Two DeKalb County workers whose sworn testimony indicated they were involved in activities that led to corruption allegations against suspended CEO Burrell Ellis were put on paid leave Monday.
Interim CEO Lee May previously said he was waiting for a legal consultant’s analysis of testimony from purchasing director Kelvin Walton and Ellis’ former secretary, Nina Hall, that appeared to admit wrongdoing.
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Monday, though, he said the testimony — first reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last month — had become an impediment to getting work done.
“I’ve been consumed with the day-to-day operations of this county and trying to let the legal case run its course,” May said. “But all of the accusations swirling around have become an unnecessary distraction for us and the people of DeKalb.”
The suspensions will leave DeKalb with an interim purchasing director to oversee all county bids and contracts, including the $1.35 billion overhaul of the county’s water/sewer system. Scott Callan, the former head of purchasing in Gwinnett, will begin on April 28 at a salary still being negotiated.
That cost will be on top of the $153,000 annual salary that will still be paid to Walton while he’s on leave, just as Hall will continue to receive the $75,800 annual salary of her new job as a manager in Watershed Management.
An investigation by a special grand jury that looked into allegations of corruption in water and sewer department contracts led to Ellis’ indictment on 14 felony charges, ranging from theft to conspiracy, last year.
Testimony before a special grand jury is typically kept secret. But parts of Walton’s testimony became public record by being attached to motions in the Ellis case.
Walton has been listed as Ellis’ unindicted co-conspirator since prosecutors first indicted Ellis on political corruption charges, alleging he shook down county vendors for campaign donations and punished those who did not give.
Walton has emerged as a star witness in the case for secretly recording hundreds of hours of Ellis in meetings and phone calls with vendors.
In the transcripts filed last month, though, Walton admitted he lied during his first appearance before the special grand jury. Walton also testified he broke the law when he did not pay a county vendor who removed a tree from his back yard.
In her appearance before the panel, Hall testified that she believed Walton had funneled money from at least two county vendors to her at a time when she served on at least 15 selection committees for county projects. She repeatedly said she could not answer why she believed the cash had come from contractors.
May said Monday he will not be able to decide about more decisive action, such as firing the pair, until more information is revealed at Ellis’ trial. That case is slated to go to court in September.
That leaves it up to the county’s powerful ethics board, newly invigorated since the Ellis’ probe began, to decide whether to act sooner.
The board has a pending complaint against Walton and Hall from south DeKalb registered nurse Viola Davis. In addition to asking the board to remove the pair without pay, she wants it to ask state and federal investigators to look into county contracts based on their testimony.
So far, the ethics board has requested that Walton and Hall answer why their testimony does not violate county ethics code, which clearly prohibits workers from benefiting from county vendors in any way.
Though it will likely take months to act, the board has the power to override May’s move and fire them based on what it finds in the case. It next takes up the issue at its May 8 meeting.
Davis said Monday she hopes the ethics board will at least act quickly to suspend Walton and Hall without pay. If they remain in paid suspension until the fall trial, Walton and Hall will earn $51,000 and 18,950, respectively, in salary alone.
“This is like a free vacation on the taxpayers when what we want is the truth,” Davis said. “What is the truth? We still don’t know.”
May said the county’s consultant, Mercer University law school dean Oren Griffin, is still reviewing the transcripts of Walton’s and Hall’s testimony and has yet to make any recommendations.
That includes analysis of what to do with county contracts now or previously held by the two vendors Hall named in her testimony, Barry Bennett and Michael Hightower.
Bennett is president of Metals and Materials Engineers, which has more than $14 million in contracts on the DeKalb sewer overhaul, according to county records. Hightower, a former Fulton County commissioner who served a six-month prison sentence for taking $25,000 in bribes to help a businessman win county work, is co-owner of the Collaborative Group, a consultancy business that has held DeKalb contracts.
“This is the one big cloud that keeps me up at night,” May said. “We just don’t have the answers for it right now.”
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