DeKalb Board of Ethics replaced
A restructured DeKalb County Board of Ethics is preparing to get to work this week.
Community organizations recently appointed members to the new DeKalb Board of Ethics, which 92 percent of voters approved during a Nov. 3 referendum. The incoming appointees will replace a board that was previously chosen by the county commission and CEO.
The Board of Ethics will be responsible for reviewing allegations of improper behavior and hiring a full-time ethics officer to guide their operations, according to House Bill 597.
The legislation called for the board's seven members to be seated by Dec. 31, but only six have been selected so far.
The seventh member will be chosen by a majority vote of DeKalb’s delegation to the Georgia General Assembly, which plans to meet Jan. 14, said Rep. Howard Mosby, D-Atlanta, the chairman of DeKalb’s House delegation.
When the reorganized DeKalb Board of Ethics holds its first meeting Wednesday, it will consider several cases on its agenda. They include complaints against DeKalb Commissioner Stan Watson, suspended DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis, former DeKalb Purchasing Director Kelvin Walton and several others.
An ethics complaint involving Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton isn't on the agenda while her lawsuit questioning the board's legitimacy is pending.
The new members of the board are:
- Daniel DeWoskin, an attorney appointed by Leadership DeKalb
- Lawrence Schall, the president of Oglethorpe University, appointed by six local universities and colleges
- Brian Deutsch, an attorney appointed by DeKalb Probate Court Judge Jeryl Rosh
- Greg Russell, a financial adviser for Edward Jones Investments, appointed by the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce
- Scott Bonder, an attorney appointed by the DeKalb Bar Association
- Robert Tatum, an IBM contractor serving as a contract management analyst, appointed by DeKalb Superior Court Chief Judge Tangela Barrie
About the Author
Mark Niesse is an enterprise reporter and covers elections and Georgia government for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and is considered an expert on elections and voting. Before joining the AJC, he worked for The Associated Press in Atlanta, Honolulu and Montgomery, Alabama. He also reported for The Daily Report and The Santiago Times in Chile.
