Board Dismisses Ethics Complaint Against Poole

Sign up for the Woodstock-Towne Lake Patch newsletter!

---

A complaint filed by a local resident against District 3 Cherokee County Commissioner Brian Poole has been dismissed by the county’s Board of Ethics.

The board held a called meeting the morning of Sept. 12 to consider allegations that Poole used county email to conduct personal business, which were outlined in a formal complaint by resident Andrew Flood.

Board members in a called meeting dismissed the complaint, and ruled the challenge didn’t have any merit.

Flood and his complaint charge Poole used his county email to conduct business related to his new business venture, Poole Funeral Home.

It’s the same company Flood and other residents expressed opposition to when Poole initially planned to install a crematory at the Eagle Drive-Rose Creek Drive intersection as part of its operations.

Flood and other residents have been engaged in a public awareness campaign about Poole’s plans, and have organized under the name Heads Up Woodstock. Poole has since decided to build the crematory at another location.

However, the uproar against the plans has forced the Cherokee County Commission to consider amending its ordinance to change where funeral homes and crematories can operate as permitted uses. County leaders on Tuesday, Sept. 15 held a public hearing on the proposed change, and a vote is scheduled to take place in October.

The vocal opposition also propelled State Sen. Bruce Thompson, an investor in the business deal, to propose that a deed restriction be imposed on the property.

That would prevent the construction of a crematory on the property.

RELATED

• Group Opposed To Funeral Home: “Fight Is Not Over”
• County Imposes Moratorium on Crematory Applications
• Parties Reach Agreement On Towne Lake Funeral Home
• Towne Lake Residents Continue Push Against Funeral Home

In his response to the complaint, Poole’s attorney, Nate Cochran, notes Flood is one of the residents who “persisted” in his harassment of Poole.

Cochran added the ethics complaint was “riddled with speculation and innuendo, but contained no facts demonstrating any ethical wrongdoing on the part of Commissioner Poole.”

Cochran alleges the opposition has targeted Poole’s home and place of employment, neighboring businesses, the bank that was slated to provide the business loan and has even disrupted County Commission meetings.

He even noted Flood was one of the residents who was contacted by the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office, and ”directed to cease and desist harassing and threatening telephone calls to Commissioner Brian Poole.”

“Simply put, the fact that the group Heads Up Woodstock cannot get its way and force the commercial property (that has been zoned such for over 20 years) to remain vacant has resulted in frivolous, speculative and unsupported claims, such as the one contained in the complaint before you, to be made against Commissioner Brian Poole,” Cochran said.

Flood said he was disappointed in the ruling, adding the Ethics Board’s decision was “disheartening.” He also criticized the process the county used to publicize the hearing and to notify him of the meeting.

Flood alleges county staff got his email address wrong when they notified him of the hearing. He also said he did not receive a phone call or certified mail from the county in connection to his complaint.

“I’m very, very disappointed in both the outcome and more so the process that was followed to derive that outcome,” he said, also expressing criticism at the county’s decision to hold a hearing on the morning of Sept. 12.

Flood admits he received the phone call from a sheriff’s deputy, but said he had been trying to get in touch with the county commissioner. After days of not getting return phone calls from Poole’s county office, Flood said he asked County Clerk Christy Black, “What is it going to take for Mr. Poole to respond to the residents in this county?”

Flood also said he asked Black where should residents protest to get Poole’s attention, and if should “follow him around” to get him to respond to their calls.

The sheriff’s deputy told Flood that could amount to stalking and a threat towards Poole. Flood argued it wasn’t a threat, and he and other residents were just trying to get Poole’s attention.

Flood added he’s weighing his options when it comes to his next steps. He noted the current investigation by the county hasn’t been “effective.”

“I think that at the very least, it does warrant some type of further investigation,” he added.

---

Photo credit: Cherokee County