The City of Stone Mountain's Board of Ethics voted Thursday to hold a hearing on two complaints against City Councilman Gil Freeman later this month, but members voted unanimously to dismiss an allegation of misconduct by Mayor Beverly Jones.
Two letters sent to the city's Board of Ethics criticized Freeman for making broad Open Records Act requests last year as an individual, but later claiming they were made on behalf of the entire City Council. One letter alleges violations of the city's ethics code, the other alleges a violation of Georgia law.
Ethics board members voted 4 to 2 to proceed with the complaints against Freeman and hold hearings on Feb. 22 at Stone Mountain City Hall.
However, the ethics board voted 6 to 0 to dismiss the complaint that accused Mayor Jones of "nepotism" and "solicitation of a bribe" for creating a new Parks & Recreation Committee and appointing all of its members during a Dec. 19 city council meeting.
The ethics board was reminded by city attorney Jeff Strickland that the mayor has authority to appoint all committees and committee chairpersons. The city code says committee members "shall serve at the pleasure of the mayor" and that "the mayor shall have the power to appoint new members to any committee at any time."
The two complaints against Freeman pertain to an Open Records request he made on personal stationery on Sept. 21 asking for documents pertaining to the city's Historic Preservation Commission. It asked for two years of "each and every communication document" between HPC members and representatives of CPL, a contractor providing planning and engineering services to the city. It also sought two years of HPC meeting minutes and copies of any letters sent by HPC earlier in 2023.Eileen Smith, an unsuccessful mayoral candidate when Jones was elected as Stone Mountain's mayor in 2021, claims Freeman used his "official position to secure privileges that are not available to the general public." She says Freeman's HPC request took "220 staff hours to fulfill."
Smith's husband, Ryan Smith, was on the city's Historic Preservation Commission last year. He was elected to the Stone Mountain city council in November, after an unsuccessful bid in 2021.
During Thursday's discussion, there was no mention of the cost of the open-records query. "The city either collects a fee from the requestor or it waives the fee," city attorney Strickland said. There was no indication during the meeting that the city has ever tried to bill Freeman for the request or notified him of a cost.
Meanwhile, a complaint by Carl William Wright contends that Freeman violated Georgia law by making a "personal" request to "waive any costs associated with that request." Wright quotes a Georgia law that says "it is improper and illegal for a member of a municipal council to vote on any question brought before the council in which he is personally interested."
Both letters acknowledge that the records request was later approved as a City Council action in a tie vote broken by the Mayor. Smith states this occurred at a special-called meeting on Nov. 3.
Smith contends that Freeman should not have voted on the Open Records Act request because he had an interest in the decision.
"Mr. Freeman had a financial interest in the outcome of this vote and should have disqualified himself from voting," Smith writes. Had Freeman not done so, the vote would have determined that the request was made by Freeman acting as an individual and was not a request made by the City Council.
Minutes of City Council meetings during the last three months of 2023 have not been posted on the city's web site nor have they been presented to the City Council for approval.
Smith's letter is dated Nov. 14, Wright's is dated Nov. 11. Under the city's ethics code, if the ethics board does not respond to a complaint within 60 days, it is dismissed and no new complaint on the same subject can be filed for at least six months. This point went unmentioned at Thursday's ethics board meeting.
The "nepotism" allegation against against Mayor Jones was more recent. In an email dated January 10, Elisabeth Richmond contended she was not appointed to the city's Parks & Recreation Committee because Jones instead chose someone that she knew personally.
"This is blatant nepotism from the Mayor, disregarding eligible citizens because she does not know their name yet selecting someone that didn't even apply because she knows them personally," Richmond wrote.
Richmond alleged "solicitation of a bribe" by the mayor, based on her account of a conversation with Mayor Johnson after the council meeting ended:
"I asked her, 'Is it based on time in the city, education, experience, or do I have to take you out to lunch so you’ll know my name?' She responded, 'It’s a combination of all of those.'," Richmond's letter stated.
Based on that account, Stacy Green, Freeman's appointee on the board, said during the meeting, "I dont understand why the solicitation of a bribe is on the mayor and not the plaintiff."
None of the three letters to the city were in the form of a "written sworn statement," as required for a formal ethics complaint. However, the board treated them as valid.
The 8-member city ethics board is composed of six people individually appointed by council members and two people appointed by the mayor. All board members must be city residents.
City Attorney Strickland told ethics board members on Thursday that they could vote on matters that involved the elected official who appointed them. "I do not see that as a confict of interest," he said.
