Welcome everyone to the uh the CAB County Board of Ethics uh April 16, 2026 meeting.

Thank you all for being here.

So I'll go ahead and call this uh meeting to order as we have a quorum.

And uh as I like to do, if uh the folks could uh identify themselves for the cameras, I'll start with uh Member Ferrens.

Uh George Ferrance, member of the uh board.

Tom Clements, member of the board.

Bob Dallas, Chair of the Board.

Micah Dow, member of the board.

Lauren Florence, board member.

Kathy a simultaneous Hakeem Hilly, General Counsel to the board.

Good evening, Elisa Murphy, ethics officer.

And our administrator?

Kristen Rogers, Ethics Administrator.

All right, welcome everyone.

Uh before you is a proposed agenda, which uh you hopefully you've been able to review.

So at this time I would take a uh motion uh to adopt this agenda if you approve it.

So moved.

Motion and second.

Second.

There's a motion and a second.

Uh any discussion?

Hearing none, we'll take a vote.

All those in favor of adopting the agenda.

Signify a raising your hand.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed like signed.

All right.

Thank you all.

Um the first thing that we have is the approval of the minutes.

Uh it will not be the uh March minutes, as we didn't have a quorum, but it will be for the February minutes, which you also have before you.

So hopefully you've had a chance to look at those and um we could approve those.

We're making adjustments for the motion.

This would be for this for the February 19, 2026 minutes.

Okay.

Motion to approve both.

Second.

All right.

Is there any further discussion?

All right.

All those in favor of approving the February 19, 2026 minutes.

Signify by raising your hand or saying aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed like sign?

All right.

And I just want to confirm because we didn't have an agenda, excuse me, a quorum for the March 19th meeting.

I have something to sign to say that, but do we have to vote on it?

Uh where's my parliamentarian?

I just want to confirm that we don't have to vote on that.

Or do you think we do?

Let's just approve it.

I mean it was Pardon?

Nothing happened, so we'll prove that nothing happened.

No.

Um so you guys would have to abstain who weren't here, and then we didn't have a quorum, so I'm not sure.

I'm not sure exactly how that would work.

Uh what do you think uh either administrator or officer?

Do you think we should have voted on it?

Yes, you have to vote on this.

You want to?

Okay.

Yes.

All right.

So uh in your uh package you'll see that we have uh a statement saying that we called the meeting to order and it was over at 631 due to the lack of a quorum.

So with that, that that's before you to uh approve the minutes from that uh March 19, 2026 meeting.

Motion to approve.

Second.

There's a motion and a second.

Any further discussion?

All right.

All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed.

Any abstentions?

All right.

All right.

So uh we have our minutes approved.

Now uh we have the report of welcome, Vice Chair.

Takita right, I'll introduce you.

Uh so we have uh our next item, which is a report of committees.

I'm not aware of any committees except to say that our newest members uh let us know which committee you want to be on.

And if any member wants to change committees for any reason, you know, share that uh at any time.

So uh you do you can do it now, but you can do it later if you want.

Because what I I don't think we would have a reporter committee, do we?

No.

No.

And um just understand that we have up to three members on every committee.

Not beyond three.

Just uh keep that in mind.

All right.

The next item on the agenda is 3C, which is the uh ethics officers monthly report.

Thank you, sir.

The summary is from February 19th to the present to date.

381 new employees have been trained since March 19th.

And I wanted to emphasize, and I wasn't aware if the board knew, these are in-person trainings.

And Ms.

Rogers did uh attend, and she will get acclimated into training.

And that was a result of a meeting that we had with the personnel committee.

Uh with regards to the ethics blast.

I'm just gonna try to go to that.

March was ethics awareness month, and so I sent out this particular one.

It just talks about working for a county vendor, the do's and don'ts.

This one is talking about what a prohibited source is, meaning if there is any type of gift giving that employees and public officials cannot accept any gifts from uh vendor or someone doing business with the CAB County or in contractual relationships or getting ready to contract with the CAB County.

This one is just talking about ethics in general and the different implicit biases that we may hold.

And so uh for instance uh gender bias that's male over female, that's what your preference is when it comes to business that's considered uh a bias, whether it is explicit or implicit.

So that is under training.

Also I will train the managers and supervisors along with human resources.

That actually started in March, and then as of today, I am going to train uh human services as well as planning planning and sustainability, and we have a date for that, and that will be in person.

Also, the Board of Commissioner staff, chief of staff, and you all may know him.

Mr.

Lee May reached out to me, and so uh we're going to um train them again.

Some of them may have had the training as of um the last time I trained them was October 8th of last year, so it's expanded to include uh the CEO staff as well, and then there are two pending cases, and they're on the docket today.

Uh the ethics forum, please save the date, and I'll show you that.

And we have not sent this out because we of course wanted to let you know first.

The featured speakers are CEO or Madam CEO Lorraine Cochrane Johnson and Senator Elena Parent.

And that is Friday, June 5th at 1130 to 1.30.

It was in May, however, neither the caterer nor uh Madam CEO was available.

And um Mr.

Dallas, I've talked with Mr.

Dallas about this in our agenda setting meeting, and so we set it on Friday like we've done in the past two years, maybe, um, because it's lunchtime.

So the board members, for instance, if you um can't stay, you come and you can eat, or you can come early and help us, whatever you like, or stay the whole time, of course.

But um this is actually our ethics forum.

It just interject quickly that everybody's welcome, and uh your attendance would be great just to show presence, but there is uh stuff to be done, and so helping hands are always uh a very good thing.

Not difficult stuff, but good stuff.

No, it's easy.

All right, with regards to the hotline reports, there's actually six.

One came in today while I was on my way here, and so uh the one involved a court issue and non-employee school issue, child left his or her shoes at school, another school issue where there was a fight, and the next one is the city of Atlanta, uh public official or employee, and so um we indicated to the reporter that uh we did not have jurisdiction, and I um sent information so that he could be um given to the right people or directed to the right people, and then we had a tenant issue regarding an eviction, also the one today involved probate court.

So we did complete that.

When I say we, of course, we're talking about the ethics administrator and me or myself.

Disclosure forms are due April 17th.

There's three members that I sent an email to today in case your email is not working.

So it's actually a very easy form.

And it's just really kind of you click, you know, and send it in.

It took me, I think, a minute to do it.

And I brought up subpoena power depending on how today's probable cause hearing goes.

Mr.

Chair, I may be sending you subpoenas.

And I wanted to know if I can do it electronically with your approval.

I'll send an email indicating who it is and why.

As long as Georgia law allows it, that's fine.

Okay.

This may conclude.

I believe this may conclude my actual monthly report.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you for that.

Do we have any uh questions for the board members of our ethics officer in her report?

Right.

Hearing none.

The next item on the agenda is uh four uh probable cause hearing, which we have A and B.

So the first one that you've identified as Diane C.

Moore versus Johnny Mitchell case number two zero two five dash eight.

And so they are together, their companions.

Oh, you want to call both of them together.

You can do them as one.

Yes, their companion cases.

All right, and the second one is Diane C.

Moore versus Kimberly K.

Washington, case number two zero two five-16, and I'm sure you're explaining why we're doing it together.

Okay.

Are any of those people here in the audience?

Ms.

Moore, Mr.

Mitchell, or Ms.

Washington.

Thank you.

So what I'm gonna do first is just go over the rules regarding this.

Because this is a probable cause hearing, this is really the next step after preliminary, after I review everything, I bring this to the board for your attention and for you to find out if you believe that there is probable cause to go forward with the evidentiary hearing at a later date.

So this is ethics rule 5.6, probable cause is a cause that would induce a reasonably intelligent and prudent person to believe that a person has committed an act constituting a violation of the the CAB code.

Simply what that means is would a reasonable person agree that there is a likelihood that an ethics violation occurred.

So it's just the reasonable person, it's called a reasonable person standard.

The next is rule 5.7 indicates a notice must be given to the respondent, a response stating the facts and issues on which the respondent disagrees with the report, shall be due no later than 10 days prior to the date of the probable cause hearing.

Please note I did not receive any dispute from any of the respondents.

There's two respondents.

Any questions concerning that slide?

The next one deals with what is an employee because that may be raised when I go through the facts.

So the definition includes former employees, retired employees as well, and employees retained by the county or the agency.

The definition does not include primarily courts.

Any questions regarding that slide?

Next.

And so that's why I'm reading a little bit more detail than normal.

Violation the penalty if found that there was an ethics violation in the evidentiary hearing is any intentional violation of this section furnishing of false misleading information to the Board of Ethics or the Ethics Officer.

Failure to follow an opinion rendered by the Board of Ethics or Failure to Complet with the subpoena issued by the Board of Ethics shall subject the violator to the following administrative sanction of not more than 1,000 assessed by the Board of Ethics, public reprimand by the Board of Ethics, prosecution by the DeCab County solicitor in municipal court, and if convicted, a fine up to a thousand dollars per violation and up to six months imprisonment, whether the official or an employee is elected, appointed, paid, or unpaid.

The other section involves those that are not employees, for instance, and maybe a company that's doing business with the CAB.

This is the second call for any respondents.

Johnny Mitchell and Kimberly King, Washington.

If you're here, please go up to the podium.

This is case number 2025-8 and 2025-16.

Diane Charlie Moore versus Johnny Mitchell and Kimberly King, Washington.

And that would include any representative of theirs.

Any representative as well.

Thank you, sir.

Diane Charlie Moore complainant filed an ethics complaint against respondent Johnny Mitchell on August 25th, and on the co-respondent Kimberly Washington, also known as Kimberly King, on October 15, 2025.

DeCab County, Georgia employed both respondents in the parks and recreation department.

Complainant Moore alleged that on the following dates, May 4th, all in 2025, 2025, May 11, 2025, May 18th, June 1st, June 8th, June 15th, June 22nd, June 29th, July 6th, July 13th, July 20th, July 27th, August 3rd, August 10th, August 17th, and August 24th, that Johnny Mitchell was scheduled to work at Sugar Creek Golf and Tennis Center, located 2706, Bouldercrest Road in DeCab County, Atlanta, Georgia, 30316, but allegedly failed to report to work.

As a result, Johnny Mitchell received compensation for those days as well as benefits, failed to report that he did not work the scheduled shifts and accepted the benefits as though he worked.

Following an investigation conducted by Human Resources and the Parks and Recreation Department, misconduct was found.

Both respondents resigned in lieu of involuntary termination.

Alleged rules violated.

DeCab County Code 22A C as in CAT 7.

Prescribed conduct, engaged in any activity or transaction that is prohibited by law now existing or hereafter enacted, which is applicable to him or her by virtue of his or her being an official or an employee of DeCab County.

In other words, there was some conduct that is prohibited by law that they did during their shift or while they were at work with Decay in DeCab County.

Deception is the law that I'm referring to.

A person commits the offense of theft by deception when he obtains property by any deceitful means or artful practice with the intention of depriving the owner of property.

Also, a person deceased if he intentionally, and I believe this is subsection B, creates or confirms another impression of an existing fact or past event, which is false and which the accused knows or believes to be false, fails to correct a false false impression of an existing fact or past event, which he has previously created or confirmed, prevents another from acquiring information pertinent to the deposition of the property involved.

Sales or otherwise transfers or encumbrance property intentionally failing to disclose of substantial and valid known lien, adverse claim or other legal impediment to the enjoyment of the property, whether such impediment is or not a matter of official record or five promises performance of services which he does not intend to perform or knows will not be performed.

Evidence of failure to perform standing alone shall not be sufficient to authorize a conviction under this subsection.

Deceitful means subsection C and artful, deceitful means and artful practice do not, however, include falsity as to matters having no pecuniary significance or exaggeration by statements unlike to deceive ordinary persons in the group addressed.

Those are the rules that the ethics officer is alleging that was violated or the laws.

Theft is a crime.

This is the legal analysis.

Theft is a crime of deception.

Respondent Johnny Mitchell received compensation associated with schedule work shifts, even though he did not report to work on the dates referenced before or above.

Despite receiving these benefits andor compensation, respondent Mitchell failed to notify and disclose to his manager, supervisor, human resources, payroll, and or the ethics officer that he had been compensated for the time not work.

So in a nutshell, he received a benefit, the compensation, and did not tell the uh any of us that would have been appropriate in particularly ethics.

You have to identify the situation or the event, disclose that to the proper people, and uh recuse yourself or in this case return the money.

Additionally, clocking in and out, an employee who did not work, did not report to work is prohibited conduct and constitutes an ethical violation.

Such conduct may also constitute a criminal offense carrying potential penal consequences.

The it just means jail time.

The action or jail time or probation or something of that sort under criminal law.

The action of both former employees meet the legal and organizational definition of employee misconduct and may constitute at least one criminal offense for each infraction.

So in, for instance, criminal law, that could be count one, two, three to thirty-two in this one.

Analysis, respondent continue.

Uh Johnny Mitchell stated to the ethics officer that this matter involved a single incident in which respondent Kimberly Washington clocked him in, but made no mention of her also clocking him out until later.

He stated that this incident occurred in September of 2025.

Please note that is not one of the dates that we clocked that he actually violated the rule.

And he stated that he called the golf course to inquire about his hours, spoke to respondent Washington, and she allegedly inadvertently clocked him in.

And what that means is the compensation he received plus the benefits every pay period.

So we get paid every 20 or 26 weeks in a year, and time calculates sick time and vacation.

And because of those days, he would have been compensated or that time would have accrued to help him with the sick time or what we call annual leave.

That's the vacation time.

Moreover, the evidence in the case that respondent Mitchell illegally received the benefits and compensation for 16 separate work days without actually reporting to work or notifying anyone in authority in DeCAB County of the discrepancy.

Respondent Kimberly Washington facilitated this misconduct by clocking him in and out separately at least 16 days, which equals 32 incidents when he did not work those 16 days and he was actually a no-call, no show.

During the interview with the ethics officer, respondent Mitchell admitted to one clocking in incident, which is actually two separate incidents of clocking in and out, and he said it was not intentional.

Nevertheless, there were 15 other days that respondent Mitchell reaped the benefits.

Human resource resources and his department investigated, and his department characterize these incidents as inconsistent, and the ethics officer, based upon the investigation and evidence presented, deems the conduct to be intentional and improper.

Under applicable law, such conduct may be classified as a deceitful act or acts under Georgia statute and sections of the CAB County Code and Ordinances provisions referenced above or before.

At this time, the specific motive or benefit to respondent Washington for clocking Johnny Mitchell in and out on the those 16 different days is unknown.

However, she failed to disclose her conduct to any of the appropriate managers or manager, supervisor or supervisors, director or directors, ethics officer, or anyone in upper or middle management.

Note, I received the following correspondence after requesting the record from human resources.

This is from Mr.

Buford, who I believe is the assistant director.

And it says, Good afternoon, Kay.

I received a letter of resignation from Johnny Mitchell and Kimberly Washington.

We conducted separate interviews with both and determined that both had participated in acts as it relates to clocking into work that are inconsistent with the CAB County policies and practices.

Mr.

Mitchell and Ms.

Washington both agreed to offer a voluntary resignation in lieu of termination due to the activities they both willingly engaged in.

It is my decision that neither should be considered for rehiring.

Kevin Buford, Deputy Director, DeCab County Government Recreation, Parks, and Cultural Affairs.

Continued analysis, the deputy director placed in his correspondence the final decision, which concludes in lieu of involuntary termination of firing, both Johnny Mitchell and Kimberly Washington resigned.

The timekeeping records, the emails associated with the incidents, and the termination documentation will be incorporated by reference herein and may be presented as evidence.

And it was received by the board on two different occasions, meaning I sent an email with the documentations.

Therefore, based upon the evidence presented and the investigation conducted by the ethics officer, there is sufficient evidence to establish probable cause regarding the conduct of respondents Johnny Mitchell and Kimberly Washington.

Recommendation, probable cause exists.

I request the probable cause report with attachments to be admitted into evidence.

And secondly, the ethics officer therefore recommends that this matter proceed to a final evidentiary hearing so that the Board of Ethics may determine whether an ethical violation or ethical violations occurred.

And if it is found that at a later date during the evidentiary hearing that it has occurred, one of the recommendations may be to forward this to the solicitor, and the solicitor can determine whether there is going to be charges filed.

But there was I believe some admissions.

And the next one is from Kimberly King on March 17th.

And it says I am writing to clarify the time entry in question.

I did respond back to her to indicate that she should tell me which date or dates that she allegedly inadvertently clocked the person in and out.

And so she ends up admitting to one date on August 17, 2025.

And this is just a continuation of the letter.

It is in the Board of Ethics packet.

And that concludes my presentation.

And I'm going to go back to the recommendation.

Are there any questions?

Mr.

Chair, I'll defer back to you.

Thank you for your presentation.

As I understand that the first thing you would want me to do is to have us vote on admitting the documents into evidence.

And I believe that the general counsel may have some information on that.

I defer to the ethics officer's wisdom.

I don't know if that's not evident.

I guess you can admit it into evidence, yeah.

So do we as a board have to admit this into evidence, and then we would proceed to take two other votes, one for each case?

Yes.

Yes, sir.

So we would have three votes.

I I didn't go to math class for a while.

No, there's either three or four votes.

You know, simple questions.

Well, the evidence is the same for both.

So we're admitting the evidence into both cases, or do you want two votes on that?

Well, I would say admit the evidence for 2025 eight and 16.

So that's that would be two different votes.

Okay, so it's four votes.

Right.

Okay.

All right.

All right.

I was getting caught up on the number three.

That's fine.

So let's start with the evidentiary part, uh, which has been presented by our ethics officer.

So for uh Diane C.

Moore versus Johnny Mitchell case number two zero two five-eight.

Our ethics officer has presented evidence and asks us to admit it into evidence uh so then we can proceed to whether or not there is a probable cause to uh move it forward.

So I would take any appropriate motion for the first case 2025-8 for admitting the evidence presented into evidence.

Um second.

Is there any further discussion?

All right.

See none.

Uh all those in favor of the motion to admit evidence presented in 2025-8.

Signified by raising your hand or saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed like time.

Okay.

So that one is admitted into evidence.

Thank you, sir.

Uh the second one dealing with evidence is uh Diane C.

Murphy versus Kimberly K.

Washington case number two zero two five-16, where our ethics officer had presented evidence and had requested that it be admitted into evidence to allow us to proceed to vote on whether or not there was probable cause.

So for that, I will take any appropriate measure motion motion to admit the evidence in case number 2025-16.

There was a motion to zero second.

There's a mo there's a second.

All right.

Is there any further discussion?

All right.

Seeing none, all those in favor of admitting into evidence into 2025-16, uh, the evidence presented by our ethics officer, signify by raising your hand and saying aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Okay.

So that has been admitted to evidence into both cases.

So going back to determining now whether there is probable cause to move forward with presenting the case to us at a later date.

And of course the respondent would have an opportunity to defend themselves as we've seen with other cases.

And not only that any witnesses on for lack of better words that the off ethics officer side and both sides can also and they have to be sworn in and do process we have processes for how the whole thing proceeds.

So the first case dio C Moore versus Johnny Mitchell case number two zero two five eight we have evidence that has been presented by our ethics officer and a recommendation that we find probable cause to move forward.

So with that I would take any uh appropriate motion to admit the evidence we're we're moving the case find okay probable cause there's a motion uh for 2025-8 to move forward probable cause is there a second second there's a motion and a second is there any further discussion or questions of our ethics officer on that question yes sir uh just occurred to me I assume there is evidence that the guy didn't show up for work.

Yes I actually attached the clocking in and the clocking out and it's highlighted and the director or the deputy director indicated that it was misconduct and then there's another report that um talks about in or another email about the the choice was given to either resign based upon investigation of the department as well as human resources and that was that didn't include my actual um investigation so there are plenty of doc there's the documents for the time card there's documents uh for emails there's documents um for their resignation papers as well okay he never contended that he did come to work yeah he told me he did not um come to work yes absolutely are there any other questions all right uh we'll take a vote on uh diane c more versus john and mitchell case number two oh two five eight uh there's a motion a second to move forward finding probable cause all those in favor signify by saying aye aye aye your hand opposed like signed all right uh so it moves forward uh the second matter is uh Diane C Moore versus Kimberly K Washington case number two zero two five dash one six we've admitted evidence and we have a recommendation from our ethics officer to find probable cause in 2025-16 is there a motion motion to find probable cause is there a second second motion second is there any discussion or questions for ethics officer on that motion right hearing none I will go ahead and take a vote all those in favor of finding probable cause to move forward on Diane C.

Moore versus Kimberly K.

Washington case number two zero two five-16 signify by saying aye raising your hands like sign okay so that case moves forward as well thank you sir all right so that is it for our ethics officers report and recommendations yes sir thank you all right you're welcome uh the next item on the agenda is public comments which we always welcome so I would open the floor for public comments uh no no no comments today okay uh thank you now we have uh comments from the uh board of ethics so I'll start on my left with Ms.

Cafia Simulton Shermino I mean we can do it all right no comment no comments no comments um I just like to say in this particular um these two matters that we heard that it's very disappointing um that this is before us and that it has not been prosecuted yet hopefully that will change but uh our duty uh as a board is to follow our our laws and procedures and so that's why we found that we need to have an evidentiary hearing uh and I'm also um surprised that the respondents chose not to not to appear um that's it very good I'd simply join Mr.

Uh and I'm also um surprised that the respondents chose not to not to appear.

Um that's it.

Very good.

I'd simply join Mr.

Clements in his opinion here that they should have taken this directly to the solicitor, but I understand.

Yeah, I appreciate all the board members just recognizing that we have relatively narrow name to enforce ethics in the CAB County, encourage good ethics behavior in the CAP County.

So I'm glad to see that we are doing just that.

So uh with that, uh no more comments from the board.

It is time for executive session to discuss pending litigation and personnel issues.

So I'd be glad to take a motion to convene an executive session.

So moved.

Second.

Thank you.

Is motion second?

Any further discussion?

All those in favor of moving into executive session, raise your hand or say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, like sign.

All right, we will break to go to executive session, and we'll be back.

Welcome back everyone, and uh with that we've concluded our executive session, so I would take a motion uh regarding adjourning it.

So moved.

There's a mo there's a motion and a second to adjourn the executive session.

All those any discussion?

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

Aye aye.

Aye.

Opposed, like sign.

All right.

Uh next, there's an affidavit that I sign if you approve it.

And that's a motion to approve the executive session affidavit.

So moved.

It's a motion and a second.

Is there any discussion?

All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye.

All right.

So I will sign that.

And I am here to announce that the next regular board meeting is May 21, 2026.

So put it on your calendars.

And is there anything else?

Um, uh, I'll take a motion for adjournment.

So moved.

Is there a second?

Thank you.

All right.

Any discussion?

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

Aye.

All right.

Thank you all for being here tonight.

Um appreciate it.