The Dunwoody Board of Ethics met Aug. 7 to painstakingly hash out ground rules for upcoming hearings on controversial City Council ethics complaints.
The ethics board members adopted bylaws and debated how they wanted to move forward with two cases before them: a complaint filed against Councilwoman Adrian Bonser for allegedly leaking confidential information to the public and counter complaints Bonser filed against the mayor and other members of council for holding an allegedly improper executive session.
The board agreed to schedule a meeting to hear arguments to dismiss the complaints from all parties in September. If the complaints are upheld, then the board will consider deliberating them at the same time since they are related.
Both sets of complaints stem from a Feb. 3 private meeting of the City Council in which they discussed the land transactions that led to the Georgetown redevelopment initiative known as Project Renaissance.
“It would be a good thing to combine them in terms of resources,” said ethics board attorney Richard Carothers.
The board also delved into the weeds of Georgia’s legal procedure, debating the merits of offering a discovery period for the attorneys involved.
Board member Wade McGuffey said he’s concerned the ethics hearings could get too complicated.
“That’s my fear: we get into this quagmire of procedure and don’t get into the issue,” he said.
Board member Janet Webb said she didn’t think discovery was necessary because everyone involved should already have all the information they need.
“I don’t want to make a mountain out of a molehill,” Webb said. “I’m very concerned. I think this needs to be efficient, practical and to the point.”