Wednesday, September 11, 2002
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Wednesday, September 11, 2002 |
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Lenox loses bid to arrest Mayor Brown By JOHN MUNFORD
A Fayette County magistrate ruled Friday there wasn't enough evidence to suspect Peachtree City Mayor Steve Brown of stealing city services. The ruling came after a hearing which featured ex-mayor Bob Lenox accusing Brown of illegally having city employees babysit his children and keep his personal schedule. After the ruling, Brown and Lenox shook hands in a gesture of goodwill as Lenox said: "If you won't attack my credibility, I won't attack yours." Brown later said of Lenox's overture: "That's all right. It's a start." In announcing his ruling, Magistrate Joe Tinsley said the evidence at the hearing didn't show Brown's conduct had any "willfulness or desire." He added that the city's ethics complaint process would be a better way to resolve the matter. Lenox testified during the hearing but Brown didn't. Lenox also called City Manager Jim Basinger and secretary Gloria Reid as witnesses. Reid said she volunteered to take Brown's oldest daughter to golf camp on one occasion when the mayor had a conflict with an important meeting. "I said, 'Why don't you bring her in and I'll run her over there?'" Reid said. "He said okay and I didn't think a thing about it." Reid estimated the trip to the Braelinn Golf Club took her away from her city duties for about a half-hour. Lenox pointed out that arrangement was made several days in advance and Brown could have made other arrangements to get his daughter to the golf camp. On another occasion, when the mayor was late to a meeting and brought his children to City Hall, Reid said she kept an eye on the mayor's two children, but again, the mayor did not ask her to. Reid said she attended to the children for approximately 10 to 15 minutes total during the estimated two and a half hours the mayor was in meetings. "They got hungry and they were thirsty and they had to go to the bathroom, so naturally, I looked after them," Reid said of the girls. As Lenox questioned him, Basinger acknowledged that Brown had offered to pay the city for Reid's time, but he had not done so before the hearing. Basinger said while other council members have brought their children to the office in the past, he couldn't recall them being left in the care of city employees. In his testimony, Lenox said he didn't remember who originally informed him of one of the incidents Lenox used to base his three criminal complaints against Brown. "I do not recall who told me about it probably someone at City Hall," Lenox said. In his opening statement, Lenox said he didn't bring the action against Brown for political purposes. "Since 1958 Peachtree City has had a reputation for governmental integrity and honesty," Lenox said, indicating Brown had recently put that reputation "in jeopardy." As the hearing began, Lenox said he had no interest in seeing Brown jailed, or handcuffed for that matter. After it was over, Lenox said he simply "wanted the public to know." In his closing, Lenox drew parallels to the recent criminal case against former DeKalb County sheriff Sidney Dorsey, who had staffers perform personal duties for him. But Tinsley later said the level of Dorsey's corruption couldn't be compared to this case. Brown's attorney, Brenda Joy Bernstein of Atlanta, argued in her closing that there was no evidence that Brown intended to defraud the city. "To say this reached a criminal level ... is preposterous," Bernstein said. After the hearing, Brown said he is paying for Bernstein's services himself, but he might ask the city to foot the bill through its indemnification resolution, which allows for city officials to have city-funded attorneys appointed for them in a number of circumstances. Brown wouldn't reveal how much he had paid Bernstein, but if the city picked up the tab it would become a matter of public record, he noted. Brown previously cited himself for allowing a city secretary to take his daughter to golf practice while he attended a meeting in Fayetteville. He has also offered to pay the city back for the employee's time, but has not yet done so, according to the testimony of City Manager Jim Basinger. Thursday night, the City Council initiated the ethics board process for Brown's self-complaint by selecting a five-person panel to take up the issue.
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