City Council Awaits Opinion on Impeachment Proceedings

A panel established by the Cumming City Council to investigate an alleged impeachable offense by a councilman has appealed to the Georgia Attorney General’s Office for a legal opinion on the matter.

Councilman Rupert Sexton is facing impeachment due to allegations that he leaked personal health information of city employees to social media. Sexton says that he is being targeted because he discovered that Mayor H. Ford Gravitt’s long-time girlfriend Angela Mullinax is receiving taxpayer-funded health insurance despite never having worked for the city.

A panel consisting of City Attorney Dana Miles, businessman Steve Page, and former Forsyth County Commissioner Patrick Bell was convened on Jan. 13 and asked to determine if impeachment was justified. A week later, the panel issued its findings, which recommended that the process be put on hold until the office of the state’s top lawyer submitted a legal opinion, writes the Forsyth Herald.

The panel wants Attorney General Sam Olens to determine whether or not the city charter’s established impeachment proceedings would provide Sexton with due process and whether or not the alleged leaking of employees’ private health information was a HIPAA violation.

Cumming City Hall is getting quite a bit of attention as a result of the Mullinax revelations; the FBI has reportedly interviewed people close to the issue and may be conducting its own investigation into the situation.

Protesters gathered outside Cumming City Hall last week to show their displeasure over the developing scandal and alleged misuse of taxpayer funds. Sexton told the Herald that he was pleased with the support he was receiving from protesters and the community at large, but bemoaned the panel’s indecisiveness.