After nearly three years of legal limbo and legislative wrangling, DeKalb County again has a functional ethics board.
And its plate is already plenty full.
When the new ethics board meets next week, the panel of seven tasked with considering complaints of wrongdoing against county officials and employees will begin sifting through a backlog of cases that started piling up even before a 2018 court ruling hamstrung its previous iteration.
There are 28 cases pending before the board, which has the power to issue censures, reprimands and fines.
And Jonathan Crane, a professor at Emory University’s Center for Ethics, said the renewed level of oversight will be vital to restoring and maintaining the public’s trust in their government.
Posted by Holly R. Price | Nov 24, 2020
A new DeKalb County Board of Ethics is being selected and applications for positions are open until Dec. 1.
The board is intended to independently review claims of improper conduct by public officials.
The current board has been inactive since the Supreme Court of Georgia ruled in 2018 that its current board member appointment method was unconstitutional. A proposal approved by voters Nov. 3 will dissolve the current board Dec. 31. New board members will take their positions Jan. 1, 2021.
DeKalb’s latest ethics referendum passed overwhelmingly, meaning the county’s long-dormant ethics board will soon be reconstituted.
But before that can happen, new members must be selected. And the application period is now open.
“The DeKalb Ethics Appointing Committee is in support of a transparent, uniform and coordinated process,” said state Rep. Karla Drenner, D-Avondale Estates, said in a press release. “This application process will allow us to identify DeKalb residents who represent and serve their community in a unique way.”
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