The new DeKalb County Board of Ethics is considering whether to restrict public access to complaints filed against elected officials and government employees.
Written allegations of unethical government behavior in the past have been released upon request under Georgia's Open Records Act, but DeKalb Ethics Officer Stacey Kalberman said she doesn't believe their disclosure is required.
In November, voters overwhelming approved an overhaul of the DeKalb Board of Ethics, a move intended to improve oversight of behavior following numerous corruption scandals and criminal prosecutions. The board's members were replaced in January, and they hired Kalberman as the county's first full-time ethics officer last month.
Kalberman said she wants to investigate ethics complaints before allowing the public to review accusations.
"Ethics boards get used as political tools. And, until you've had a chance to actually review the complaint, you are subjecting the respondents to a lot of supposition and conjecture," Kalberman told the board Thursday. "We should have the right to investigate something to determine whether it has merit."
An attorney for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Lesli Gaither, said ethics complaints are similar to initial police incident reports, which are public records under state law.
"The public needs a fair, basic understanding of what's being investigated," Gaither told the board during its public comment period. "The hallmark of the Ethics Board is to increase transparency, increase accountability and honesty. To reverse the procedure and make the complaints confidential would be counter to that and contrary to the open records law."
The board plans to decide whether to disclose ethics complaints at its meeting in May, and Kalberman has asked the Georgia Attorney General's Office for a legal opinion.
“I want us to be deliberative about this. Whatever we do will establish a precedent,” said DeKalb Board of Ethics Chairman Larry Schall.
Ethics complaints are pending against suspended DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis, Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton, former Commissioner Stan Watson and former county employees.
Some DeKalb residents urged the board to continue releasing ethics complaints. Those who want to report unethical behavior anonymously can do so through the county's ethics hotline, said Rhea Johnson, an involved citizen who has filed several complaints.
“Let’s try to avoid mistakes at the beginning,” Johnson said at Thursday’s Ethics Board meeting. “Restricting public access to records is not a very good idea.”
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