Tidwell called for “a clean break” in the June 28 email, asking fellow directors to elect a new chairman.

“Marty has demonstrated a lack of leadership and lack of understanding about his role as chair,” Tidwell wrote in the email obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

In direct responses to Tidwell, Turpeau defended his per diem allowances. Turpeau said he does not believe he violated agency rules. Per diem logs are posted online, something he said the board did at his suggestion.

“I would never submit something I could not easily defend,” he said.

The scathing email exchange came hours ahead of a vote to appoint new board officers, including a new chairman. In that meeting, Turpeau was reelected by a 7-1 vote, with Tidwell the sole member opposed.

Still, the dust-up prompted a state lawmaker who drafted the new ethics law to question whether per diems should be paid to authority members at all.

“I think the history of the General Assembly granting the right to issue per diems to a few counties should be examined,” said state Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver (D-Decatur), who wrote the ethics law that was signed by Gov. Brian Kemp on May 2.

Oliver said she hopes a new subcommittee on this topic will answer some of these questions.

‘Time sensitive’

The latest conflict erupted a little more than a year after the start of a joint investigation by the AJC and Channel 2 Action News uncovered a culture of loose financial oversight on the board. The investigation found a former chairman and two former board officers at times were paid $200 “per diems” for each document they signed, each item discussed at meetings and sometimes claimed multiple payments for attending more than one event in a single day.

Per diem, Latin for “per day,” is generally understood as an allowance for meals and incidental expenses. But state law allows development authorities in Fulton and three other large metro Atlanta counties to pay per diems for board members’ time.

The Fulton authority is the only agency that takes advantage of the law.

The Fulton authority instituted its first per diem policy in 2020, after Turpeau took over as chairman and before the AJC/Channel 2 investigation. Following reporting by the AJC last year, officials tightened the policy further.

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Daily per diems are authorized for attendance at board and committee meetings and work totaling at least two hours directly related to board business. The time involved with reviewing and completing documents counts, as does travel to meetings and waiting on couriers to deliver documents.

Tidwell’s complaints about Turpeau’s per diems are more nuanced than abuses discovered by the AJC and Channel 2 last year.

Tidwell alleges Turpeau ups his earnings by claiming a single per diem for signing several documents in a day. Such work, Tidwell said, does not fulfill the agency policy requirement of two hours of work.

“I outlined 10 or 12 instances when he signed anywhere between three to 10 documents,” Tidwell said in an interview. “There’s no way he spent two hours signing documents.”

The former chairman, Tidwell said, routinely signed authority documents in a matter of minutes after meetings.

Tidwell also said rarely should board members need to sign documents in an emergency situation or have to sit around and wait for couriers.

Turpeau said emergencies do arise.

“While we consolidate as much as we can, inevitably something comes up that is time sensitive that can’t wait until the next ... meeting,” he told the AJC. Counting the time waiting on couriers to arrive with records or for travel to meet agency staffers and lawyers is allowable, he said.

Tidwell took issue with Turpeau claiming board fees for appearing at meetings of the Fulton Technology and Emerging Energy Authority, of which Turpeau is a member. Turpeau said it’s allowed because he is appearing as a development authority board member — something Tidwell said he and a past member crafted language to expressly forbid.

Tidwell also alleged Turpeau had the development authority pick up his bar tab at a South Fulton Chamber event. Tidwell said the chairman seeks reimbursement for business meals while also claiming a per diem payment for his time as chairman.

“Submitting per diem requests AND expense reimbursements is a flagrant misuse of per diems,” Tidwell wrote.

Turpeau countered that board policy only prohibits seeking reimbursement for meals and accepting a per diem at the same time when traveling for out-of-town business.

“The Per Diem Policy does not prohibit taking a per diem for a lunch meeting and expensing the lunch to DAFC,” Turpeau said in a response to Tidwell.

Tidwell called that “a fundamental lack of understanding of what ‘per diem’ stands for.”

OUR REPORTING

Investigations by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News in 2021 revealed a culture of loose financial oversight at the Development Authority of Fulton County involving payments of per diems to former board members. The investigation also showed how the agency granted hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks to projects in highly desirable parts of Fulton that critics said likely did not need the financial support. Since June of last year, the new DAFC board has enacted new policies to tighten financial controls and state lawmakers enacted a new ethics law.