Politics & Government
Citizen Files Ethics Complaint Against Oconee County Commission Chairman Over Old Mars Hill Road Proposal
Sarah Bell contends that Davis violated at least eight sections of the county's ethics code.
Oconee County Attorney Daniel Haygood has referred to Special Master James C. Warnes an ethics complaint that Sarah Bell has filed against Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis.
Bell contends that Davis violated at least eight sections of the county’s ethics code by “using taxpayer money to pay an employee and to prepare and purchase plans” for the reconnection of Old Mars Hill Road to Mars Hill Road proper “as a special favor for one citizen.”
Bell filed a similar complaint with Attorney General Sam Olens but was informed that the Attorney General Office “has no legal authority or jurisdiction” to investigate local governmental “internal operations or procedures.”
Bell also has sent her complaint to District Attorney Ken Mauldin.
In referring the complaint to Warnes, Haygood did not pass judgment on its merits.
Under the ethics ordinance, Haygood wrote, it is simply his responsibility “to determine if it is a complaint made against a commissioner” and, if that is the case, forward it to the county’s appointed Special Master.
For details of this story, go to Oconee County Observations.
Pictured: Davis at Board of Commissioners meeting of Sept. 29, 2015.
