Misc Info FYI:
This is one of at least half a dozen+ blogs that I have about Kennesaw and all of them are pretty much out of service as I have been gone from K for just over 3 yrs, after 15 years living there.
So with the passage of time I have posted less and less. The site 'may' now and then have another post but it is pretty much off my radar scope these days. So take a look, you might find something of interest, I see that several folks come back repeatedly and are probably disappointed to find nothing new here. Thanks for looking in -
Bill Harris, Canton, Ga.
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1/19/16
Subject: UNFINISHED MATHEWS BUSINESS FOR THE NEW ADMINISTRATION
Date: 1/9/2016 11:14:52 P.M. Eastern Standard Time From: bloggercentral@aol.com
To: deasterling@kennesaw-ga.gov, jsebastian@kennesaw-ga.gov, jdickens@kennesaw-ga.gov, ydaniel@kennesaw-ga.gov, jeaton@kennesaw-ga.gov, jdrobney@kennesaw-ga.gov
CC: jon@11alive.com, hbutschek@mdjonline.com, mike.paluska@cbsatlanta.com, will.frampton@cbs46.com, mike.dunston@cbs46.com, lgarrett@mdjonline.com, mlutz@mdjonline.com, Nedra.Rhone@ajc.com, Ty.Tagami@ajc.com
UNFINISHED MATHEWS BUSINESS FOR THE NEW ADMINISTRATION
4 Newcomers to the City Administration may not be aware of the issue of the former mayor having expended City tax money on a private matter wherein he attempted to use City resources to blunt criticism of his administration.
The below is supplied to you for your information and the entire matter, including the Ethics complaint, are dealt with fully at:http://kennesawethicscomplaint.blogspot.com/
The short summary is that in 2014 the mayor was under fire for his and the Cities actions regarding the Castle Lake MHP annexation and rezoning.
I accurately quoted his statements before a KSU Journalism class. These statements made the mayor look foolish and he instructed the City Attorney to draft a 'Cease and Desist' letter to be served on me with threats of legal action for having made up the referenced statements.
He lied to the City Attorney and the Council in order to use his office to attempt to silence my criticism of his actions.
Information from the City Clerk showed an initial expenditure of $1,000 to have the Bentley firm draft and attempt to serve the letter. I believe the final costs put that up to about $1,500.
Council members of that time pointed out to the City Attorney that the quotes were accurate and were available via an online video of his entire 1 1/2 hour talk to the class, plus they were published online by a class member.
The letter was completed and service was attempted but it was never served and was subsequently withdrawn by the City Attorney. I obtained a copy via a FOIA request.
My subsequent Ethics complaint to the City Ethics Board about the mayor's use of City tax money in a private cause was not sustained due to poorly crafted Ethics regulations of that time.
Now that the prior administration is gone it is time for former mayor Mathews to be billed for those funds expended in his private quest to silence a critic of his administration.
The current Mayor and Council are now formally requested to take up the matter and recover the Kennesaw tax money which the former mayor used in his pursuit of his own private matter.
Bill Harris
Citizen Journalist
Citizen Journalist
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9/12/14
Ethics complaint against Kennesaw Mayor Mathews over public funds use dismissed
The complaint was filed by Bill Harris, a Kennesaw resident and longtime critic of Mathews, on Aug. 12. Harris alleged the mayor improperly used public funds on a personal matter when the city’s attorney drafted a cease and desist letter directing Harris to stop publishing on his website: mayormathews.blogspot.com.
Mathews said he was made aware of the website by Kennesaw citizens, who also told him some residents believed he made the statements written on the site.
Harris claims Mathews used more than $1,000 in public funds for the city’s attorney, Randall Bentley, to draft the letter.
In an email to the MDJ, Mathews would not comment on the complaint itself, but said he appreciated the work done by the ethics board.
“Our Ethics Board is made up of a great mix of our community and serve voluntarily. I appreciate the time and work done by our Ethics Board, and I look forward to their continued commitment to our city. I look forward to working with our council, staff and many wonderful volunteers to continue the growth and help work towards a bright future for Kennesaw,” the mayor wrote.
Kennesaw Council member Cris Eaton-Welsh said she understood Harris’ position, but the issue should have been handled by the City Council.
“The way that the complaint was written, our regulations don’t allow for (Mathews) to be reprimanded for anything that was done there,” she said. “That was really something that we, as a council, should have done with the mayor in private and address the situation. And we weren’t given the time or opportunity because the complaint was filed.”
Eaton-Welsh said she was not present at the ethics meeting, but she believed the complaint was dismissed because the City Council gave Bentley its approval to draft the letter.
“We did approve the expenditure for the cease and desist letter. However, I, as a council member, feel like I was misled when (Mathews) said that he did not say anything that was posted on this website when actually there is video that has him speaking it verbatim,” she said.
Eaton-Welsh is referring to a post on Harris’ website written April 4 containing quotes the mayor made before a Kennesaw State University journalism class March 19, a video of which was posted online.
Eaton-Welsh said she was not aware of the video when the council voted to approve Bentley’s expenses and took Mathews’ word on the matter.
“Then it gets further and worse when we see the rest of the video and the majority of the video is bashing the new council. That’s just no way to create a tone in our community,” she said.
Harris, a retired retail operations investigator, said he was not surprised by the complaint being dismissed, and he rated the chance of a ruling in his favor at 33 percent.
“I would not argue with anyone who might opine that since the Kennesaw Ethics Board was appointed by the mayor and old council that he controlled, any complaints against the mayor might be expected to fail,” he said.
Harris said a correspondent of his suggested he bring his complaint to the state level “now that the State Ethics Board seems to have finally gotten their ducks in a row.”
While he said he is considering this option, he has not made a decision whether to do so.
“If I go forward at state level, I may this time spend a few bucks on an attorney. It is an important and interesting issue and deserves a better response than it was given by our local ethics board,” Harris said.
The Kennesaw Ethics Board is composed of Chairman James Walth, Terri Copeland, Eric Dec, Glenn Dawkins and Robert Quigley, communications director for Cobb County. Members serve two-year terms, according to the Kennesaw city government’s website.
Walth said he had no comment on the complaint or its dismissal, but provided an accounting of the ethics board’s actions at its meeting.
“I do not have any comments to offer at this time. The Board of Ethics met (Thursday) and came to conclusion on each of the charges detailed in Mr. Harris’ ethics complaint. In accordance with the Code aof Ethics on record, Sec: 2-99 (9), we have provided our findings to Kennesaw’s Governing Authority for such action as the governing authority deems appropriate,” he wrote in an email to the MDJ.
The complaint consisted of four parts. The first accused the mayor of using the city attorney for a personal matter. Copeland motioned to dismiss the allegation “as patently unfounded,” according to a draft version of the minutes of the meeting, which state the motion was approved 4-0 with Dawkins absent.
The second portion of the complaint stated the mayor engaged in improper activity by receiving unwarranted, free legal representation. Copeland again motioned to dismiss the allegation as unfounded, and it passed 4-0, the draft version of the minutes state.
The third allegation stated the mayor engaged in malfeasance by requiring the city attorney to perform a harmful act in violation of a public trust. Quigley motioned to dismiss this complaint because “the facts stated were insufficient to invoke the disciplinary jurisdiction of the board,” according to the minutes of the meeting.
The motion passed 3-1, with Dec opposed.
Finally, the complaint alleged the mayor used his position to require Bentley to perform work beyond the city attorney’s normal scope of employment.” Dec motioned to dismiss the allegation as unfounded, which passed 4-0.
Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal - Ethics complaint against Kennesaw Mayor Mathews over public funds use dismissed
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Just for a bit of clarification, BEFORE sending off the Ethics Complaint I sent an email to the 5 Council members July 26th asking them to take action.
When none replied after 17 days, I filed the Ethics complaint on Aug 12th. Had anyone been interested in doing something at Council level I would NOT have filed.
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July 26, 2014
Dear Council Members:
RE: Complaint About Malfeasance by
Kennesaw mayor
During June and July of 2014 the current Kennesaw mayor
mis-used City of Kennesaw resources, namely City employees and City funds, in an
attempt to vex, hinder, annoy and intimidate a Kennesaw resident, myself, who
has been a critic of the mayor for several years.
Specifically, said mayor related to the City Attorney and
Council members, various allegations regarding a blog site maintained by me,
which is in part critical of various actions of the mayor regarding several
issues, but more recently the issue of Castle Lake Mobile Home
Park.
In this regard the blog site http://mayormathews.blogspot.com/ quoted the
mayor as having said:
* "The mobile
home residents are just being lied to everyday by the seller who is more
interested in keeping his monthly cash flow . . .
* What the owner is doing is borderline unethical in my opinion . . .
* He is having his managers tell the tenants the land is not sold, which technically it is not, so he is continuing to rent to unsuspecting tenants never bothering to tell them they may have to be gone by June of this year. . .
* It's pitiful, taking something super positive and it gets undermined by the residents not even knowing they are about to be put out."
The mayor claimed to the City Attorney and Council that he had
not said these things and required the City Attorney to do research over an
extended period of time and draft a 3 page 'Cease and Desist; Retraction demand
letter', all based on mis-statements and lies by the mayor*.
Billing records, incomplete at this writing, show that the
City Attorney and his Marietta legal firm have claimed fees and expenses of
$1,055.47 for research, drafting and attempting to serve this
letter.
As of this writing said letter remains un served, although via
a FOIA request this item, billing information and emails became available and
are now posted at the referenced blog site.
The quotes the mayor denied making were made before a KSU
Journalism class in March this year, and were published by these students as
part of their class work and a video of the 1 hour and 28 minute address to this
class was also put online**.
Clearly the mayor lied to the City Attorney and Council and
cost the City of Kennesaw taxpayers a considerable amount of money on what was a
personal matter with the mayor using his office in an attempt to silence a
critic of his mayoral administration.
REQUESTED
ACTIONS:
1) I ask that the City Council vote a measure of censure for the mayors actions, and
2) Require him to pay the entire costs of his actions in this
matter.
The city PAID (using citizens money) to draft a letter because the mayor LIED about saying things?
If he did in fact make these statements, and then LIED about it, saying he did not. Why isn't he up on ethics charges for that????????? Why isn't the council repremanding the mayor for lying? Why isn't the council doing ANYTHING to get this mess straightened out?
I guess the mayor has dirty info on all the other city council members. That's the only explaination as to why the council never does anything about him.
I was talking to a friend one day about the need to get over hurtful experiences. He said to get over it before it happens! In other words, you need to know things are going to go wrong and you're going to hurt in life, and decide now that you are going to get over it and not stay stuck in that place of hurt, anger and resentment. The people of Edom did not come to Israel's rescue when they were attacked and destroyed by war because they "harbored an ancient hostility" (Ezek 35:5). Don't keep stirring the pot. Let it go.
James Garfield was President for less than four months when he was shot in the back on July 2, 1881. While the President remained conscious, the doctor probed the wound with his little finger, searching unsuccessfully for the bullet. Over the course of the summer, a team of doctors tried to locate the bullet. The President clung to life through July and August, but in September he died. He didn't die from the gunshot wound but from infection. The constant probing of the wound ultimately killed him. So it is with our hurts. The more we probe the past wounds the more infection spreads throughout our souls and poisons our relationships.
If it needs to be addressed, then address it.
Are you saying that because a citizen filed a complaint that takes the councils power to act on it's own away?
Elections can't come soon enough.