Welcome everyone to the DeCab County Board of Ethics meeting here on February 19, 2026 at 6 p.m.

Thank you all for being here.

So I'd like to go ahead and call our meeting to order.

And before we get into the specifics of the agenda, I would like to have folks introduce themselves.

I'll start on my left with our ethics officer.

Good evening.

My name is Elisa Murphy.

I'm an ethics officer.

Good evening, Hakeem Hilliard, General Counsel.

Good evening.

I'm Lauren Florence, board member.

Good evening, I'm Scott Matthews, Board Secretary.

Good evening, I'm Shakira Wright.

I'm sorry.

Good evening, I'm Shakita Wright, Chair, Vice Chair.

Are you sure you want that?

No, sir.

Bob Dallas, uh, Chair of the Board of Ethics.

Tom Clements, board member.

George Ferrand, member of the board.

Kristen Rogers, the Ethics Administrator.

All right, thank you all for that.

Uh the next item on our agenda is the adoption of the agenda, which is before you.

And uh with that, I would take a motion, second, and any discussion that follows.

Motion to adopt.

Second.

Is the motion a second?

Is there any more conversation about the agenda?

Hearing none, we'll go ahead and take a vote.

All those in favor of adopting the agenda, see if they five by saying aye, raising your hand.

Aye.

Opposed, like signed.

All right, we have adopted the agenda.

And next are our administrative items.

Uh the first item up is the uh minutes which have been uh provided to you and are in your package right now.

So those are the minutes from our January 15th meeting.

So if anybody has any uh comments on that, we first take a motion, a second, and then uh discuss any amendments to the minutes.

Motion to adopt the minutes.

Is there a second?

Second.

Okay, there's a motion and a second.

Is there any discussion on the minutes?

Any revisions?

Hearing none, I'll take uh vote on the motion to adopt the minutes.

All those in favor signify by saying aye or raising your hand.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed like sign.

All right.

We have our minutes.

I will sign those later.

And next we have uh reporter committees.

I'm not aware of any, but uh if there are, we have human resources, budget which we discussed last time, and oversight.

Yes.

Introduction, the new member.

Uh that's right.

I'm gonna get to that.

Um I had it on the wrong way.

So uh I didn't I just want to put up but you're right.

I apologize for that.

Uh yes, we do.

Uh we do have a new member appointed by our tax commissioner, our new tax commissioner, by the way.

And uh say hello to Lauren Florence, and you'll see, of course, uh her summary as well as uh in our package her resume and uh a native of the line of the Cab County IC high school.

And I'd also like to point out uh you went to a little school down in Florida, Tallahassee somewhere.

I I say that because I went to Florida.

You know, we had a little rivalry going on at the time.

Uh I think it's still going on as far as I could tell.

And uh a graduate from uh Xavier University and uh North Carolina ATT State University and quite an extensive resume and uh public involvement and you are a civil engineer.

That's pretty exciting.

So I'm gonna turn the table over to you and ask if uh there's anything you'd like to add and share with us about you that you would like the board or the public to know.

So, like the chair has said, my name is Lauren Florence, and I would like to thank our new tax commissioner, Nicole Golden, for uh this appointment to this seat.

I just want to say I am grateful to serve alongside individuals who have committed themselves to being of service and ethical stewardship in DeCab County.

I look forward to listening, learning, and most importantly, contributing uh to the mission that we all share.

So thank you.

Well, thank you to your service to this board, but more importantly to the citizens of DeCab County.

Uh that's why we're here.

So I appreciate that.

So we've covered or no reports on committees that I'm aware of.

So all right.

Um the next we have is the ethics officer annual and monthly report.

Uh sofficer Murphy.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

You have before you the annual report for year 2025.

And unfortunately, the page numbers uh did not make this copy, but it's uh page number 10 and it's tan.

And I just want to emphasize I won't go over the whole thing, uh, but the board of ethics received 20 cases in 2025.

And they're listed on the next page.

And where the star is, it indicates if it was going to be heard in 2026.

The next page is the hotline reports, and I'll go over briefly those.

We received 44 anonymous reports, and in 2024, we received 47.

So it's just three short of that.

And just to go over our anonymous hotline, it services the CAP County.

So quite a few times we get different types of cases that are not ethics cases or reports.

For instance, three were disconnected calls, five were employee relations or misconduct, as really employees unfortunately having some kind of altercation whether and primarily it is um verbal altercations.

Next is the court.

Again, we don't have any jurisdiction over that.

Customer service calls was four.

School related, we don't have any jurisdiction, it's eight calls, and private citizens disputing between each other or amongst each other, nine calls, and then we have miscellaneous calls, well, one utility issue, one weather issue, one conflict uh with the fire department, one training issue, SNAP benefits issue, unscheduled meeting, and police complaint.

And overall, the next slide or the next page has to do with training, then at the conclusion, I also put uh something in for the ethics forum.

But as far as open records, uh in I'm not sure exactly what it says for us, but I I think it's actually good.

In 2023, we had 23 requests, 2024, 10 requests.

In 2025, we only had two requests, and the goal of the ethics forum was shining the light on ethics, and I think we're doing a great job as far as transparency to the public and to our employees and public officials.

And any questions regarding the annual report?

And I also sent that to you all electronically, maybe two or three weeks ago.

And the CEO and the Board of Commissioners also have a copy of that.

And it's available on our website.

No, it's normally available right after the meeting that I presented to the public here.

Right.

I have a quick question.

This year we're gonna have another ethics forum, and when are you thinking about having it?

That's on the um that continues with my monthly report.

Okay.

Let me get to that.

The ethics forum uh the chef is available on May 8th or May 15th.

Those are both Fridays.

And I also indicated that I needed ideas from the board, not with the chef, but for topics or speaker.

And I've shared one speaker that I'm interested in contacting.

So today I was going to ask which day would be best for the board, May 8th or May 15th.

So everybody get out their calendars.

May 8th.

Well, I mean, I know Mother's Day is on May 10.

I don't know if that has any influence.

That's a Sunday, of course.

It's normally Friday, as you are aware, and lunch time is what we have the ethics form.

Any preference for anybody?

Or the 15th is better for me.

But well, you know, as you reach out to our considered speaker, keep those options open and then whatever works best for that.

And I think uh last year people really appreciated the CEO being here.

Do you know if she's available both of those dates?

I do not.

I I first bring it to the board as to what you're available, and then I reach out to people after that.

Well, actually, I go to the caterer first, and he tells me when he's available.

We know our priorities.

Um, we one of those two days that obviously be flexible based on the availability of people that would want to participate.

And to answer your question, I haven't reached out uh or to expand my answer.

I haven't reached out because each year we try to have different speakers.

And if um if you want me to reach out, I definitely will.

Well, one thing is the commissioners and the CEO do get invited.

Absolutely.

And if we have a panel discussion like we had in the past where the speaker was certainly part of that, maybe give a few, you know, a couple minutes to say something if the speaker does if the CEO doesn't want to be a speaker, we have another speaker or panelist.

So we'll do that.

All right.

And so next, as far as hotline reports since January 15, 15th, there hasn't been any as well as open records requests.

And I'm gonna go back to the previous slide before we do the other item.

And training year to date, we've trained 120 new employees, and there was one ethics blast that included um Black History Month as well as our website in directing them to our website for the common questions.

And we have seven pending cases, and uh the legislative changes were sent to the General Assembly on January 21st, 2026.

I didn't check this week, I checked last week.

I didn't see any movement yet in those potential changes.

Now, with regards to the um formal advisory opinion request, I'll defer to General Counsel Hakeem Hilliard.

Thank you, Madam Ethics Chair.

I didn't realize it was going to get to me this quickly.

Thank you.

Um good evening, board.

Uh there was a question posed to us uh by Mr.

Ed Wall that was originally came before the ethics office in August of 2025.

Uh procurement staff asked the question uh whether the ethics office or whether it was a conflict for the same person managing pension uh investments to be managing county debt.

I understand that question came to our ethics officer as an informal request, and the the answer was that it uh it may have been a conflict, it included it was a conflict.

Um but then Mr.

Wall was invited to ask that question formally, asked for a formal opinion.

And when the formal opinion request came back to us, the question was a little different than the original one.

And so uh our answer is different than the one that Ms.

uh Murphy originally gave, but it was a different question as well.

Uh the question now uh before us is um is is whether whether the subject a matter uh of serving as the chair of the pension board uh and serving as the financial advisor to the county presents a conflict uh for a service uh on either uh on both cases, he does not uh he's not involved in managing the debt or managing uh the the question, the original question about uh whether it creates an apparent conflict of interest that would prohibit his firm who is per uh pursuing a uh role as financial advisor to the CAP County would put uh serve as a conflict for him uh as a financial advisor for the county and the chair of the the Cap County Pension Board.

Um looking at this issue, uh we analyze several issues.

One is that the financial advisor role uh for the county uh under the RFP that is pending now is advisory only.

Uh the the financial advisor makes no decisions, it just makes uh it gives advice and counsel on financial matters to the uh finance department.

The pension board's role, board role is fiduciary and collective, meaning that they don't he doesn't uh in his role as chair of the pension board, he doesn't make any independent decisions, it's a collective decision.

Uh the financial advisor role for the county does not control any pension assets, uh and the pension board does not award the financial uh advisors contract in any way.

Um based on that, it was our view that there's um while there is no per se conflict that there you know and that that any conflict that may arise for instance involving the financial advisors contract for any reason, we don't know see why that would happen, uh that that would be uh a conflict that could be uh cured by safeguards.

Uh I did also have the opportunity to talk to Ms.

Terry Taylor, who is uh attorney for ACCG, uh that also serves as counsel to the pension board.

Uh and she shares our opinion that this is not a conflict that is um actually they believe the pension board does not believe that it's a conflict at all.

Uh we we you know our recommendation is that there if in the event there is a potential conflict or an appearance of conflict that it would be waivable.

Um would be waivable or recused or recused, yeah, it'd be I'm sorry, not waivable.

He could recuse himself uh in those instances.

Yes.

But I'm happy to answer any questions about that.

Um that you all may have.

Right, so I turn it over to the board members.

Do you have any questions?

Mr.

Clemens.

Last year, right?

No.

No, no.

Matthews, no.

Fords.

Okay.

So at this juncture, uh, we've been presented with a question, and that's the advice of our counsel as presented in a letter in your package.

And so if we're going to adopt this, it would be appropriate to take a motion a second, have further discussion if you like.

And maybe maybe just one just for clarity.

Could you just give us an idea of what the ch what his role as chair of the pension board involves?

Yes, it's uh he he's he's serving as the chair just kind of conducting the meeting, the whole board makes decisions together in guiding the board, and I can tell you specifically uh gone through this uh uh they did not award supervise or or influence any contracts relating to the financial advisor.

They develop they their duty is to the the pension plan participants is only.

So of the workers of DeCap County that pay into the pension, this pension board makes recommendations or decides how the money is invested.

That's right.

Okay.

That's right.

Okay.

And so he chairs the board, and that board they so they make decisions on how the money is invested.

That's right.

Okay.

And then he also is a member of a financial advisor services.

Yeah, he has he has a company that provides financial advisory services in the name of the Piper Piper Sandler.

That's right.

And so does and Piper Sandler, do they have interest with the um investments within the pension board?

They do not.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Are there any other questions for counsel?

All right.

Hearing none, um, it would be appropriate to take a motion as to how we want to address this.

Move to adopt.

Motion second.

Is there any further discussion?

All right.

Hearing none, all those in favor of the motion, signify raise your hand and say yes.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed, like signed.

The motion carries.

All right, I will sign and date this.

And yeah, hopefully we'll answer the question there.

Thank you.

So next.

Do we have anything more from uh our monthly report one more thing?

Uh I put it in your packet regarding their own code of ethics for the pension board.

Not just um, please just pay close attention to that.

Right.

I I I think it's important with what we just voted on that there could be a potential, there could be a uh uh um a conflict of interest, and they have to be very mindful of that.

And that's why it's a question of you know, you meant refusal.

So it's it's important to to keep that in mind for the pension board and the advisory board so that they're always aware of that.

Um that that's a key thing.

So is it per se?

The board said no.

But there could be it could be amongst any of us, right?

I mean, you know, who knows?

Maybe one of you are doing business with the Cab County.

I mean, I'm a water customer, and I have five kids, and it's a lot of water.

And Mr.

Chair, this is just the ethics blast that went out about a week and a half ago regarding uh Black History Month and directing them to if they have a conflict of interest or a question with gifts, uh, formal advisory opinions or any type of opinion and our laws, they're on their website.

And that concludes the monthly and annual report.

All right.

Are they questions on the report by the board members?

All right.

Next we have uh under section four preliminary cases A through E.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

First are the rules, and your um are familiar with these.

Uh ethics rule 5.4 indicates a dismissal of com of the complaint.

If the board um does not have jurisdiction, the board has previously considered and dismissed similar allegations.

The evidence does not support the allegations, or the complaint expresses conclusions or opinions without any specific actionable allegations or evidence presented.

That's that particular rule.

This rule 4.3 indicates that to be considered, you have to have each element in the complaint.

And uh focusing on C and E because it pertains to one of the cases, a clear and concise statement of the facts on which the complaint is based, including dates, times, places, and actions, and any further information that might support the allegations, including the names, phone numbers, addresses of other persons uh with knowledge of facts and any documents that support the allegations.

Please note we're very liberal with this.

If we have a name, we're gonna research the name.

We don't uh, but we have to have something to grab hold to.

If we don't have any name, that's an issue.

No, if I could just interject, I mean that's been one of our goals is to be very accessible.

And where there are blanks that should be filled in, you work to help fill those blanks as best possible.

Yes.

And then ethics rule 4.5 in part.

Uh the complainant shall have 10 business days.

The complaint is the one who files from the date of notice to correct and refile the complaint directly with the ethics administrator.

If the complainant fails to refile and correct the complaint within 10 days, the complaint shall be dismissed by the Board of Ethics within 30 days of receipt of the original complaint unless extended by a majority vote.

The first case includes Malcolm Peoples versus Noah Hightower.

Uh the facts are, according to Mr.

Peoples.

Uh this matter involved the conduct of Noah Hightower of DeCab County and a motor vehicle collision that occurred on September 14th in Lithonia.

Complainant peoples expressed concerned about the officer's failure to report the facts accurately on the on the actual police report, and that he allegedly disregarded his supervisor's instructions.

The complainant wanted the matter reviewed and for corrective action to occur.

That did occur.

Move that we dismiss the complaint.

Second.

Motion a second.

Is there any further discussion?

Questions of our officer?

Hearing none, let's go ahead and take a vote.

All those in favor of dismissing Peoples versus High Towers signify by raising your hand or saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed like signed.

The motion carries.

The next case is Tony Covington Graham versus Emily.

Brian, case number 2026-1.

This matter involved non-employees of the CAB County homeowners argued with their property managers and their property associations over parking allotments.

Dismissal is recommended, excuse me, for lack of jurisdiction over non-employee private citizens, particularly involving their real estate.

All right.

Move to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction.

Second.

Motion to second.

Is there any further discussion?

Hearing none, all those in favor signify by raising your hands.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed like sign.

All right.

Next one.

This is involving Quentin Wright versus Galbreth and Powell, case number 2026-2.

This matter involved a failure to correct defects in the complaint, meaning the complaint right did not provide evidence to support his claims, but render conclusions and failed to include all officers that he alleged to have had violations.

That was not explained.

Inaccuracy within the report, he had 10-day, 10 business days.

Actually, I gave him more than 10 business days, and he still did not correct the complaint and didn't respond.

I'm asking for dismissal.

And in again, you reached out to him to try to do that.

Yes, I always read yes.

That's the 10-day notice and indicating that if he didn't, it would be dismissed.

And then notice for today's hearing that my recommendation is dismissal.

All right.

With that for Wright versus uh Galbreth and Powell, is there a motion?

Second.

Second.

Is motion and second?

Is there any discussion or questions of our officer?

Hearing none, we'll take a vote on that.

All those in favor of dismissal of Wright versus Galpert and Powell.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed like signed.

The motion carries.

The next one involved Kerlisia Powell versus James Holloway.

And according to the complaint that she is a parent of a child and she is seeking media assistance regarding serious and ongoing concerns about student safety bullying and administrative retaliation at Cedar Grove Middle School.

She named the principal, James Holloway.

We do not have jurisdiction over this matter.

We did reach out and contacted the current superintendent.

So you referred it back to the school?

Yes.

So your recommendation is dismissal?

Yes, sir.

All right.

For Powell versus Holloway, there's a recommendation to dismissal.

Is there a motion?

Motion to dismiss.

All right.

Any further discussion or questions of our officer?

Hearing none.

All those in favor of dismissing Powell versus Holloway.

Signify by raising your hand or saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed like sign.

The motion carries.

The next one involves Robin Morgan versus James Holloway, the same person who is the principal of Cedar Grove Middle School.

Her child has been bullied at the school since last year and it's ongoing.

She believes Principal Holloway has not been fair in handling the situation.

Again, we do not have jurisdiction over this matter, and I am requesting or recommending dismissal for lack of jurisdiction.

And I just want to emphasize that you reached out to the school.

Absolutely.

And we recognize the importance of the obligations.

It's just we don't have jurisdiction.

Yeah, we we contact the superintendent right away.

And we contact the um Mr.

Holloway as well.

And uh we submit the complaint to the superintendent as well.

Right.

All right.

So there's a recommendation for dismissal of Morgan versus Holloway.

Is there a motion?

So is there a second?

Second.

All right, do we have any questions uh or comments regarding this matter?

All right, hearing none, we'll take a vote.

So for the recommendation of Morgan versus Holloway dismissal.

All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye, aye.

Opposed like sign.

All right, so that case is also dismissed.

Does that conclude your this concludes the preliminary cases for today's agenda?

All right, thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Uh next we have uh public comments and the podium is open, and if you have public comment cards, please uh provide them to our clerk, and we look forward to your comments.

Stephen Benny, 1083, Seville Drive, Clarkston, Georgia.

I really wasn't going to come up here and have a public comment today, but I just wanted to pass along some information to you that if that if you want more information about the pension and the people who work with it, the chairman of the pension board made a presentation to the commission's pecs committee on Tuesday.

Uh the meeting uh will started at I believe around uh 2 15 or 2 30.

It was maybe 20 or 30 minutes worth.

And so if you want to see him in action or you want to get a little bit further understanding of what's going on, take a look.

Thank you very much.

Thank you for that.

Do we have any further comments from the public?

All right, seeing none, uh, we'll close the public comment period.

And next we have comments from the uh board of ethics.

So board member fairness.

I have no comments.

No.

No.

I have no comments.

No comments.

Mr.

Chair, I I want to thank the ethics officer for putting the annual report together.

I think it's an impressive document, and it captures what we did last year.

My one question is can you tell us what the distribution on this is, who receives copies of this, and I because I think it it's a good educational piece as well.

You have to understand it looks better.

This is from our printer upstairs, but it is glossy when you look at the uh actual email.

Uh CEO, uh, Madam Lorraine Cochrane Johnson, the Board of Commissioners, of course the board.

Uh this board receives it.

It's on the website for everyone to see it.

So those that's the answer.

Okay.

Thank you.

Uh-huh.

Board member for us.

I have no comments.

All right.

All right.

With that, uh, we will close the comments of the board of ethics.

And next to our agenda is uh moving to executive session to discuss pinning litigation and personnel issues.

So I'll be glad to take a motion for that.

Motion to move to executive session.

Second.

All right.

Is there any further discussion on that?

Hearing none.

All those in favor of the motion to convene an executive session, signify by saying aye.

Raise your hand.

Aye.

Opposed like sign.

All right, we will move to executive session and we'll be back on the welcome back everybody from our executive session.

And uh with that, according to our agenda, we have a motion to adjourn the executive session.

So moved.

It was stereo.

Uh any discussion on that?

Those in favor of the motion to uh adjourn.

Signify saying aye, raise your hand.

Aye.

Oppose like sign.

Motion carries.

Next we have the affidavit, which uh if you approve, I will sign.

Uh and that is we'll take a motion to approve the executive session affidavit.

So moved.

Is there a second?

Motion and a second.

Is there any further discussion?

Hearing none, we'll take a vote.

All those in favor of the motion to approve the executive session after David signify by raising your hand or saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed like sign.

All right.

Um with that, our announcement is the next regular board meeting is March 19, not far after St.

Patrick's Day, so hopefully we'll be okay.

And uh with that, I'll take a motion to adjourn.

So moved.

Second.

Is a motion a second?

Any discussion?

Hearing none, we'll take uh vote.

All those in favor of the motion signify by raising your hand.

Say not.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed like sign.

We are now adjourned.

Thank all of you and thank you in the audience and those who are watching.

And thank you for the staff.

Always well done.

Thank you for the staff.