The effort to bring more oversight of DeKalb County's government is on hold.
The citizen committee responsible for hiring a financial watchdog for DeKalb has canceled all meetings, including one previously scheduled for Friday, until Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens releases an opinion on whether a state senator can remove one of its members. Three state senators asked Olens to weigh in earlier this month.
In December, Sen. Gloria Butler, D-Stone Mountain, rescinded her appointment of Harmel Codi to serve a five-year term on the DeKalb Audit Oversight Committee.
Butler objected to Codi, in part, because she has called for Interim DeKalb CEO Lee May to resign, according to a Jan. 13 letter Butler wrote to Olens that was obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“An Audit Oversight Committee member should also conduct themselves in an objective and nonpartisan matter,” Butler wrote. “Soliciting signatures on a petition in an open meeting asking for the CEO (Lee May) to step down from office does not reflect the guidelines of an objective nonpartisan member.”
Codi’s supporters have said Butler’s move amounts to political tampering with a committee meant to hold DeKalb’s government accountable.
Butler also wrote that Codi, a former financial officer in DeKalb’s Community Development Department, lacked the minimum qualifications to serve on the five-person committee.
The legislation creating the DeKalb Audit Oversight Committee, House Bill 599, said committee members should have at least five years experience as an accountant or internal auditor, or 10 years of other relevant professional experience.
Codi, a lawyer, managed budgets for the DeKalb Community Development Department for three years and previously worked for three years as an auditor with consulting assignments for GE Capital Inc., Federal Home Loan Bank and Indymac Bank, according to her resume.
Olens has been asked to determine whether Butler had the ability to rescind her Sept. 23 appointment of Codi to the committee. The senators seeking Olens’ opinion are Butler, Sen. Elena Parent, D-Atlanta; and Sen. JaNice Van Ness, R-Conyers.
Butler has appointed Natasha Smith, a certified public accountant, to replace Codi.
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