Mayor Jason Lary
By Zachary Hansen
With two words, Stonecrest Mayor Jason Lary surprised his colleagues Monday night.
“I’m back.”
Lary, who is battling cancer for the second time, appeared on the City Council’s virtual meeting Monday to formally resume his duties as mayor ahead of schedule. In November he told council members and the public he would be on medical leave through March. The status of Lary’s cancer is unclear, but he underwent a successful surgery at the end of 2020 and also had a subsequent bout with COVID-19.
Mayor Pro Tempore George Turner served as chairman of the city over the past 11 weeks during Lary’s absence, and he congratulated the mayor on his return.
“At this point, the mayor is in his seat, and the gavel is virtually passed back to Mayor Jason Lary,” Turner said. “Welcome back sir.”
Lary was previously diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer in 2018, but he didn’t take any time off during his radiation treatments. On Nov. 9, he requested nearly five months of medical leave so he could battle a “second round of a more aggressive cancer.”
Lary, 58, was elected as Stonecrest’s first mayor when the DeKalb County city was chartered in 2017. The city was the most populous in the county until 2020’s census, when Brookhaven surpassed it.
According to the city charter, the mayor or a council member would forfeit their seat if they fail to attend one-third of the regularly scheduled city council meetings within a three-month period without being excused by the council. The charter led to lawsuits against Councilwoman Jazzmin Cobble, who missed two council meetings last year, but a judge ended up denying the petition.
Read the original story on AJC.com.
