Notable Alum: Mayor Ernst

Mayor John Ernst is leaving behind a wonderful legacy from his lengthy tenure as the Mayor of Brookhaven, but where did he come from, and what are his connections to Galloway? John Ernst was born in 1975 and came to Galloway at the age of 14 for 9th-12th grade. He graduated in the class of ‘93, which had 33 students. At Galloway, he helped to found the baseball team, and was coached under Cy Young award winner Len Barker, whose child attended the school. He never had the opportunity to participate in a school theater production, but he greatly regrets it, and believes that it should be required for every Galloway student to take at least on high school production before graduation.

Ernst believes that his Galloway experience helped him in his political endeavors. One of the main factors of his success in his political career is his ability to properly communicate with many differing types of people. He says that because of the small class size, you were almost forced to get to know people on a very close and interpersonal level. He says there was one type of person for every stereotype. One jock, one skater, one nerd, and one artist. By communicating and personally understanding these different types of people, he was able to learn how to communicate his ideas and appeal to many different sects. As a final word of advice to students going to Galloway today, Mayor Ernst says that, “Everything at this age seems overinflated, but it's all gonna be fine, it’s all gonna work out.”

After attending Galloway, he received an education in history at Emory University before attending University of Georgia for his law degree. After that, he sought to become more politically active, and reached out to the office of Roy Barnes, a prominent governor's candidate at the time. A staffer from his campaign contacted Ernst and offered volunteering opportunities, but Ernst was insistent on pursuing a greater opportunity.

“I don't want to volunteer, I want a job.”

Ernst acted as his driver, and as a politically active young person, he was able to create connections at the local and state level. According to him, politics is “all about the connections.” Communicating with people within and outside your interests and parties and keeping contact with them is a necessary resource in the political world, especially on the local level. After Roy Barnes won the Governor's race in 2004, Mayor Ernst opened his law firm, Ernst Legal Group, in 2005. After a stint away from politics to focus on his firm, he delved back in with his position as the Chairman of the DeKalb County Board of Ethics, where he convicted a public official of an ethics violation for the first time in 15 years.

The City of Brookhaven was an up-and-coming city founded in 2012, and after a successful start, the city went through a period of mayoral instability, with Ernst stepping in at the right place and right time to win the mayoral election in 2015. As mayor, his focus has been in promoting greenspace, improved traffic infrastructure, and walkability around the city. He oversaw the beginning of the Peachtree Creek Greenway, one of the most ambitious city plans in the Atlanta metro area, and helped to create a Parks Bond referendum which saw $40 million invested in parks and greenspaces around the city. He’s also overseeing the creation of a new Brookhaven City Hall, which will go into construction over the next few years. 

Unfortunately, Ernst has also been involved in some controversy surrounding a zoning rights conflict of a residential block, in which the city was sued for $6.5 million, with him and the City Manager getting hit with $200,000 of punitive damages each. It’s unheard of for public officials to be hit with punitive damages in the context of city dealings, and according to the AJC, the decision of punitive damages is likely to be overturned in appellate court. Despite struggles and the typical criticism from constituents that every local elected official is forced to deal with, Mayor Ernst is leaving a legacy of reliability and improvement, for which the City of Brookhaven will be forever grateful for.