaller number of city council members were elected at-large; as each candidate had to command a majority of electors, the minority seldom could elect a candidate of their choice. The Department of Justice recorded objections to the city of LaGrange changes to election methods in October 1993 and December 1994. The 1993 objection related to the use of two at-large seats in a mixed city council plan with four single-member districts; the 1994 objection related to the use of one at-large seat in a mixed city council plan with two "super-districts" and four single-member districts.<ref name="vra">[http://www.protectcivilrights.org/pdf/voting/GeorgiaVRA.pdf Robert Kengle, ''VOTING RIGHTS IN GEORGIA 1982-2006'' / A REPORT OF RENEWTHEVRA.ORG, March 2006, Footnote 26, p.8]</ref>
From 1997, more city council seats were established in LaGrange. Municipal elections are held in odd-numbered years.<ref name="council"/>

Willie T Edmondson was elected Mayor on March 21, 2023. He is the first African-American elected to this position for the city of LaGrange.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://lagrangega.org/Home/Mayor | title=Official Website of the City of LaGrange }}</ref> The mayor and all council members are elected for four-year terms on a nonpartisan basis. The city council hires a full-time city manager, who oversees daily operations of city departments.

In January 2017, Police Chief Louis M. Dekmar apologized publicly for his department's failure in 1940 to protect a 16-year-old black youth, who was lynched.<ref name="nytimes">[https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/26/us/lagrange-georgia-lynching-apology.html "Nearly 8 Decades Later, an Apology for a Lynching in Georgia"], ''New York Times,'' 27 January 2017; accessed 27 January 2017</ref>