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Attendee presses commissioner over court filings and ethics; commissioner declines to resign
Summary
At the Aug. 6 meeting a member of the public pressed Commissioner Damon Hoyte about magistrate and superior-court filings, said he would file an ethics complaint, and urged Hoyte to resign; Hoyte declined to answer some questions and later said he would not resign.
During the regular meeting of the Commission of the Unified Government of Cusseta–Chattahoochee County on Aug. 6, attendee Steve Wagner raised allegations about Commissioner Damon Hoyte’s legal filings and their cost to the county and pressed Hoyte to explain prior magistrate and superior-court actions.
Wagner, who said he has more than 35 years of experience in law enforcement and criminal-justice programs, asked Hoyte a series of questions about a Dec. 8, 2022 magistrate plea and subsequent filings. Hoyte declined to answer some questions during the public comment period; the county attorney reminded the audience that commissioners were not required to answer questions. Wagner said he planned to file a complaint with the Georgia ethics process and asked Hoyte to tender his resignation within 14 days; he also said he would continue to pursue public records and recordings to support his assertions.
After the board returned from executive session, Commissioner Hoyte said he had considered writing a resignation letter after election results but ‘‘I am not going to resign’’ and urged those calling for his resignation to continue their efforts if they wished. The chairman said the closed-session topics fell within legal exceptions to Georgia’s open meetings law and that no votes were taken in executive session.
The transcript records the public commenter’s allegations and Hoyte’s refusal to resign but does not include proof or detailed court documents in the record; Wagner said he would forward materials to the Georgia Ethics Commission for review. The county attorney advised the commission on legal-process limits for public questioning during the meeting.
