Ethics Complaint Filed In R. E. Lee Name Controversy

An ethics complaint has been drafted by Atlanta attorney Steve Adams and will be presented to the Thomaston City Manager alleging that Mayor Pro Tem Doug Head was wrong in making a public statement concerning the removal of the R. E. Lee name from the Government Complex.

The complaint is asking Head to recuse himself from any further discussion or voting on the subject. Adams is a graduate of R. E. Lee.

The city has a three person ethics committee that will review the complaint to determine whether it is justified, frivolous, patently unfounded or fails to state facts sufficient to potentially involve disciplinary action, or to determine whether it warrants further investigation.

The committee is empowered to dismiss any complaint which is found to be unjustified, frivolous, patently unfounded, or which fails to state facts sufficient to invoke the disciplinary jurisdiction of the committee; provided, however, a rejection of a complaint by the committee shall not deprive the complaining party of any action he or she might otherwise have at law or relative to the matter.

The committee may hold hearings or conduct an investigation but must take final action on each complaint in not less than thirty (30) days of receipt of the complaint. The decision by the ethics committee shall be reduced to writing and mailed, by certified mail with return receipt requested, to all parties at interest within five (5) days of reaching a decision.

An ethics violation carries any combination of the following penalties if upheld:

(1)     A public reprimand.

(2)     A request that the public official resign from office.

(3)     A fine of up to six hundred dollars ($600.00).

(4)     A recommendation to the public that the offending public official be recalled under
         the general laws regulating such.