Jarrard and Davis Release Blue Ridge City Council Inquiry Report

At the Feb. 2^nd Blue Ridge City Council meeting, Ken Jarrard, of  Jarrard & Davis, the legal firm investigating the City Council, gave initial findings of his firm’s inquiry into the Blue Ridge City Council.  The city contracted Jarrard & Davis to conduct the inquiry.

Before explaining the findings, Jarrard clarified the scope of the inquiry and the directives given him.  The inquiry will be in two stages. At this stage, Jarrard has only conducted “issue spotting”.  The firm has interviewed Council members and upper-level city employees. The next stage, if it is decided to go further, will be an actual investigation.  Jarrard emphasized that the findings of the inquiry are only recommendations.  He said that he came to these recommendations through information from  interviews, documents  and his 20-plus years of providing the same services for other counties and municipalities in Georgia.  Some of his clients include Forsyth, Barrrow, Rabun and Lumpkin counties.  Jarrard commended the Council for being very brave in holding an inquiry which includes individual private staff and council interviews.  Not many jurisdictions do this said Jarrard.

On Dec. 1 and 2, 2015, Jarrard interviewed Council members Kendall, Arp, Pack, Herndon and Thomas.  He interviewed city employees:  City Clerk Kelsey Ledford; Police Chief Johnny Scearce; Finance Director Alicia Stewart; Zoning and Building Director Roy Parsons and Assistant Safety Coordinator Barbie Gerald. Also, he reviewed many city documents. He assured that his office acted independently and did not receive phone calls or letters urging him to take one side or another.

His major findings are as follows.

• There is a strained environment in the city between the Mayor and Council members. Many current problems stem from the breakdown in communication and professionalism between the Council members and the Mayor.
• Questionable ethics surround zoning issues in Blue Ridge. There are extensive and very specific ethics laws in Georgia regarding zoning.  Council members and Mayor need dedicated ethics training.
• The Mayor performs a considerable amount of the city’s business, too much especially in the light of the position being part-time and the Mayor running a demanding personal business. Both of these factors contribute to delayed communication among the Mayor and City Council.  Jarrard recommends Blue Ridge hire a full-time City Manager. With a City Manager, city government staff and employees will be buffered from Council politics. Also, a City Manager would relieve the Mayor of the daily tasks of running a city so that she can concentrate on building consensus among the Council and developing city-wide initiatives which concern all residents.
• The City Charter should be substantially modified. The last time the charter was modified was 27 years ago in 1989.
• While the Council and Mayor ask the appointed City Attorney for legal advice, they can choose to follow or not follow the legal advice. Also, the City Attorney represents the Blue Ridge’s citizens as well as the Mayor and Council.
• Procurement procedures have been competently followed by city staff. Finance Director Alicia Stewart displays a strong understanding of Georgia’s procurement and finance laws for local governments.
• There is a fuzzy chain of command for city employees. In numerous instances different elected officials gave contradictory instructions to the same employee regarding the same matter.
• The Council has a long history of each council post being responsible for specific city departments. Jarrard recommends returning to this system instead of the current one in which all Council seats are at-large.
• The question of the Mayor’s residency must be resolved.

Jarrard said that there has been some questionable finances regarding an employee’s action in one city department which warrants investigation.

Councilwoman Thomas said the findings hit the nail on the head.  All members agreed to postpone any motion on the recommendations because they need to review the report first.  In fact, this City Council meeting was the first time the Council saw the report.