Dunwoody City Attorney Brian Anderson is in a fight for his job after Mayor Mike Davis and Councilman Terry Nall called for his resignation Monday night.
The move to oust Anderson, who has been city attorney since the city was founded four years ago, failed when a majority of the City Council voted to delay action until a later meeting.
Anderson said he is accused of leaking details of a Feb. 3 executive session, in which a local newspaper reported the council had discussed selling a 16-acre tract of land, originally purchased for a park, to a developer who wants to build single-family homes and town homes. The paper did not provide a source other than to say it was not a City Council member. Anderson denies being the source.
“Last Thursday, I was asked to resign or face termination because I and one other council member were to be named as a source for disclosure of the sale of the pvc park,” Anderson said in a statement to the council.
The city launched an investigation of the incident Feb. 13, when the City Council hired former DeKalb County District Attorney Bob Wilson, one of the state’s lead investigators into the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal. The contract called for Wilson to be paid $150 per hour with public funds.
So far, Wilson’s firm has billed the city $25,186.
In launching the investigation, Davis said it was not the first time sensitive material was leaked after a closed session. “This has to stop,” he said.
Anderson on Monday presented the council with results of a polygraph test attesting to his innocence. He also said he doesn’t think that, under the state Open Meetings Act, any violations occurred because the Act does not apply to the “disposal of property.”
The mayor has said the discussions at issue were in accordance with the Open Meetings Act, and that a review by attorneys, including Wilson, have upheld that position.
The Act allows for closed-door discussions of property acquisition. It does not allow discussion of the sale of property.
Neither the mayor, the City Council nor the city attorney have publicly disclosed the topic of conversation during the closed session.
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