Ethics delays creating friction in DeKalb

The DeKalb County Board of Commissioners has held off on appointing the seventh, and final, person to its ethics board for fourth months despite growing pressure to boost the body. Instead of choosing between two finalists for the job, in recent weeks three commissioners have added new candidates into the mix, a move that will delay action until at least February.

The nominees:

• J. Alan McNabb (first nominated September 2013) – Vice president and senior attorney, SunTrust Bank.
• William P. Smith III (first nominated October 2013) – Atlanta attorney and former DeKalb Recorders Court Judge who serves as ethics counsel for the State Bar of Georgia.
• Stanley Baum (added for consideration December 2013) – Atlanta attorney who formerly was chairman of DeKalb board of ethics and now serves on MARTA board of ethics.
• Clara Black Delay (added for consideration December 2013) – Retired senior ethics attorney, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
• David F. Richards III (added for consideration January 2014) – Senior pastor, Mount Zion A.M.E. Church, Mansfield, Ga.

For months, DeKalb County Commissioners have agreed that a fully functioning ethics board would help get their beleaguered government out from under a cloud of scandal.

But now some of them are attacking the delay over what they can’t agree on: filling the seventh seat on the ethics board, its only vacant slot.

The full commission has deferred acting on two finalists since last fall. Then, just before the holiday season, several commissioners added three more names to the mix.

Those additions delay a vote until at least February, when the ethics board is slated to hold its first quarterly meeting. Tuesday, Commissioner Jeff Rader, who with Commissioner Kathie Gannon tried unsuccessfully to vote on an appointment, called the foot-dragging intentional.

“Frankly, it’s an embarrassment,” Rader said. “I don’t know what’s behind it. But certainly the impact is to delay.”

The accusations drew a swift rebuke from Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton, who put forth the most recent nominee earlier this month.

“I think it’s disingenuous to say every commissioner on this body does not have the right to appoint who we want to,” she said. “We need to stop making salacious accusations.”

The squabble Tuesday was followed hours later by interviews of the three new candidates by a commission committee. But the committee did not recommend a vote – the typical step needed for the full commission to act.

In contrast to the board’s continued postponing, interim CEO Lee May recently signaled his support of the ethics board by proposing it receive a $118,000 budget this year. That is a 600 percent increase over last year’s $16,500 budget - $12,500 of which funded a part-time attorney.

The special grand jury investigating allegations of corruption in DeKalb noted that small budget in its report released in August.

In June, CEO Burrell Ellis was indicted on 14 felony charges that accuse him of shaking down county vendors for campaign funds and punishing those who didn’t give. Ellis was re-indicted last week on new charges that include bribery and perjury.

But the county has not acted on the grand jury’s recommendations to boost oversight: hiring an internal auditor and transforming the ethics board.

One of the issues that has stalled hiring an auditor – commissioner concerns they could become targets of investigation – also pops up in discussions of overhauling the ethics board.

The county’s ethics board is enshrined in DeKalb’s charter – a rarity for such bodies. But at least two commissioners have questioned how much power the body will have.

“I want a game plan,” said Commissioner Elaine Boyer, who has proposed creating a penalty against those who file unsubstantiated complaints with the board.

As it exists, the board has unusually strong power to address the type of self-dealing and cronyism that the grand jury report alleges.

Most of the ethics board’s work revolves around investigating complaints and issuing advisory opinions, but it also can fire nearly every county employee and remove elected officials if it finds flagrant violations.

But it has never exercised those powers. In fact, as noted in the grand jury report, the board struggled for years to even meet quarterly. Isaac Blythers, the acting chairman of the board, said part of the struggle was attracting quality volunteers when the board was underfunded and disorganized.

Board members have pushed since 2012 for more funding – and for the commission to appoint more members. It took until last year for the commission to appoint two new members, bringing the board to its current six members.

“I don’t know that the county has shown a whole lot of support for this board and that has made it more difficult to do the work,” Blythers said. “But we are pressing forward. If they won’t, we will be the ones to demonstrate that this is something DeKalb County wants.”

In late December, the ethics board voted to hire Gene Chapman, an Atlanta attorney who specializes in ethics, to serve as its 2014 adviser. He will make $30,000 in the role.

Blythers said the board also plans to work with Emory University’s law school to set up a daylong training session to develop formal policies and procedures for operations.

Some commissioners who have submitted new candidates argue that the ethics board now has a quorum to undergo that training, as well as meet. Commissioners also said late last year, however, that they want the full ethics board in place before it begins regular meetings.

The County Commission has until February to adopt a temporary 2014 budget, which will include the commission’s recommendation for the ethics board funding.