It was verging on "a never-ending nightmare," said one member of the state Department of Transportation board: Just as the board let DOT Commissioner Gena Abraham keep her job with a reprimand, another bombshell broke, leaving the board without a chairman for the second time in days.

Abraham's future was in question because of a personal relationship with board Chairman Mike Evans, who resigned last week because that violates DOT policy.

Garland Pinholster, who took over as board chairman from Evans on Thursday, himself resigned as news circulated that Pinholster is the subject of a workplace sexual harassment complaint.

Pinholster, who kept his seat as board member, said he stepped down as chairman to avoid further disruption to the board's leadership since he would only serve two more meetings before the board elected a new chairman. He did not respond to a phone message on the matter.

Traditionally, as vice chairman Pinholster would have been elected the next chairman.

Pinholster participated in Monday's meeting by phone, but board member Bill Kuhlke presided as the board spent hours in closed-door meetings debating Abraham's future at the department.

Kuhlke said he understood that a sexual harassment complaint had been filed against Pinholster but does not know why Pinholster stepped down. Kuhlke said he thinks it was for health reasons.

The board gave Abraham a written reprimand because she waited weeks to tell them of her romantic relationship with Evans.

Abraham called a news conference late Monday and said she is grateful to the board for its "continued confidence" and respects its authority, but that she doesn't think she could have done anything differently.

Asked whether she regrets what happened, she said "absolutely not." She refused to say whether she thought the board was wrong to reprimand her.

Sources familiar with events at the board meeting Wednesday and Thursday say Abraham was prepared to announce her resignation last week, but in a high-drama moment before she stepped into the public meeting, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle came over to DOT, slipped into a stairwell for a conversation, doors guarded by an officer from the reporters and lobbyists milling in the hallway, and persuaded her to wait.

By Friday, Gov. Sonny Perdue said Abraham was "resolved" to see reforms at DOT through. Perdue and Cagle lined up board support for her continued employment.

The decision to let Abraham stay was split. Board member Dana Lemon moved to ask for her resignation and got a second, when board member Larry Walker quickly substituted a motion to reprimand her instead. The reprimand passed, eight to three: Lemon, David Doss and Sam Wellborn.

In open session, Doss offered a motion to put Abraham on a six-month probation with a reduction in pay, as she went still and stared at him, blinking. The motion died for lack of a second.

Some board members said afterward they feel they can work with Abraham and that she has learned a lesson.

Kuhlke said he thinks the right thing happened and hopes the board can now move on.

"We cleared the air on a lot of things," Kuhlke said. "I think she'll be effective." He added that, if issues arise with DOT employees accused of similar conduct, "I think she will handle them in an appropriate manner."

Board members who hoped for her dismissal said they value Abraham's work but are concerned about a double standard sapping her credibility as an enforcer of the rules.

The issue is salient for Abraham because she was hired, according to her supporters, as a change agent to reverse a 50-year culture of dissembling about projects and to introduce transparency, efficiency and strict adherence to policy.

Lemon said after the vote, "I strongly feel like the board and the department have to operate with integrity, credibility, consistency, transparency, and the 5,700 employees of this department and every citizen in the state of Georgia deserve no less than that." Asked whether that had happened Monday, she said, "I don't think so."

Doss concurred, adding that the longer Abraham stays in office the longer the cloud of media attention will stay over the department.

Brand-new member Johnny Floyd said his vote to let her stay will help "alleviate the cloud that's over this department."

Like other board members, Doss said he will wait to comment on the complaint against Pinholster until after an investigation is conducted.

"It is almost a never-ending nightmare," he said, though. "I'm afraid to get up in the morning."

Abraham has maintained a steady silence throughout the events.

But Evans said last week that, after broaching the subject of a relationship between themselves, he and Abraham waited weeks to notify then-Vice Chairman Pinholster. The pair waited two more weeks to alert the full board at its two-day monthly meeting last week. Even then, they did so in a closed session called not by Evans but by Lemon.

Evans said he had intended to bring the matter up the next day. Evans has refused to say when the relationship actually got romantic, saying that is personal.