Ethics Complaint Filed Against Washington, Georgia Economic Development Director, Brittany Buttrey

An ethics complaint was filed last Friday August 2nd, claiming that Brittany Buttrey, Main Street/Economic Development Director for the city of Washington, Georgia, made disparaging and racially inappropriate comments to an employee at Al’s Pizza in Washington.

The complaint was written by Bobbi Wilkes, mother of Courtney Goss, who recently turned 18 and is starting her senior year in high school. Goss has chosen not to speak with me about the incident at this time. I met with Bobbi Wilkes and Robin Brooks, who was also working at Al’s on Tuesday July 30, 2024 when the incident is claimed to have occurred. Brooks also signed the ethics complaint.

 Brooks said that on Tuesday, she and Goss were working at Al’s and Buttrey came in around 5:00 pm when they opened for dinner. She said the Skate on the Square event for kids, was happening that evening.  At around 8:00 pm Buttrey was up at the bar counter to pay her check as Al's was closing. Goss was inside the bar area taking the payment and Brooks was sitting on a stool at the bar about 4-5 feet away from Buttrey. She said Buttrey was asking her why the owner of Al’s wasn’t promoting the Skate on the Square event on the Al’s Facebook page. Brooks told her she believed he had someone posting on the page but didn’t know much more than that. She said Buttrey then said “Why doesn’t he have that stupid b*tch do it?” as Buttrey motioned to Goss. Brooks said both she and Goss clearly heard this. 

I asked her if she or Goss said anything to Buttrey In response.  She said they didn't and that they were both stunned at what they had heard “I think we were in shock” she said. Buttrey then asked Goss to carry a beer outside to her husband, Cayce Buttrey who was the DJ for the event. Goss told Brooks that when she took the beer outside, she asked Buttrey if she wanted her to put a napkin over the top so bugs wouldn’t get in the beer and that Buttrey laughed and said “Oh no, we are white, we don’t do that.”  Brooks said she didn’t hear this rather Goss told her it was said.

Wilkes told me that she was working at the Washington Creamery across the square mixing ice cream when her daughter came over after finishing her shift at Al’s. She told her what Buttrey had said.  She said she was angry and went out on the square looking for Buttrey, but she had already left. Her daughter told her that Buttrey made her “feel so small.” Brooks said her daughter is a quiet and introverted girl “she has been working at Al’s for three years and as her mother, I trust she is going to be treated right by people.” She said her daughter is very polite and a hard worker. “The fact that she went ahead and carried the beer out even after she was treated that way, tells you who she is” she said.  Brooks agreed “Courtney usually likes to work in the back.”  She said she feels protective of her because she is young. “She is still learning about the world” she said.

I asked  Wilkes if Buttrey has spoken to her or her daughter since last Tuesday. She said she has not. Brooks said she hasn’t seen her in Al’s since either. I asked them if Buttrey came into Al’s often and Brooks said she had been coming in each Tuesday when the Skating event was going on but prior to that, only occasionally. She said Buttrey typically came into Al’s at 5:00 pm and ordered alcoholic drinks that she drank in the restaurant. She said she usually didn’t eat in the restaurant, rather she ordered food to go and took it with her at 8:00 pm when she left and the Skating event was over.

Brooks told me that on Sunday August 3rd, mayor Bruce Bailey came into Al’s.  She said he came to the back where Goss and she were working and asked Goss if she would “feel better” if Buttrey apologized to her and if that would be sufficient rather than an ethics complaint. She said it was very busy in the restaurant at that time and they had a lot of customers to take care of.

Wilkes said she would not be dropping the ethics complaint. “This has been upsetting to her and she doesn’t want people coming into her work to talk to her about it” she said of her daughter. She said she told her daughter that if anyone brings it up to her, to tell them she needs to call her mother or stepfather. “She is barely 18, she shouldn’t have to be dealing with this type of thing” her mother said, “she is just trying to do her job.”

I asked Brooks and Wilkes if they had ever had any bad experiences with Buttrey before or if they knew her well. Both said they don’t really know her at all only that they knew she had been the manager of the Fitzpatrick prior and now she works for the city. Wilkes said her daughter didn’t know Buttrey either.  “She never had nothing against her and would have no reason to say something about her that wasn’t true” she said.  Brooks said “She isn’t making anything up, I was sitting right there.”  I asked if anyone was with Buttrey when this happened and she said there was nobody else in the restaurant other than herself, Goss and Buttrey.

I reached out to Buttrey asking her if she would be willing to do an interview or if she wanted to make a statement about the ethics complaint and allegations. She has not yet responded.

There have been some questions from citizens about Buttrey’s experience and being hired by former city administrator, Jerry deBin for her current position. I made an open records request to the city clerk over a month ago asking for all resumes and applications for the position Buttrey was hired to fill. I still have not received any documents.