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South Fulton residents are pressuring city leaders to put a proposed forensic audit of council member spending back on the agenda after councilwoman Helen Willis moved to remove it, arguing the city has already been audited.
Willis, who represents District 3, motioned Tuesday to table the forensic audit request. She said Baker Tilly conducted a full audit of citywide spending from January 2023 to January 2025, and suggested renewed calls for another probe are “political” during an election season.
“I move that we table the forensic audit because it did not go through the legislative process,” Willis said.
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The Baker Tilly review, according to Willis, did identify violations. The company stated, “it is apparent that transactions are being made in violation of policy requirements.” Willis said there were issues with some council purchase cards but that they were “not egregious” and have already been addressed.
“Residents have access to all of our information by way of open records requests. All of our P-card information is out there. It is all over social media. There is no secret with how we are spending taxpayer dollars,” Willis said.
However, several residents remain unconvinced, and warn the fight is far from over.
“The reason we requested this audit on the council is because we were seeing things like college tuition on city council credit cards. We were seeing dry cleaning expenses on credit cards,” South Fulton resident Reshard Snellings complained.
Snellings said his open records requests uncovered that Mayor Khalid Kamau took international trips on taxpayer money. “We were seeing repairs to someone’s personal vehicle on city-issue credit cards, so we want the city council to be audited just like the mayor was audited because that’s the only way the public is really gonna have the confidence that they are really being serious about being good stewards of our taxpayer funds,” he said.
“Is the value of our votes worth the time and money the city would take to do this audit and make us feel comfortable? Why don’t our votes have that value?” resident Mike Dozier asked.
“Until this is done, we’re not gonna let it go. If we have to continue this, we’re not gonna let it go,” added South Fulton resident Mike Johnson. “There are citizens right now, who are willing to spend their own money and see the city, so the city to get it done, and you’re talking about another lawsuit we really don’t need.”
Mayor Khalid Kamau has been under scrutiny over his use of a city purchase card.
A January 2025 report found roughly $26,000 in spending under scrutiny, including international travel, airline upgrades and other unreconciled expenses.
Kamau publicly defended the charges, saying the trips were tied to economic development and later posted receipts online in response to criticism.
A follow-up audit in mid-2025 uncovered nearly $70,000 in undocumented or non-compliant purchases, prompting city council members, including Helen Willis, to call for tighter controls on P-cards, warning of repeat violations without stronger accountability.
Willis said Baker Tilly gave the city six recommendations for improvement and that those recommendations have already been implemented.
At least six residents say they are prepared to sue the city, and even contact the U.S. Department of Justice, if the request for a forensic audit is not reconsidered.
