Witnesses delay, refuse interviews in ex-clerk investigation, OIG says

Atlanta city employees are delaying or refusing to be interviewed as part of a probe into the former clerk who was paid nearly $1 million in consulting fees to oversee a process that never took place, the city’s interim inspector general said Tuesday.

The city paid former Atlanta Municipal Clerk Foris Webb III $910,000 in just over two years to help “shepherd” the first-of-its-kind referendum effort launched by opponents of the city’s public safety training center.

But the process was held up in court and the tens of thousands of signatures collected by organizers were never counted. Webb continued to bill the city $35,000 a month regardless.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution first reported on the payments in February, leading to calls inside City Hall for more guardrails on consulting contracts. The city’s Office of the Inspector General subsequently launched its own investigation into the matter.

The inspector general’s office generally does not comment on open investigations. But interim Inspector General LaDawn Blackett sent an update Tuesday to Atlanta City Council members and Mayor Andre Dickens’ top staff.

The update, obtained by the AJC, says Blackett is extending the investigation by four months because resistance inside City Hall delayed the probe.

“The public nature of this matter and the multiple inquiries related to it necessitate this courtesy mid-investigation update,” Blackett wrote, adding: “The investigation has experienced several delays that have materially hindered the Office of the Inspector General’s ability to conduct an independent and timely review.”

Blackett wrote that witnesses’ unwillingness to sit for interviews and delays created by their attorneys have slowed the process. The reticent witnesses include current city employees, Blackett wrote, though she did not identify them.

“It remains unclear whether the delays reflect actual scheduling conflicts or are being used to avoid or defer participation in the OIG investigation,” Blackett said.

Blackett wrote that her office was letting some witnesses answer questions in writing rather than sit for in-person interviews, which she added “undermines OIG’s standard investigative independence,” but is was necessary to keep the investigation moving.

Blackett was originally scheduled to complete her findings last month, a deadline that’s now pushed to January.

Investigators also faced delays when they sought to access unspecified “key evidence,” Blackett said. It took months to work through “conflict-of-interest concerns.”

The AJC, too, has had difficulty obtaining some records from the city. Reporters sent several open records requests seeking evidence of the work Webb performed, asking for every report he turned in and every email he sent, among other documents.

But the city withheld some of his emails, saying they were protected by attorney-client privilege. Officials wouldn’t say how many emails they were withholding or when they were sent.

Even so, the AJC ultimately found that Webb’s work dried up after just a few months, even as he continued to submit monthly invoices. Webb has not responded to multiple requests for comment over the course of the AJC’s reporting this year.

In May 2024, then-Atlanta Inspector General Shannon K. Manigault gave an unprecedented speech during a City Council meeting, saying officials inside City Hall were obstructing her office’s investigations.

Her announcement started a bitter, yearlong feud with Dickens, whose administration spearheaded an effort to curtail the government watchdog’s powers, including time limits on its investigations.