July City Council Meeting

The Washington City Council met on Monday July 15, 2024. All councilman and the mayor were in attendance in person.

Washington mayor Bruce Bailey opened the meeting by saying that the “City is struggling" without a city administrator but that the city employees are doing a good job and “Make my life real easy.” He said he has been filling the role as city administrator while a replacement for previous city administrator Jerry deBin, is being sought.

Discussion was had regarding Entron or Nighthawk meters for electricity. The mayor said they are still getting quotes and will review at next month’s meeting.

The mayor brought up what he said was a no interest loan for water improvements. He said the city has done seven of these loans in the past. City attorney Adam Nelson said deBin was working on this loan before he was terminated but it wasn’t complete. Mahoney asked about the total amount of the loans outstanding and plan to repay the loans. Hill said the loans were “low” to “no interest” so wants to verify if there is any interest cost at all. Bailey said he would confirm.

Bailey said there is currently no solicitor or public defender and that they need to start looking for people to fill those roles. The city pays for these positions.  The pay for these positions comes out of the municipal court budget. Someone in the audience called out a question but it was difficult to hear exactly what was said. It is worth noting that several conversations were had with citizens attending the meeting. This is something that hasn’t happened in the past and was not allowed. All conversations with citizens were respectful and cordial.

Councilman Cullars Sr. said he was stopped by law enforcement and he asked why fines generated inside the city limits aren’t provided to the city. The county gets the funds from the fines. Bailey said he called judge Charping to ask about this and asked if there could be a meeting with the State Patrol about this, so funds can come to the city. He also said he talked to Wilkes County Sherriff’s department about the deputies not showing up to court and cases being thrown out and they are going to work on improving that.

Cullars Sr.  said he wants full time city employees to get a minimum of $15/hour.  Bailey asked if it was worked into the budget for the year. Cullars said it was. Bailey said it can be looked at for next year. He said he agrees with the raise. Councilman Hill said he thinks it is a priority as well and to get it done as soon as possible. Bailey said  in the middle of the year isn’t a good time to do that because of budget issues but he will have the city clerk make a list of who is making less than $15/hour and if the money is there, he agrees they should get a raise. Councilman Anderson said, “we need to get the facts before we make a motion to move everyone to $15/hour.”

Mahoney said the department heads need to be involved in the decision as well. He said the department heads know their budget. Bailey said he already has the department heads looking into it and that a lot of the positions don’t have job descriptions and also that many people do multiple jobs and if that is the case, they should be paid more. He said he will bring this to any new city administrator to make them aware from the beginning.  He said it’s a big priority to him that these employees get paid appropriately and have proper job descriptions.

Cullars Sr. brought up an issue about insurance for city employees and getting new insurance for employees that is more affordable. Bailey agreed and said he is working on finding new plans.

Mahoney gave an update on the splash pad. He said for a while work wasn’t getting done because some change orders had been made but they are back on schedule. Cullars Sr. asked who was making change orders and Bailey said it was deBin. There was some discussion about a new four way stop sign placed and Cullars Sr. asked who approved it. Bailey said it was approved by deBin. Cullars said it should be approved by council. Bailey said it needs to be changed in the ordinance because as it is now, it is within the duties of the city administrator. Cullars Sr. continued to speak and Bailey used the gavel and said it was time to move on.

Mahoney brought up TSPLOST money that is over $400,000 and the city is set to get another more than $300,000 and suggested maybe these funds can be used instead of taking out the loan for water improvements. No decision was made but Bailey agreed it could be looked into.

Councilman Gunter said there was a meeting at Resthaven cemetery and there is an issue with water and graves being in the water. He said they are enslaved graves and are just floating in the water and they deserve to not be floating and it’s been going on for several years. He said there are some experts who can help with planning to fix the water issue.  Amethyst Wynn spoke from the audience and said City West cemetery doesn’t have any paved streets and the streets are muddy. She said “please, please” address the issue. Fisher said when it rains the gravestones are under water and that “can’t be.” Bailey encouraged Gunter to pursue conversation with experts to gather more information on how it could be remedied.

Gunter read a letter to the mayor, council and citizens of Washington. He said he wished to apologize to me, Michelle Chaffee and his desire to “add levity to a situation, clearly missed the mark.” He said he would never hurt me or anyone else. He went on to say that sharing information that is “between council members” can divide the community. He said Washington is a great community and we should work together to solve problems for the community. He was referring to Cullars sending me the text message where Gunter said he was going to my house and may need to be bailed out of jail. This resulted in my filing an ethics complaint. (read here)

Cullars said “as an elected official, you are an open book to anybody.” Cullars asked if he spoke to me and Gunter said, “I asked to meet with her but she won’t talk to me.” This is not accurate. Gunter has never reached out to me in any way. I have emailed him and told him I appreciate the apology. I told the mayor and city attorney in an email reply to a request to meet with the city attorney, Bailey and Gunter that I would be happy to meet with any city council member who wanted to have a respectful conversation with me. I said paying the city attorney was unnecessary and that I didn’t wish to speak with Bailey at this time. Apparently, the mayor and city attorney didn’t relay that information to Gunter. 

Cullars Sr. is correct that communication among the councilmen and mayor are public record. These communications are required to be public per the Georgia Open Meetings Law. Today, I was informed the mayor contacted some members of council and conducted a vote to approve funding for a local non profit. While I commend the council for this donation, it is unlawful to make decisions like this in private. The law is very clear all votes must be made in public and the public must be notified of a meeting to take such a vote. This could have easily been addressed and voted on last night at the city council meeting. It causes concern as to how often city business is conducted in this fashion.

Cullars Sr. then said councilman Mahoney was notified he is on an investigative committee for my ethics complaint and that Gunter was also on the committee. Cullars asked how that can be since Gunter was also the subject of the complaint. The mayor said they had consulted council and will “talk about that at another meeting.” Cullars Sr. persisted and Bailey said, “it’s not on the agenda for tonight.”

Mahoney brought up the utility deposits. He said the utility committee has met and discussed and they also discussed with the city employees. He said they discussed new solutions namely, returning the deposits citizens have paid, decreasing the reconnect fee from $150 to $75. Someone from the audience asked about people who get paid on the third Wednesday of the month so can’t always pay their bill by the 15th. Bailey said they have a special exception and can get on a list at city hall. City Clerk, Debbie Bazemore spoke from the audience and asked whether the customers have to earn back their deposits or if it will just be given back. A motion passed to eliminate the policy that was adopted by council in the past and adopt a new policy where customers who paid the extra deposits, can choose to have the money back in a lump sum or have a credit on their account. The mayor said, since January they have been working on trying to find ways to reduce the utility bills and change the utility deposit policy. He said it is a hand up not a handout.

Since November of 2023 I was asking for information regarding these escalating utility deposits and pointing out how they were excessively punitive. I was continually told I could not have the information and the mayor and council never once informed me that they were also concerned about these deposits. I asked them if they were aware of how much money had been collected from citizens and they didn't provide me this information or tell deBin he needed to provide it. I told the mayor and council it seemed to me they would want to know how much had been collected and where the money was being kept and they didn't respond to me until Cullars Sr. obtained some of the information I had been requesting for six months. This doesn't mean they weren't concerned but they certainly didn't share in my concern. I am very happy to see the deposits will now be returned.

The council went into executive session to discuss personnel and two litigation matters.

I sent an email to Bailey and city attorney Adam Nelson asking for an update on my ethics complaint and if investigative committees have been appointed. This was Nelson's response:

I have received confirmation from Clerk Bazemore that Mayor Bailey has appointed Councilmen Mahoney, Fisher, and Anderson as the investigative committee for the complaint against Councilman Gunter.   

I have also received confirmation from Clerk Bazemore that Mayor Bailey has appointed Councilmen Mahoney, Fisher, and Gunter as the investigative committee for the complaint against Councilman Anderson.

These appointments were made and delivered to the Clerk on Friday, July 12, 2024.

I am not aware of whether Councilman Anderson, as Mayor Pro Tem, has yet made the appointments to the investigative committee for the complaint against Mayor Bailey.

The city municipal code states that if the mayor is named in an ethics complaint, he or she cannot be involved in appointing the investigative committee and it would be the mayor pro tem who appoints. At the time I filed the complaint, councilman Andy Anderson was mayor pro tem but he was also named in the complaint and involved in the same action as Gunter and Bailey. Cullars was next in line to be mayor pro tem so that is why I gave the complaints to him to file. It begs the question how is it ethical to assign individuals to investigate an ethics complaint, they were also involved in? All three of the District 1 councilman, Hill, Mahoney and Cullars Sr. were not named in my complaint so why not appoint them to investigate and make a decision on whether or not there was an ethics violation? These are behaviors that cause more division.

It appears an attempt to make sure the complaint is dismissed. I suspected it may be handled this way but it is extremely disappointing to see the mayor isn’t even including two councilmen from District 1 in the investigating committee. The mayor shouldn’t be involved at all with making the appointments since he is also a subject of the complaint.

The full video recording of the meeting can be seen on the Washington Wilkes Informer YouTube channel