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Dawsonville Ethics Board unanimously dismisses complaints against three council members
Summary
The City of Dawsonville Ethics Board voted unanimously March 9 to dismiss ethics complaints filed against three council members, finding the city's ethics code did not, as written, support a violation finding; the board first met in executive session under the personnel exception to the Open Meetings Act.
The Dawsonville Ethics Board unanimously voted March 9 to dismiss three ethics complaints filed against council members Mr. Phillips, Mr. Ilk and Miss Sawyer, saying the text of the city’s ethics code did not provide a basis to sustain the charges.
The board convened at 5:30 p.m. and, after taking the item up in executive session under the personnel exception to the Open Meetings Act, returned to open session to take formal action. City Attorney Kevin Talent advised the board that it could act on all three complaints at once if it intended to take the same action on each.
A board member who spoke at length on the record said the alleged conduct raised serious questions but that the board’s legal duty was limited by the ordinance: “I believe that the actions that were taken were inconsistent with the oath of office and the standards that we should expect from our elected officials,” the board member said. “However, our responsibility in this proceeding is limited to determining whether a specific provision of the city's ethics code has been violated. The code as written does not identify a violation of the oath of office by itself as an enforceable ethics violation. Because we must apply the ethics code as it currently exists, I do not believe that there's sufficient basis to sustain an ethics charge in this case.”
Following that explanation, a motion to dismiss all three complaints as "unjustified" was made and seconded. The board voted by raised hands and the motion passed unanimously; the chair recorded the dismissals and then the board adjourned.
The board’s action closes the formal ethics complaints before the Ethics Board. The board member who explained the decision noted that allegations about breaches of the oath of office or state law may remain matters for other legal or governmental processes outside the Ethics Board’s statutory authority.
