Good evening everyone.

Thank you for being here to the June 18, 2026 meeting of the DeCad County Board of Ethics.

It's 6 o'clock, so we'll go ahead and call this uh meeting to order, as I like to do, uh have introductions by folks.

So we'll start with our ethics officer Murphy.

Good evening.

My name is Elisa Murphy, and as the Chair said, I'm the ethics officer.

Hakeem Hill, you're in general counsel.

Kathy Simultin Traminial, alternate board member.

Lauren J.

Florence, board member.

Scott Matthews, board secretary.

Bob Dallas, board chair.

Tom Clements, board member.

George Ferrens, board member.

Kristen Rogers, Ethics Administrator.

All right.

Well, uh, again, thank you everyone for being here on this uh wet windy evening.

Uh that two shall pass, I hope, before we get out.

Uh we have the next item on our agenda, which is the adoption of the agenda.

So the agenda is before you.

If you have uh any questions or comments, please let us know.

Otherwise, it'd be appropriate to have a motion.

Second.

All right, is a motion and second to adopt the agenda.

Is there any further discussion?

Seeing none.

All those in favor, see if I raising your hand or saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed, like sign.

All right, we have our agenda.

Uh next we have the approval of the minutes of the regularly scheduled board meeting of May 16, which were emailed to you and stand before you.

So with that, if there's uh any comments or questions about it, otherwise now being a time for a motion.

So moved.

There's a motion and a second to adopt the minutes of the Thursday, May 21 meeting.

All right, any further discussion?

Seeing none.

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

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Oppose, like signed.

All right.

The minutes have been adopted.

I will sign those later.

Uh next we have the reports of the committee.

Our vice chair Wright is not here, but I was going to bring up a topic on the budget committee.

And uh let me give you a little background.

Uh so I spent uh about eight years working for the state of Georgia in the uh office I was director of.

I would invite audits.

I would invite reviews of the office because I felt that it did a couple things.

One helped us do better.

Secondly, it gave you know the public uh a perspective that we were you know doing things according to what the rules were.

And so uh the comment came up and the thought is that we would have a financial audit of uh our ethics office.

Probably for about three years.

I don't know how much further we have to go than that, but we would have a financial audit to look back, and let me just say that no suspicion of anything, but I think it's important to maintain trust uh with the public and uh you know ensure from each of our board responsibilities uh things are being done uh according to the rules.

So uh my thought is to go ahead and have us investigate who would be appropriate to conduct that and then come back at another meeting and we would talk about it and at some point vote on it.

Because uh obviously I want the entire board to be involved in that conversation.

So that is the thought.

If there's any questions or comments on that, um what do you think?

Okay.

All right.

Um I don't think there are any other uh committee reports, but the best part of the meeting, of course, is our ethics officer monthly report.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Uh this summary is since May 21st.

Five hundred and eighty new employees have been trained, and as you all know, it is in person every other Monday.

Uh with regards to the ethics blast.

We um or I sent out two.

One is regarding the IDR, which is identify an issue, whether it's a conflict of interest or gifts, uh disclose the information and recuse.

This is the third leg.

And uh so that was sent out to employees.

And then this one was sent out as well this um this week.

It's just a reminder of um if you desire to have uh a training that um contact me.

And I send that out at least four times a year to everyone, um, probably more than that.

And just uh the Juneteenth is um tomorrow.

Also with regards to training, uh possibly in July, I gave dates to each one of these departments, but uh we'll be training uh some of the BOC uh the actual commissioners as well as their staff.

Also, this is not together, purchasing and contracting, and if you remember purchasing and contracting had quite a few complaints last year, and human services, they actually reached out to me, and so I gave them uh additional dates initially their date was in end of May, but um it got a little hectic with the ethics forum, so we switched it, and then I offered additional training to the newer members of the board in April.

Uh the pending cases are five, three are on the docket today.

Are there any questions regarding that?

If not, I'll go to the next slide.

As you all know, the ethics forum occurred on June 5th, 2026, and um the CEO, Lorraine Cochrane Johnson was there, and Senator Elena Parent were our speakers, and uh it seemed to be a success, and they were very informative and engaging, and I just want to thank everyone that's going to watch this, and everyone is here for their help.

Hotline reports we have zero uh for this particular month.

Open records requests is zero.

Uh, with regards to any of that ethics forum hotline or open records, or any comments or questions.

I think this concludes my presentation.

Oh, one other thing.

Uh the chair touched on the budget behind the slides that you received is the expenditures from January 1st, 2026 to June 15th, 2026.

So it's just one page, but it lists the total amount, and we separated it, Kristen and I, under legal ethics forum and other second.

Are there any questions regarding that?

It's right, it's right behind your slides.

It's just one page, it should have a green um highlighting at the bottom.

We do have that.

Any questions regarding that?

Expenditure report.

Okay.

All right.

Thank you.

That's all I have, uh Mr.

Chair.

All right.

Uh the next item is a preliminary cases.

And uh with that, we will of course turn it over to our ethics officer.

The first one is um grinder versus messiah.

Case number 2026-6.

That's correct, Chair.

This involves or it appears to involve Title VII, and specifically religion requires employees to provide reasonable accommodations for sincerely held religious beliefs unless it causes a substantial burden or business operation.

Um it may or may not touch on that human resources has exclusive jurisdiction over Title VII claims.

But the alleged facts indicate that complainant grinder alleged religious discrimination against Commissioner Nicole Messiah on allegedly a Friday complainant grinder received a text from LaShun or LaShawn prior to starting the job that states the following.

And if you look at the text, it says hello, happy uh good Friday.

Uh please give me a call back when you get a chance.

And then it at around six something, and I'm saying that because my computer uh just updated and I don't have that in front of me.

But um the second text just talks about a dog being sick, and then the next text indicates I'm sorry to hear that, and uh the text also indicates that uh the person actually didn't start work yet.

And uh the text also indicates that uh the person actually didn't start work yet.

And so uh this text was between allegedly LaShawn and Gabrielle Crystal Griner.

Lashawn is the chief of staff for Miss Messiah, or Commissioner Messiah.

Uh Nicole Messiah did not have anything to do with this particular tax or any other information.

This is the gist of what I received.

I also sent out a 10-day notice to correct the complaint and add the evidence that she indicated that she had, and she did not do that.

I reached out to her uh two other times after that to try to explain that uh because this may be religious uh discrimination that HR has the um exclusive jurisdiction, but I wasn't sure uh that's why I had to wait to the 10 days.

So that just recently um ended uh the week of the ethics forum.

So the recommendation is dismissal for failure to file a corrected complaint uh within the 10 days.

Uh no other evidence was provided.

There is no proof of discrimination from Commissioner Messiah.

The text includes and after our discussion, uh two-thirds of it allegedly between LaShawn, who is again the chief of staff for that commissioner, and a potential employee of the CAB County.

Um and it indicated that it may have happened on Good Friday or just a Friday or another uh day as well.

But that was the evidence that was provided.

So, Mr.

Chair, I am asking for dismissal.

All right, thank you for that.

Do any of the board members have the any questions of our officer?

All right.

Well, there's a recommendation for dismissal.

Be appropriate for a motion to act on that recommendation.

Motion to dismiss second.

Is a motion a second?

Is there any further discussion?

All right, seeing none, let's go ahead and vote.

All those in favor of the uh recommendation to dismiss, raise your hand and say aye.

Opposed, like sign.

All right, your recommendation to dismiss motion carries.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

All right, we have the next item, which of course is Stevens versus Gordon, case number 2026-7.

The applicable ethics rule is under limitation.

A complaint for violation of the code of ethics, the furnishing of false or misleading information, or failure to comply with a subpoena issued by the Board of Ethics must be brought within four years after the violation is discovered.

The alleged facts indicate that the complainant, Stevens alleges various forms of favoritism by Robert Gordon, uh director of public works without any dates and times of incidents and or without full names of individuals involved.

Additionally, he mentioned that the alleged occurrence happened eight or nine years ago.

Uh the ethics officer or myself, we actually spoke and I explained the process, and I said if you have actual dates within four years, or there's some new or surprise information, you can um file a different complaint.

But I did give him the 10 days to correct the complaint, and he did not.

So I am asking for a dismissal uh regarding that.

And also if he believes that there are any uh type of discrimination to also contact human resources regarding that, and we can work hand in hand if necessary.

Mr.

Chair, I'm asking for dismissal.

All right.

Is there any are there any questions uh of our ethics officer in the Stevens versus Gordon matter?

I just wanted to clarify something.

His complaint is about the nepotism and not people being paid under the table.

It's more about nepotism, but the issue is not um say it is what you indicated being paid under the table.

He alleged eight or nine years ago that he uh noticed this, and the rule indicates it has to be within four years of when it was discovered.

So this is um that's our rule and it's also uh in the CAB County Code of Ethics 22A.

Are there any other questions?

Comments?

All right.

Uh hearing none, uh I'll be appropriate to have a motion.

Motion second.

All right.

Is a motion and a second?

Is there any further discussion?

Seeing none, we'll take the vote.

All those in favor of the recommendation to dismiss Stephen versus Gordon, say aye or raise your hand.

Aye.

Opposed, like sign.

Okay.

And the next and third and final one is Norwood versus Padrick.

Case number 2026-8.

Thank you.

Personal jurisdiction.

The ethics board has jurisdiction over public officials and employees of the CAV.

The ethics board does not have jurisdiction over the following going to bullet two.

Employees of the municipalities, including employees and public officials of incorporated cities within DeCab County.

The alleged facts indicate that Gregory Padrick, who is the DeCabb County Chief of Police and his family were surveilling and harassing the complaint at Shabon Norwood.

The corrected complaint that she did file with well, it wasn't within the 10 days, but it was close enough.

The corrected complaint contained a police report from the City of Dunwoody, but no allegations toward Chief Patrick.

The corrected complaint indicated that the police report had incorrect information.

The police report originated out of the City of Dunwoody, not DeCabb County police.

The corrected complaint places this in the jurisdiction of municipality of the City of Dunwoody police, and Mike Carlson is the chief of police for that city.

What I'll also do is, and what the what we usually do is we submit the complaint to them.

If you uh looked at it online, I also gave you the police reports that clearly say Dunwoody and all the people that are involved were Dunwoody, City of Dunwoody police.

So I'm asking for dismissal.

All right.

Lack of jurisdiction.

Do we have any questions of our ethics officer on Norwood versus Padrick?

Seeing none, it's time to take a vote.

All those in favor of the recommendation to dismiss Norwood versus Patrick.

Signify by saying aye or raising your hand.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed, like sign.

All right.

Recommendation carries.

Thank you.

That concludes the cases for today.

All right.

Well, thank you.

The next item on the agenda is our public comments.

So I'm opening the floor for public comments if there are any.

Uh now is the time.

Just to rain.

Um is there none?

All right.

Well, thank you all.

And thank you for our audience for being here as always.

So uh with that, I'll go ahead and close public comments.

And the next item is comments from the Board of Ethics.

And I will start to my right with Member Ferris.

I have no comments.

Um I have no comments.

Mr.

Chairman, I just have one comment.

I am fully supportive of a uh an audit of our operation uh over the past year, whatever period we want to undertake.

My only concern is I don't believe such an expense is included in the budget.

And I I am concerned that uh depending upon the comprehensiveness of the audit, it could be a fairly expensive undertaking.

That's that is an excellent question.

So yeah, I turned it back to you and saying, No, no, it hasn't been put into budget.

And that will be part of the conversation because to the extent that we have a cost that hasn't been properly budgeted that has to be addressed.

We're not going to do it if it's not budgeted.

Okay.

And so great question, and that'll be one of the ones that we will pursue in terms of things.

One of the great things about the Cab County, and you all are part of it.

Many people do offer their services for nothing.

Okay.

Very good.

Yeah, no, it's a great question.

No comment.

I just wanted to piggyback on what the ethics officer said about our ethics forum uh this past uh earlier this month.

We had a great forum, and I appreciate everybody coming.

Thank you to our Madam CEO Lorraine Cochran and Senator Um Elena Parent for coming out.

And I hope that others come out uh over the years to come as we continue to um build upon it.

Thank you.

Yes.

Yes.

Okay.

Good evening.

I'd like to congratulate the office on a well put together forum also.

Thoroughly enjoyed it.

The two in tow with me enjoyed it also.

Also fully support the transparency of the audit.

I'm with Mr.

Matthews on watching the expenses to do so.

I fully anticipate us operating in the black.

So with those extra funds that we have left, we don't want to return them.

So I would like to suggest that we create uh internships for high school students and rising um graduate students to law school uh to encourage them entering the field of ethics and public policy and uh possibly also inviting uh Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts in schools out to these meetings so that they can see how ethics meetings run and hopefully volunteer one day to serve.

Well that I appreciate the suggestion if I may comment and given we have three committees human resources, budget, and oversight.

That probably falls in the human resources or oversight with HR.

I mean, we that's what we have, but to allow the committee process to work to go through the question and process of how how does this happen.

Um suggested it before, but no.

I think we just need to revisit it.

I've suggested it before.

Maybe you weren't.

I don't think you were chair at the time, so no, I I mean but let it go to a committee.

No problem.

Absolutely.

All right.

Any other comments?

That's it.

All right, I'd like to make a comment once again echoing uh everybody's appreciation of the ethics forum.

I think it's really important for our DeCab County to bring uh people together to talk about something that is fundamental to the effectiveness of the county as a whole.

Certainly appreciate that having the CEO uh here because her leadership in making this important matters.

I mean, we all care about it, of course, in this room, but when it comes to you know propelling what matters most to the CAB County, I think she did a really good job of saying, you know, no matter what we're doing, we have to have strong ethics.

Secondly, it was great having Senator Perrent.

Uh Senator Perrin as a uh leader in the State Senate and was involved in the creation of the legislation that results in this ethics board.

It's always nice having somebody who you know was part of you know the the genesis of what we are and her background and experience.

Just by way of background, I first met her when she was an aide uh for David Edelman when he was a state senator.

He became uh I think an ambassador to a country under the Clinton administration.

So it was really good forum for me.

And I just want to say thank you to our staff, to uh Ms.

Rogers and Ms.

Murphy.

Thank you so much, because anybody who's ever done this knows it's always a lot of work.

And keeping up with all the pieces to make sure that the show goes on well, and I think it did.

And I just want to say thank you personally uh for that.

And I once again look forward to the next one.

Bigger, better than ever, right?

You're welcome, yes.

All right.

Well uh thank you everyone for your kind words.

We appreciate it.

Yeah, yeah, so that is great.

Um all right.

The next item, are any more comments from the board?

All right.

I don't see any.

The next item on the agenda is our executive session to discuss pinning litigation and personnel issues.

So with that I'll uh accept a motion to convene an executive session.

So moved.

Second.

Motion is second.

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

Aye.

Opposed like sign.

All right, we will move into executive session.

And we'll be back.

Welcome back, everybody, from our executive session.

Uh the next item is to have a motion to adjourn our executive session.

So moved.

Is there a second?

Second.

Second.

Is there any conversation on that?

Hearing none, let's take our vote.

All those in favor of the motion to adjourn the executive session.

Say aye or raise your hand.

Aye.

Aye.

Oppose, like sign.

All right.

The next item is to approve the executive session affidavit, which I sign if you approve.

Motion to approve.

Second.

There's a motion to approve the executive session affidavit.

Any conversation?

Seeing none.

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

Aye.

Aye.

All right.

Uh opposed.

All right.

That passes.

The next item is the announcement.

Our next regular board meeting date is July 16, 2026.

Right here at 6 o'clock.

All right.

One day we'll may go back to Maloof.

We don't know.

We don't know.

Uh that's a that's an open question.

All right.

Well, maybe next time.

So with that, we'll take a motion for adjournment.

So moved.

Is there a second?

Second.

All right, motion second.

Any conversation?

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

Aye.

Aye.

All right.

Uh opposed, like, sign.

Thank you all again for being here on this wet, windy weathering heights kind of night.