Dunwoody City Councilwoman Adrian Bonser filed an ethics complaint June 21 against Mayor Mike Davis and the rest of the city council, alleging that several meetings held over the past six months were held illegally.
Bonser, who is also facing an ethics investigation, alleges the city council held an illegal meeting Feb. 3 to discuss a real estate deal, then again in May when it met to discuss the ethics charges pending against her.
An investigation report released May 21 states that Dunwoody City Attorney Brian Anderson and Bonser were responsible for alleged leaks from an executive session about a complex land transaction involving the sale of portions of a 16-acre farm known as the PVC Farm to purchase a 19-acre parcel of property in an area known as Georgetown.
The report also alleges Bonser leaked information to a source who gave blogger Bob Lundsten details regarding the Feb. 3 executive session. When Bonser was interviewed by investigators, the report states, she “was not truthful in her responses.”
As a result of the investigation Anderson settled with the city and was awarded a severance package of two months’ salary and benefits, totaling approximately $29,000. Dunwoody spokesman Bob Mullen said the city spent $25,000 on the investigation and it expects another invoice from the firm that performed it, but could not speculate on the amount of the bill.
Bonser claims she never leaked any information and alleges a violation for holding the executive sessions in question.
“I haven’t leaked any information ever during the three years I’ve been on the city council,” Bonser said. “The investigation was a waste of taxpayer money and sloppy at best and politically motivated at worst.”
At a council meeting June 26, Bonser said, the council voted to appoint attorney Richard Carothers to lead the investigation into her ethics complaint. Bonser said before his appointment Carothers was vetted by Dunwoody City Manager Warren Hutmacher, which she said was a clear conflict of interest since Hutmacher is named in her complaint.
Bonser’s ethics complaint also accuses Dunwoody Mayor Mike Davis of asking her to resign from the council for “using taxpayer funds to misuse the Board of Ethics and Code of Ethics for his political agenda,” before the investigative report was complete.