Stockbridge council changes date of hearing into mayor’s P-card usage
The Stockbridge City Council postponed by one week an investigative hearing that could lead to the mayor’s removal from office, after his attorney argued the city failed to give him proper notice of the hearing as required by the city’s charter.
On Monday night, the council voted 4-0 to move the hearing into Mayor Jayden Williams’ purchasing card usage from Aug. 15 to Aug. 22, at 10 a.m.
Council member Yolanda Barber was absent for the vote.
The city has alleged that the 22-year-old Williams, the youngest mayor in the city’s history, spent more than $4,000 on donations and purchases, including at restaurants, stores and elsewhere, using city-issued purchasing cards. An independent investigator is looking into whether the mayor committed any ethical infractions or violations of the city’s code.
The investigative hearing will function similar to a trial. Council members anticipate hearing evidence from the investigator, Richard Hyde, and other witnesses during the proceeding.
Hyde told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday that he and Williams were “going to have a discussion today.”
Stockbridge Council member LaKeisha Gantt acknowledged Tuesday that part of the reason the council postponed the investigative hearing is because the original date would not have met the charter’s requirement that an elected official receive written notice at least 10 days in advance of a hearing specifying the grounds for their removal from office.
Gantt told the AJC the city provided Williams with the required written notice on Monday. That document could not immediately be obtained by the AJC.
“It’s not a witch hunt,” Gantt said. “When it’s an elected official, there’s a policy that you have to go by if accusations are made. And so we had to go by it. I don’t know how else to put it.”
Williams’ attorney, Robert Kenner Jr., asked a judge last week, in an emergency motion filed in Henry County Superior Court, to prevent the investigative hearing from taking place on the initial date, arguing the city had not given Williams proper notice.
Kenner could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday morning.
Last month, the council restricted Williams’ access to city property and suspended purchasing card and fuel card privileges, as well as his use of city-owned vehicles. He then filed a lawsuit against the city in Henry County Superior Court asking the court to restore his access to the mayor’s office, official email, records and other property to perform his duties.
The emergency motion asking the court to prevent the initial investigative hearing and prohibit the council from voting to remove Williams was filed as part of the mayor’s lawsuit against the city. A hearing in the case is set for Aug. 17.
Late last week, one of the mayor’s other attorneys, Gerald A. Griggs, asked to withdraw as Williams’ attorney in the case, citing the mayor’s failure to pay agreed-upon legal fees. The Carter Media Group announced Aug. 5 it had ceased representing Williams as his publicist, though it did not give a reason.
The group’s founder, Dontaye Carter, declined to comment Tuesday.