The Grovetown City Council discussed the prospect of revising the city’s ethics ordinance in its first meeting of 2024, Monday evening.
Mayor Pro Tem Eric Blair noted that the ordinance was written in 1987, and city administrator Elaine Matthews observed that its last update was in 2012.
Among the concerns Blair addressed in the current ordinance included the 60 days allotted to complete an investigation of ethics complaints, which he suggested should be 90 to 120 days, and that there is no procedure to select an alternate to substitute for an absent committee member during special called meetings, in the event an investigation yields that the ethics code has been violated.
Blair also posited that the procedure for establishing such committees be more formalized.
“We need to… set some left and right limits, a scope and some responsibility, so that a committee doesn’t just unilaterally act by itself,” Blair said. “That they go out there and gather the information, then bring it back to council, then council vets it and votes on it.”
Blair also proposed developing a policy in the ordinance explicitly addressing how the city goes about accepting donations, such as when citizens would like to contribute to local events, such as the Summer Jam.
“I know there’s a draft floating around right now, and that’s something that we need to look at,” he said, making sure to remind those attending the meeting that councilmembers are not permitted to accept any gift worth more than $75 from any person who does business with the city. “Just make sure that we have some kind of guidance when it comes to what we do can and cannot accept, or what we can and cannot not solicit from the community.”
Councilmembers Sylvia Martin and Richard Bowman both agreed, and Mayor Gary Jones offered to form a committee to pursue updating the ethics ordinance. Jones selected Blair to chair the committee, and Bowman to join him.
Columbia County District 4 Commissioner Alison Couch was in attendance to publicly announce the closures of I-20 Exit 190, Lewiston Road and Horizon South Parkway from Jan. 18 through Jan. 22, for completion of the diverging diamond interchange. This will also entail the closure of Horizon South Parkway from Gateway Boulevard.
Couch also announced the upcoming special election on Feb. 13 for the District 125 seat of the Georgia House of Representatives, amid the resignation of Barry Fleming. County Commissioner Gary Richardson, who will be running for the seat, was also present, announcing before the council and attendees that he will be resigning from his commission seat on Tuesday to qualify.
“I want you all to know that y’all will have a voice in Atlanta,” Richardson said. “And that y’all can reach out to me at any time, and I will do all I can to represent you all.”
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
