Garland Pinholster has resigned from the state Transportation Board two months after news broke that two Department of Transportation employees have accused him of sexual harassment.

Pinholster wrote the board chairman, Bill Kuhlke, a one-line letter dated June 19, stating, "I hereby submit my resignation from the Georgia State Transportation Board effective this date," and signed, "Yours in service."

DOT out-sourced the investigation of the accusations against Pinholster to a consultant, and DOT spokeswoman Karlene Barron said Friday it is ongoing.

Pinholster and his lawyer, Roy Barnes, did not return calls Friday morning. Kuhlke said Pinholster was not asked to resign.

But Kuhlke added that he "would suspect very much the investigation probably pushed [Pinholster] to make that decision."

"Garland's a friend of mine and you hate a situation like this," Kuhlke said Friday, but "under the circumstances he probably did the right thing."

The Transportation Board spent more than an hour Thursday morning in a closed-door session attended by its lawyers and an employment lawyer from the state attorney general's office.

The events mark a precipitous fall for Pinholster, a former basketball coaching hero and former Georgia legislator who joined the board in 2004. Three months ago, he was heir apparent to the chairmanship of the powerful board, which sets policy for DOT's $2 billion budget.

As vice chairman in April, Pinholster briefly assumed the chairmanship when then-chairman Mike Evans resigned because of a romantic relationship with Commissioner Gena Abraham, who reports to the board.

The board lost its second chairman within days when Pinholster stepped down from that post — but not his board seat — as news of the accusations broke. He said at the time he stepped down to minimize disruption in the board's leadership.

Pinholster has attended recent Atlanta board meetings by telephone and last week at a retreat in Woodbine seemed wan.

The 13 members of the board each serve a Congressional district for five-year terms. The state lawmakers whose districts fall within the 6th Congressional district, in northwest metro Atlanta, now must meet to elect a new board member to complete the 10 months left in Pinholster's term.