City Council paused the $68 million jail sale to Fulton after a seven-day squeeze

Dickens agreed to Fulton’s offer on September 8. Council members say they will not rubber-stamp a detention-center transfer on the county’s clock.

COO LaChandra Burks told the committee the city had already started talking with detention-center staff about open funded jobs elsewhere in city government if the sale closes.

Council member Eshé Collins pushed for a dedicated session because Fulton’s side of the transaction collides with federal issues at Rice Street. The committee’s hold does not kill the sale; it refuses the rush.

Both the City Council and the Fulton Commission still have to approve any final deal. Until then the building stays a city problem and a county wish.

Atlanta City Council’s public-safety committee unanimously held the proposed sale of the Atlanta City Detention Center to Fulton County, delaying a $68 million deal the mayor had accepted.

Members said they could not meet Fulton’s seven-day approval demand and want a later-September work session on where the money would go and what happens to city employees at the jail.