Former Fulton IT director claims retaliation

The former head of Fulton County’s troubled information technology department has sued the county and a private contractor, claiming he was fired for blowing the whistle on corruption.

Maurice Ficklin lost his job last October after raising numerous questions about IT Department contracts with private companies. Two subsequent audits have confirmed many of Ficklin’s concerns. Among other things, the audits found the IT Department mismanaged millions of dollars in contracts and vendors overbilled the county by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In a lawsuit filed May 8 in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, Ficklin says he was fired in retaliation for raising concerns about the contracts. The lawsuit also claims racial and age discrimination by the county.

Fulton County Manager Dick Anderson declined to comment on the lawsuit. But in a statement provided to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he said the county is seeking an outside assessment of its IT Department in response to the audits.

“We expect that the selected firm will not only review the audit and management response to ensure best practices are followed, but also offer recommendations to put Fulton County on the path to digital government,” Anderson’s statement says.

In addition to Fulton County, the lawsuit names Roswell-based Consilium Consulting and its chief executive officer, Kwang Kim, as defendants. Ficklin claims they intentionally damaged his relationship with Fulton County.

Consilium provides software licensing and support, database administration, disaster recovery planning and other services to the county. Among other things, audit reports say the company overbilled the county $125,000.