The Hall County Board of Commissioners approved a resolution to appoint special counsel to represent the county to draft and serve written charges against three members of the Planning Commission.
That vote started the process for removal proceedings against the planners.
This comes after it was reported that Planning Commission Chair and District 2 appointee Chris Braswell, District 1 appointee Frank Sosebee, and District 3 appointee Stan Hunt allegedly violated Georgia’s Open Meetings Act.
The commission approved the resolution 4-1. The lone dissenter was District 2’s Billy Powell.
“I voted the way I saw fit,” Powell told AccessWDUN, declining to comment further.
Buford attorney Thomas Mitchell will be the special counsel for the county. His firm, Carothers and Mitchell, was also appointed by the county to conduct the leaked third-party investigation.
“So I will say that this could have been averted. It could have been avoided altogether. So we are here now, so we are going to deal with it,” District 3 Commissioner Gregg Poole said on WDUN’s “The Drive at 5” on Monday.
Commission Chairman David Gibbs echoed that sentiment, saying they had the option to resign.
“They had the option to resign yesterday by 12,” Chairman David Gibbs told AccessWDUN. “We’re where we’re at in this now because they chose not to resign.”
Gibbs’ planning appointee Shannon Davidson is who blew the whistle on the alleged improper meetings after being clued into them by citizen Jodi White at a Sept. 15 planning meeting.
“Let me be very clear, nobody has set anybody up. I’ve heard that, and I don’t want to hear that out of anybody’s mouth again,” Gibbs said. “If they say ‘David Gibbs has set them up’ you send them to me. There’s no targeting going on, there’s no set up. He had enough nerve to open the door and see what was going on. They did it to themselves. There’s nothing more to it … you got to take responsibility, and if you don’t, then the Board of Commissioners is going to take responsibility for you.”
Poole made the motion to approve the resolution, which was seconded by District 4’s Jeff Stowe.
District 1 Commission Kathy Cooper also declined to comment after the meeting despite her “yes” vote, noting the ongoing nature of the investigation.
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