Athens-Clarke County Commissioner Doug Lowry painted the local government as rife with corruption at a Republican party meeting Monday night.
In a presentation promoted as one on transparency in Athens-Clarke County government, Lowry hammered on a recently uncovered off-the-books account being operated by the Solid Waste Department and his personal tussles to find out budget information about the department.
State Rep. Regina Quick, R-Athens, passed out copies of the state code of ethics beforehand. Lowry highlighted portions in his talk, citing segments about loyalty to moral principles, upholding the Constitution, laws and regulations of state and country, and exposing corruption wherever discovered.
The investigations into the Solid Waste Department stemmed from Lowry being told by a department employee about a Solid Waste Activity Fund, a non-government account started by Director Jim Corley. It was funded primarily from proceeds from vending machines that were inaccessible by the general public, though $1,200 from the sale of scrap metal was deposited into it as well. Lowry questioned calling it scrap metal as it was part of a leaf and limb boom truck, he said.
The account was outside of the government’s purview and unaudited. Lowry said after he was told of the account he told Quick. David Ellison, a lawyer that works with her, confirmed the account with an open records request. Quick turned over the findings to District Attorney Ken Mauldin, who in turn passed it to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
However, the GBI recently cleared Corley of any wrongdoing. Corley turned the $1,200 in the account over to the general fund.
via Lowry continues questioning legality of Solid Waste activity fund | Online Athens.
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