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Dismissal of county chief Cofty linked to questionable use of county credit card

By JOHN THOMPSON
jthompson@TheCitizenNews.com

It could be a case of eating yourself out of a job.

Former Fayette County Administrator Chris Cofty’s appetite for expensive business lunches may have been a major factor in his ouster from his job in February.

In documents obtained under Georgia’s Open Records Act, The Citizen has determined that Cofty and several of the county’s staff were regulars at some of the county’s swankier restaurants for business lunches, while the bills were footed by the taxpayer.

During 2003 and 2004, Cofty racked up more than $4,000 in business lunches.

His guests were a Who’s Who of local county government. However, no disciplinary actions were announced against Cofty’s publicly paid lunch companions.

The County Commission was aware of the issue and alluded to it in Cofty’s performance evaluation in January.

“While reviewing information in preparation to evaluate Chris Cofty’s performance for calendar year 2004, documentation has been located concerning certain reimbursements from Fayette County to Chris Cofty,” the evaluation reads.

Because of the concern, the commission decided not to increase Cofty’s salary this year and launched an investigation into the matter.

A month later, Cofty was gone in what was then described by the commission tersely as a mutual decision to part company.

“We went back two years and looked at the issue. There’s no real one thing that’s indictable, but sometimes you just have to go in a different way,” said Commission Chairman Greg Dunn.

In 2003, Cofty submitted more than $2,700 in purchases for a variety of business lunches. Some of the places Cofty and the county leaders dined included:

• Longhorn Steaks in Peachtree City. Cofty and members of the county’s staff, including Finance Director Mark Pulliam, dined at the upscale steakhouse, six times during the year and spent more than $230.

• The Village Cafe in Fayetteville. Cofty, along with Dunn and Public Works Director Lee Hearn, entertained Coweta County Commissioner Vernon “Mutt” Hunter and County Administrator Theron Gay to the tune of $145.

• Bugaboo Creek in Fayetteville. During October and November, Cofty, along with County Attorney Bill McNally, Public Safety Director Jack Krakeel and Pulliam spent $300 for six lunches at the upscale steakhouse.

Cofty started off 2004 with two lunches at Buckhead Brewery totaling $104. Attendees at the lunches included county Recreation Director Anita Godbee and finance department employees Mary Holland and Tim Sawyer.

As the county was preparing to discuss the budget last May, Cofty, along with Holland and Pulliam, headed to Longhorn for an $85 meal.

One of Cofty’s favorite locations for a business lunch was Thomas’ Restaurant in Forest Park. Cofty turned in more than $520 in receipts for 14 meals at the Southern cooking specialty eatery.

“There are legitimate business lunches. I have one of the cards that I can use. But it was getting tough to see which were legitimate expenses,” said Dunn.

The county also reimbursed Cofty for three movies he watched while he was at a government conference in Orlando last June, and Cofty also purchased an airplane ticket for his wife using the county’s purchasing card.

“He reimbursed us for the plane ticket even before he submitted the expense. But that’s still not something you want to use the county’s card for,” Dunn said.

Cofty’s contract paid him $119,800 a year as the county’s administrator. He also received a $600 a month car allowance and $200 a month for other expenses attached to the job.

He was hired in 1997 as assistant to then-County Administrator Billy Beckett at a salary of $55,452. In 2000, he was promoted to acting county manager and saw his salary jump to $77,667. In five years on the job, his salary increased 40 percent to $119,800.

Repeated efforts by The Citizen to contact Cofty for comment were not successful by deadline.