Roswell Leaders Took City-Owned Bus To Hornets Game

ROSWELL, GA -- Roswell officials insist a simple mistake was the reason why an email sent by city staff outlining details of a trip to the Georgia Dome for a high school football game only included two elected officials.

On Dec. 9, an email from the city's Recreation and Parks Department was distributed to Mayor Jere Wood, Council member Jerry Orlans and a few others finalizing plans to utilize a city-owned bus to watch the Roswell High School take on Grayson in the high school football championship game at the Georgia Dome.

It doesn't appear Council members Nancy Diamond, Mike Palermo, Marcelo Zapata and Donald Horton were included on the Dec. 9 email from the city, according to emails obtained through Georgia's Open Records Act.

Those emails were made available to Patch by Michael Litten, who is challenging Wood to the office of mayor.

Litten, who referred to the discovery as "busgate," said while he understands this does not rise to the level of Watergate, "I absolutely believe the two events share a common denominator, (a) lack of leadership.

Excluding the newer elected officials -- Zapata, Horton and Palermo -- does nothing to promote working together to get things done, Litten paraphrased.

Zapata, who defeated former Council member Rich Dippolito in 2015, said the exclusion of other elected officials promotes the "culture of divisiveness" within the city leadership.

"When the city has only five sitting Council members and half are not included or even made aware, this cannot be confused with simple oversight," he wrote on his Facebook page. "This is especially evident when you look at who was excluded, (sic) only those bringing fresh ideas and seen as a challenge to Roswell's establishment politics."

A total of 26 people took the city's Recreation and Parks bus to the game, and each rider contributed $5 towards the cost of gas and parking, city spokesperson Julie Brechbill said.

Wood, Orlans and Council members Nancy Diamond and Donald Horton are listed as the elected officials who took advantage of the offer, according to a Dec. 13 email sent by City Administrator Kay Love. They were joined by some members of the Roswell Recreation Commission and other community stakeholders.

Additionally, it wasn't the first time this type of trip was made. In 2015, Mayor Wood requested use of the bus to watch the Hornets play Colquitt County at the Georgia Dome for the state championship.

In that instance, all incumbents, newly elected Council members and Recreation Commission members were invited. For that game, Zapata and Palermo and former Council member Kent Igleheart chose to use their own transportation to go to the tame, the city spokesperson stated.

No city funds were used to pay for either trips, Brechbill said. So why the lapse in notifications this time around?

"There was miscommunication between staff in the Mayor’s office, Recreation and Parks, and Council office staff," Brechbill said. "Each person in those offices thought the other had provided the bus ride information to everyone. It was simply a mistake and not meant to leave anyone off of the list."

According to the documents provided by Litten, Love sent an email on Monday, Dec. 12 -- two days after the Hornets lost the overtime thriller -- calling attention to the fact that not all Council members were not aware of the arrangement.

"Ultimately, it is my responsibility to make sure information concerning mayor and council is shared with all seven elected officials," Love writes. "My apologies that in this case, it did not happen. In the future, we will ensure information is communicated with everyone."

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