DeKalb brushed off concerns about politically-connected developer | www.myajc.com

When Vaughn Irons got clearance to double as a DeKalb County official and a county contractor, some employees tried to put a stop to it.

The objections they raised about conflicts of interest, though, got brushed aside by the county’s higher-ups.

Baffled members of a bid evaluation committee demanded an explanation, but they were instructed by contracting officials to put Irons’ company in the mix of firms vying for federal stimulus funds. A financial officer put her suspicions of collusion into a formal written grievance, and she says she personally implored interim CEO Lee May to step in. But, she said, he told her Irons’ contract was a “non-issue.”

 

No one, it seems, was willing to root out how, exactly, a sitting DeKalb Development Authority board member would be exempt from an ethics code that says the county government can’t do business with its own officials.

via DeKalb brushed off concerns about politically-connected developer | www.myajc.com.