Two separate ethics boards have met to organize their plans for looking into alleged violations by city attorney Jim Webb and councilman Dan Tennant.

Council members at their last regular meeting Mar. 16 took turns drawing names from a 10-member pool until two five-member groups were selected. An organizational meeting was then set for April 4, with attorney Andrew Whalen III of Griffin as the advisor to both boards, but that was moved up to Wednesday of this week..

Whalen is involved because while city ordinances call for the city attorney to normally advise the ethics board, the council determined that would not be proper in either case since one complaint involves the city attorney and other involves a councilman. Whalen was appointed by the council at a rate of $150 per hour.

Herman Pearson, Fred Brown, John Dillahunt, Lynn Gray and Eileen Shaw were chosen to investigate the Webb complaint. Steve Brown was excluded from the pool because Webb has filed suit against him in Fayette County Superior Court, and Jim Steinbach recused himself from this case due to an unspecified conflict.

The Webb case stems from a letter sent to city manager Jim Basinger by local resident Mike Hyde, who alleged that Webb advised the council concerning a proposed buffer ordinance three years ago when a company he was involved in owned property on Ga. Highway 54 that would be directly impacted by the ordinance.

Pearson, Gray, Steinbach, Brown and Tim Kaigler were selected for the Tennant case. Tennant introduced an ordinance amendment at last week's council meeting after circulating it by e-mail to other council members for their input.

Fellow councilman Annie McMenamin alleged that Tennant violated Georgia's `sunshine laws,' which set guidelines for open meetings.

Brown was elected Wednesday to chair the Webb group, while Steinbach was chosen to chair the board looking into the Tennant case.

Brown and Gray were the only members not in attendance Wednesday, and both of them are serving on both boards. Brown is being contacted and will be given an opportunity to decline the chair, according to city clerk Nancy Faulkner.

Public hearings for both cases are scheduled for Wednesday, April 12, at 6 p.m. (Tennant case) and 7 p.m. (Webb case).

Tuesday, April 18, was chosen as a backup date in case Brown and Gray cannot attend the week before. All other board members said they could be there, Faulkner said. The hearings can proceed with a quorum, but the boards are wanting all members to be in attendance if at all possible.

Other official action Wednesday included approval of the service complaints for both Webb and Tennant, which are simply formal documents outlining what ordinance sections are being utilized in the complaints and giving notification as to when the public hearings are.

Tennant attended Wednesday's hearing, but Webb did not, although he sent a letter informing the board that he would be out of town for a few days in the near future and he requested that his hearing not be during that time. That was not a problem, Faulkner said.

While the boards' primary responsibility is to determine if the city's ethics ordinance has been violated, there is a provision in the ordinance that allows the boards to make recommendations if they feel any changes or enhancements to the ordinance are necessary.

The ethics ordinance will also be discussed by the City Council at its upcoming retreat, scheduled for April 7-8. Among the questions that could be covered there, according to Faulkner, are whether there should there be a statute of limitations, if there is a provision for someone to withdraw a complaint, and what happens if a conflict concerning a board member is discovered after that person is named to the board.

The board investigating the Webb case asked for a copy of the tape from the 1997 City Council meeting in which Webb made the comments that brought about Hyde's complaint.

That portion of the tape will be heard in public at the next meeting, Faulkner said.

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