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NEWSLETTER SIGN UPReview and updates of the
Barrow County investigations
Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission Charges
GIS Manager Tonie Russell was demoted from her position as GIS director during the reduction in force. She filed an EEOC complaint Aug. 4. Russell also filed a formal complaint against the county the same day as her EEOC complaint. The letter to the county described what she perceived as racial and gender inequities, as well as personal discrimination.
Updates: Russell’s letter described what she called a "hurtful situation" with Cecil Highfield and Terry Potts, both of the Tax Assessors office. The county human resources office clarified that Russell’s mention of Highfield and Potts was not related to racial issues.
Georgia Bureau of Investigation
On Oct. 26, Norma Jean Brown discovered a threatening voicemail at her office. She had been out sick the Friday before, when the call came in. The Sheriff’s Office responded to the call and Sheriff Jud Smith handed the case over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations Oct. 27.
Updates: GBI Special Agent Jim Fullington said Tuesday that the case is still active, but he had no new news to report. "The case is active, but we’ve gotten wrapped up on some other things," he said.
Private Investigator
At its Oct. 27 meeting, the Barrow County Board of Commissioners spent two hours in a closed-door executive session in which they heard personnel allegations, brought by HR Director Norma Jean Brown on her own behalf, as well as other employees’. The board made a motion that directed County Attorney Angie Davis to coordinate with Operations Development Manager Bob Hohe in hiring a private investigator.
Updates: Hohe announced this week that the county has selected Cartersville attorney David Archer to conduct the investigation. See Page 1A for that story.
Compiled by Emily Banks,
Barrow County News
ebanks@barrowcountynews.com
Barrow County has hired attorney David Archer of the firm of Archer and Lovell, P.C., in Cartersville, to investigate allegations that the county’s employment policies and ordinances, as well as federal and state laws, have been violated.
The agreement, released Monday, will pay Archer $250 per hour, including the travel expenses for the 80-mile one-way trip. It also states that the projected time and cost for the work are "undefined as of execution of this agreement."
The Barrow County Board of Commissioners directed Operations Development Manager Bob Hohe and County Attorney Angie Davis to hire an investigator to look into personnel allegations at its Oct. 27 meeting.
"The motion from the Board stated, ‘I make a motion to hire a private investigator to fully investigate the allegations....’ The key word is ‘fully,’" Hohe said in an e-mail Tuesday. "There was no cap placed by the board in the motion and there was no fully defined scope of work. The board simply wants an independent investigation and quickly."
Archer and Hohe met earlier this week "and discussed our interest in keeping a finger on the costs but in a manner that would not impede his ability to do quality independent work," Hohe said.
"This obviously will be an expensive task but it is not intended to be ongoing. For me to have placed a cap on the investigation could have been interpreted as noncompliance with the board’s directive," Hohe said.
Archer’s assignment includes conducting interviews, providing periodic updates on the amount of time he’ll need, as well as cost updates, and eventually submitting his findings to Hohe.
It will be up to the county to take any action based on Archer’s findings, which won’t be made public until 10 days after he submits them to Hohe, the attorney said.
In an interview Tuesday, Archer said he will look at documents and "interview everybody that would have any information they could give me that would help me make a determination."
In the final section of the contract, the county agrees to provide its full cooperation and support "to assist Archer in the conduct of this investigation, without limitation, making officials, employees and documents available to Archer during or after normal work hours…"
These kinds of investigations and issues aren’t unfamiliar to the attorney.
He worked in employment litigation for 15-20 years representing plaintiffs, but has since shifted to other areas of practice.
"To my surprise, when I stopped suing cities and counties on employment matters, I was contacted to do investigations – primarily litigation involving local government," he said.
He’s never done any work for Barrow County, but he’s "done a good many investigations around the state," he said. "Sometimes I find things, sometimes I don’t. If there are things to find, I find them."
His last investigation took about six weeks, but no two of them are the same and he couldn’t estimate how long the Barrow case will take.
"I’m not even sure how many people I’m going to be interviewing," he said. "I know things peripherally now, but as I delve into it, I will identify issues and people and documents that I need in order to properly investigate it."
Archer, 67, has been Cartersville’s city attorney for more than 30 years. He’s also provided legal services to a number of other Georgia cities and counties, as well as building and development authorities.
He received his law degree in 1970 from Emory University and was admitted to the bar the same year.
