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.

Back

to News Home Page |