Brookhaven Councilman Resigns From Innovation Academy Board

(Image via Brookhaven GA website)

Brookhaven GA -- District 4 city councilman Joe Gebbia has resigned from the board of the Brookhaven Innovation Academy.

Gebbia made the announcement during Monday night’s city council meeting.

“I have served as a member of the Board of Directors of BIA since its inception, and although proud of the work I have done, there remains what our attorney has described as the appearance of a conflict,” Gebbia said in a statement. “With this in mind I asked our attorney if my resigning as a member of the Board of BIA would resolve this issue. His response was, if the substantial interest disappears, because of resignation or divestiture, there is no conflict under the code.”

Here is the full text of Gebbia’s statement:

“On December 18, 2015, Mr. Chris Balch, Attorney for the City of Brookhaven, authored a memo stating that he “spoke with the City Manager who confirmed that the current chair of the BIA Board approached her about 2 weeks ago to ask about putting temporay classrooms on the Skyland property...” . Although continuing to write that he “concluded there was no violation of the Charter regarding participation on the Board of BIA and serving as a councilperson”, Attorney Balch was of the belief that conversations with the BIA Board Chair was of concern to him. The prevailing opinion within City Hall was that this was not the beginning of a first time communication between the City and BIA regarding the potential to negotiate lease terms, but rather a continuation of conversations that started months before. BIA was merely an entity wih 4 other potential candidates competing to have conversations on securing a facility.

“Attorney Balch continued to correctly note that my participation in any and all discussions and votes regarding the purchase of the Skyland Center was based on my “express(ed), good-faith belief that because any lease with BIA would involve the Development Authority, and should be done at market rates, this third party created sufficient distance to exstinguish any potential conflict”. As a matter of transparency I reiterated my position as a BIA Board member prior to engaging in just about every Skyland conversation during Council meetings and sought acknowledgement from our Attorney before continuing.

“I continued participating in conversations about the Skyland propety in order to fulfill my responsibility as a Councilman - regardless of whether or not BIA was part of the conversation, for two reasons:

“First, although the Development Authority is an agency of the City, it indeed embodies the rights given all Authorities and remains independent and free of influence from Council in the decisions rendered.

“Second, when addressing the question of whether or not continued membership on the Board of BIA constitutes a conflict of interest between the duties of a City Councilperson and the duties as a board member of BIA, Attorney Balch concluded in his August 23rd letter that “There is no direct conflict, as described by the Ethics Ordinance, because there is no evidence ...Mr. Gebbia... (has) any individual and personal interest”.

“So you would think this legal vindication would resolve the matter once and for all. But apparrently it does not.

“The potential problem lies within appearances. Because the Skyland property “might some day be utilized as the home of BIA, there is, at a minimum, the appearance of a conflict between the two responsibilities” , as stated by our Attorney.

“So how did we get here. I think answer lies in a quick review of the history of events since our incorporation of our City:

“As I have stated openly many times before, one of the most often asked questions during my campaigns has been “What is the City going to do to improve the educational system in Brookhaven?” And I wasn’t the only member of Council hearing this on-going plea.

“In response to this I believe Council truly answered the call to service and made excellent decisions to achieve goals many thought could never happen. We did it in a way that we did everything when developing Brookhaven - to create the very best City possible.

“For example, I personally invested my first year’s discresionary funds to build sidewalks around Woodward Elementary School where young children were forced to walk on and cross dangerous streets to get home. This effort also incuded street humps, flashing lights, street crossing lanes and speed signs - all to protect our children and enhance the educational process. This effort caught the eye - and respect - of the DeKalb County School Board and opened up new lines of communications on how we could work together. Our City Manager is now working with the DCSB to complete a land share agreement where the Cross Keys HS fields will become a Brookhaven Park on weekends and during the summer.

“Realizing our limitations of working within the confines of the DCSB to achieve our goal, we were emboldened through the leadership of Councilman Mattison to seek State Charter School approval. After two years of resilient effort and hardwork by myself, Councilman Mattison and Mayor Williams, Brookhaven became the first City in the State of Georgia to be approved for a State Charter School. Today BIA operates as an independent 501[C]3 non-profit, free of any direct involvement with the City, and is a fantastic example how a City can take a leadership role in making a real difference in the educational system.

“I have served as a member of the Board of Directors of BIA since its inception, and although proud of the work I have done, there remains what our Attorney has described as the “appearance of a conflict”. With this in mind I asked our Attorney if my resigning as a member of the Board of BIA would resolve this issue. His response was “If the substantial interest disappears, because of resignation or divestiture, there is no conflict under the Code. Accordingly, if a second vote is taken and Mr. Gebbia is then not a member of the BIA Board, the conflict would seem to be resolved”.

“I am now publically announcing that on Monday, December 21, I submitted my letter of resignation as a member of the BIA Board to the Board Chair and Board Attorney in order to allow Council the opportunity to revote on this issue without any cloud of a conflict of interest.

“I would like to thank our Attorney for his thoughtful diligence, to our City Manager, fellow Council members and Mayor-elect for their input, and recommend we now now move forward with the revote.