Councilman Joe Carn

Joe Carn

Joe Carn, Ward II

Joe Carn has been one of the region’s most experienced and trusted servant leaders. Since 2003 Carn has gone from a local activist to City Councilman, to Vice-Mayor of College Park, to Fulton County Commissioner.

Taking pride in challenging the status quo, Carn’s leadership changed the Federal Aviation Administration’s FAR-150 policy to include sound insulation for multi-family apartments within College Park. Elected in 2005 as the youngest city official, he convinced all four of his seasoned colleagues to acquire over 30 acres of property surrounding the GICC within his district, turning 3 nays into 4 yeas. Carn pushed to lower the city curfew from midnight back to 8pm for children and worked to have College Park designated a “Drug-Free Zone” by the State. During his term as Vice-Mayor Carn then personally lobbied the Georgia Legislature and Governor to bring home the DMO (Destination Marketing Organization) a hotel-motel tax for College Park, generating an additional 3 million dollars per year in new revenues. In 2013 he was the 1st councilmember to ever provide over $100,000 in utility assistance for seniors. He then held the 1st Gun Buyback event in College Park history, taking nearly 200 guns off the street, and then led the effort to build the GICC Arena, securing a lasting partnership with the NBA D-League and WNBA teams. To provide for our youth, Carn partnered with local non-profits to secure funding for 4 new community playground parks and made all recreation programs free of charge for all low-income families.

In 2019 he was elected Fulton County Commissioner and served until January of 2021. As a Commissioner he administered and managed the county’s 1.2 billion-dollar budget. Working with our Federal officials, Carn approved over 200 million additional dollars in Federal Cares Act Funding for the 1.2 million residents he represented. He also secured funding for a Senior Center in South Fulton, personally distributed over 60,000 face masks, designated Juneteenth a countywide paid holiday, worked non-stop through the 1st stages of the COVID pandemic to find an additional $30 million dollars for our 15 cities and partnered with Mayor and Council to secure additional funding for his hometown of College Park.

Joe Carn has been a major force in Georgia politics for the past 20 years. He is responsible for catapulting no fewer than 28 individuals into elected office as a seasoned campaign manager, political consultant, and skilled coordinator.

Over his 14 years in elected office, he has led complex intergovernmental litigation and policy initiatives with the City of Atlanta, MEAG power, the Federal Aviation Administration, MARTA, and many others. Additionally, Carn serves on the board of directors for Concerned Black Clergy of Metropolitan Atlanta and was the only African American board member of N.O.I.S.E. Carn also served as the GA State

Director of YEO, (Young Elected Officials Network) and has been invited to the White House on three occasions including policy meetings with the 44th U.S. President Barack Obama. He served as the Deputy of Intergovernmental Affairs and Community Liaison for the Fulton County Solicitor General’s Office and now is a small business owner. Joe is a graduate Benjamin Mays High School in Atlanta, DeVry Institute of Technology and completed leadership studies at Harvard University’s JFK School of Government

As a devoted husband to his wife Pamela, and father of three, Joe enjoys woodworking, piano, and currently finishing his third book.



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