Complaint Against Milton Council Members Tossed Out

By DOUG NURSE / The Atlanta Journal-Constitution / Published on: 07/16/07

The Milton Board of Ethics unanimously tossed out a complaint against two City Council members accused of using city resources for personal gain.

"Once the complaint was raised it was appropriate to work the process through," said Council member Neal O'Brien. "Everyone connected with this believed it was frivolous. But it is a relief."

Resident Leon Cole filed the complaint in April after O'Brien and Lusk had the city clerk alert the press that they were having a fund-raiser. The council members said they believed a quorum of the council might be present and they were trying not to run afoul of the open meetings law.

Cole said that was tantamount to improper use of city resources."I was hoping that the complaint would stand, but that they would just get a slap on the wrist," he said. "It was a technical violation. Whether it was intentional, we have to take their word on that."

Richard Carothers, a Buford-based attorney, independently reviewed testimony from both councilmen and city staff that was gathered by the city attorney, and concluded there was no basis for the complaint.

Carothers told the board — comprised of seven council-appointed Milton residents — he believed the notice to the press, which was short and direct, should have said the heads-up was solely prompted by the prospect of a quorum.

Milton became a legal, functioning city on Dec. 1. Since then, there's been ethics complaints filed against the two council members in one case, the mayor in another, and a third against an Ethics Board member.

O'Brien and Lusk said they might seek $2,500 in restitution from the city for legal expenses.
Lusk observed he has been in engineering and contracting for 40 years and never had an ethics charge filed against him, but it only took three months in politics to become the target of a complaint. He said he was happy to have the case behind him.

"It's over, it's behind us," Lusk said. "The aspersion against my character and reputation is the thing I resented most," he said.