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PAGE 10A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. JULY 8. 2021
Continued From 1A
Ruling
interview they both said the
platform, which cost around
a half a million dollars, was
ineffective and that despite
student performance being
bleak during the first semes
ter Townsend would lie about
the success of the program.
“I don’t know how any
body could lead a system if
he lies and bullies,” Smith
told the judge.
Smith said he felt
Townsend should have been
terminated with cause, and
that he did not vote to hire
him initially as he felt he was
unqualified for the position.
The issue of open meet
ings violations was also ad
dressed in court. The board
held an executive meeting in
January where Townsend
was in attendance. At one
point during that meeting the
former superintendent was
asked to leave, and the board
discussed how they would
deal with the way Townsend
handled the special ed stu
dent. Holland said he was not
fired at that meeting, but that
Townsend was asked to leave
his office and return his keys,
vehicle, phone, and that his
email was shut off. Smith
later testified that the board
took those steps out of con
cern that Townsend would be
“detrimental” to the system
and possibly continue bully
ing or attempt to contact ad
ministrators before they
Continued From 1A
Elections
Technical College. She is a
graduate of the Pickens
Chamber of Commerce
Leadership Pickens program,
and served as a Chamber am
bassador and on the Cham
ber's steering committee. A
former employee of the Pick
ens County Progress, she
worked at the newspaper
from March of 2008 until
January of 2019. Most re
cently, Godfrey worked for
the Pickens County planning
and development office as a
planning assistant and later as
the administrative coordina
tor for planning and develop
ment.
Of Godfrey, Chairman
Tippens said, "We are very
excited to bring Ms. Godfrey
on board. She has a long his
tory of working in our com
munity, not only in her
profession but also on a vol
unteer basis. She is also a
longtime resident of Pickens
County, so we know her ded
ication to our community
will be driven by a desire to
see it thrive. The board is
very excited to see her move
into the new role and to begin
working as soon as possible."
Another item on the
Continued From 1A
Filming
facade and motel look for the
scene. They were quite en
amored with that spot,” said
Suttles who has been in con
versation with the produc
tion’s key assistant location
scout manager Ashley Foxx,
as well as the Georgia De
partment of Transportation,
the local sheriff’s office and
city of Jasper officials.
The road will be closed on
Tuesday, July 13 from 7 p.m.
to 4 a.m. Then again on July
14 from 9:30 a.m. to 4 a.m.
the following morning. De
tours will be set up.
Suttles said there could
also be intermittent traffic de
lays at Prestige Auto Repair
on Wall Street behind the Old
Mulehouse, as a scene could
be filmed at that service sta
tion.
Pieces of Her is based on
the bestselling thriller novel
of the same name, written by
could make a formal decision
about his employment.
Smith also repeatedly told
court “there was no plan” to
terminate Townsend. Impact
Pickens alleges that those
three board members and
then assistant superintendent
Tony Young conspired be
hind the scenes to get rid of
the superintendent. Impact
Pickens held a public meet
ing where they presented pri
vate text messages (obtained
through open records re
quests) between board mem
bers they believe prove there
was a premeditated plan.
Townsend was officially
terminated after a public
meeting in February where a
vote was taken by the school
board. Smith noted that he
was offered a position with
the CTAE program but de
clined it.
Impact Pickens argues
that because Townsend was
essentially stripped of his
ability to perform his job at
the January executive session
meeting there must have
been some vote or agreement
made, which would violate
the open meetings act as
votes cannot be taken in ex
ecutive session. The attorney
for Impact Pickens said while
they may not have formally
terminated Townsend at that
time, their action “sounds
like a dismissal to me” and
that they were “clear and
egregious” violations.
In the later interview,
Smith and Holland said they
were relieved to finally be
able to “speak the truth”
about the reasons behind
their actions after being ad
vised legally to not discuss
what happened in executive
sessions, and after suffering
harsh public criticism.
After court, Impact Pick
ens leader Steve Lowe said
he was extremely disap
pointed in the judicial sys
tem, and further that he did
not believe allegations about
Townsend. He also made a
public statement on the Im
pact Pickens’ Facebook page
later that day.
“...Mr. Weaver, Mr.
Smith, Mr. Holland, they
continue to try to paint Dr.
Townsend as something he
wasn’t to make a big deal out
of this supposed special ed
issue which we know was not
a big issue because we know
that Mr. Gartrell and Mr.
Green...both saw that that
wasn’t an issue,” he said in
the videoed statement. “They
even tried to paint a picture
that they were saving us
money by what they were
doing. I guess the most dis
turbing thing for me is that it
seemed pretty clear the law,
and what should happen, and
what we got were smoke and
mirrors. I don’t feel like we
got justice. It’s also really
disappointing to me that we
as the people were thwarted
from holding them account
able for what they did and we
can’t proceed ahead with this
- but we’re not done.”
Lowe said they will ex
plore the possibility of an ap
peal, and called the group to
show up in force at school
board meetings.
“I’m not going to be
happy until they’re gone be
cause they are bad for our
system,” he said. “I’m disap
pointed, but I’m not done.
We’re not done.”
In court some other items
were discussed, including the
role of the Board of Elec
tions, which was also named
in the suit, and whether or not
petitions were filed appropri
ately.
School board members’
attorney George Weaver also
briefly mentioned an open
records request that resulted
in thousands of pages of
screen shot text messages in
volving at least one board
member (it was unclear how
many board members were
represented in these screen
shots). Weaver described one
“disturbing” text sent from
board member Tucker Green
(who was chair at the time it
was sent in 2018) to former
magistrate judge Allen Wig-
ington, who is now in prison
for financial crimes. The text
was a photo of a white board
that had the headline “new
world order plan of work”
that listed step one, “take
over schools”, and step two,
“run for sheriff.” Weaver said
the text demonstrated a “se
cret cabal” in the county that
wanted to take over “every
part of government.”
Called School Board meeting
/District Budget Hearing
7-08-21 at 5:00 p.m.
Pickens County Board of Education
Central Office, 100 D.B. Carroll Street,
Jasper, GA 30143
The Pickers County Board of Education will meet on Thursday, July 8 at
5:00 p.m. at the Board of Education Central Office, 100 D.B. Carroll
Street, Jasper, GA for a called board meeting/district budget hearing.
The Board will hold executive session, then a FY22 Budget Hearing. The
purpose of the budget hearing will be to hear public input and comments
concerning the proposed FY22 Budget for the Pickens County School Sys
tem.
The system will continue to follow the Department of Public Health's and
Pickens County Schools COVID-19 guidelines for distancing and masking.
If you are fully vaccinated, you ma yresume activities that you did prior
to the pandemic. Anyone who is not vaccinated is encouraged to keep 6
ft. apart from others.
I. Call to Order
II. Approval of Agenda
III. Executive Session
IV. Approval of Executive Session Minutes
V. FY22 Budget Presentation
VI. FY22 Budget Public Comment
VII. Adjourn
At their swearing-in ceremony with Pickens Probate Judge David Lindsey (third from
left), elections board members are, left to right, Barbara Ledom-Balducci, Rebecca
Cantrell, Chairman Josh Tippens, Mike Can’er, and Tracey Wright.
board's agenda was a discus
sion of new bylaws for the
local board of elections. This
was made necessary by re
cently passed legislation
which abolished previous by
laws and required all boards
to enact new ones. However,
Chairman Tippens is using
the county's previous bylaws
and adapting them as needed.
He added, with only a few
adaptations, the previous by
laws will easily meet the new
Karen Slaughter and pub
lished in 2018. The Netflix
page describes the plot:
“When an afternoon outing
explodes into violence, a
young woman’s view of her
mother is forever changed.”
Some main cast members
include Toni Collette (Acad
emy Award-nominated Aus
tralian actress, best known
for her roles in The Sixth
Sense and Little Miss Sun
shine), Jessica Barden (The
End of the F***ing World,
The Lobster), Nicholas Bur
ton (Graduation, Dave &
Theo, and Jackrabbit), Bella
Healthcote {Relic, Strange
Angel, The Man in the High
Castle), Joseph Maxwell
{Game of Thrones, Skins),
and others.
Suttles said the location
scout has been very thorough
vetting the area, and working
with local government enti
ties and officials to arrange
the filming.
mandates. Tippens said he
hoped the new bylaws will be
finalized and adopted within
the next month.
The board also approved
the renaming of the building
at 83 Pioneer Road from the
"Pickens Voter Registration
Office" to the "Pickens
County Board of Elections
and Registration Office."
In addition to Tippens, the
new board members are Re
becca Cantrell, Mike Carver,
Barbara Ledom-Balducci,
and Tracey Wright.
Regular School Board meeting
7-08-21 at 6:00 p.m.
Pickens County Board of Education
Central Office, 100 D.B. Carroll Street,
Jasper, GA 30143
The Pickers County Board of Education will meet on Thursday, July 8 at
6:00 pm for the regular monthly board meeting and will continue to fol
low the Department of Public Health's and Pickens County Schools COVID-
19 guidelines for distancing and masking. If you are fully vaccinated,
you may resume activities that you did prior to the pandemic. Anyone
who is not vaccinated is encouraged to keep 6 ft. apart from others. This
meeting will be available for viewing at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch ?v = L45CRQ89m-
g&ab_channel=PCBOEGA
I. Call to Order
II. Invocation
III. Pledge of Allegiance
IV. Approval of Agenda
V. Public Participation
VI. Recognitions
A. TSA Members Qualify for National Level Competitions - Destini
Shope, Director of Public Relations
B. Human Resources Receives Platinum Award from GASPA- Destini
Shope, Director of Public Relations
VII. Superintendent Reports
A. Financial Update - Amy Smith, Chief Financial Officer
B. Operations and Construction - Stacy Gilleland, Chief Operations
Officer
VIII. Action Items
A. Approval of Financial Reports
B. Approval of Personnel
C. FY21 Budget Amendment
D. FY22 Spending Resolution
E. FY22 Tentative Budget Approval
F. Approval of FY22 Salary Schedules
G. Approval of Edgenuity Online Program
H. CompuClaim Service Agreement
I. North Star FY22 Inter-system Agreement
J. Approval of Minutes
K. Approval of Surplus
IX. Board Comments
X. Adjourn
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Georgia Press Building • 3066 Mercer University Drive, Suite 200 • Atlanta, Ga. 30341 • 770-454-6776 • FAX: 770-454-6778 www.gapress.org
Officials free to speak openly about what
happens in closed government meetings
Free speech rights not lost
upon election to public office
By David E. Hudson
GPA General Counsel
D o public officials give up
their rights of free speech
when they win elected office?
From time to time, elected of
ficials such as city council mem
bers, county commissioners,
school board members, or ap
pointed members of the boards of
government authorities will re
ceive advice from someone (usu
ally a lawyer representing the
public entity) that the public of
ficial may not disclose informa
tion learned in a closed session.
Such advice has no basis in
fact or in law. Elected officials
are subject only to the voters,
and may not be disciplined or
discharged from office by their
fellow elected members. Mem
bers of the boards of authorities,
while appointed by city or county
governments, usually are entitled
to serve the entire term without
removal authority remaining
vested with the city or the county
who made the appointment. See,
Hernandez v. Development Au
thority of the City of St. Marys,
Georgia, 256 Ga. 356 (1986).
Some may ask, “What about the
provisions in the Georgia Code
that establish standards of eth
ics for government service or for
members of boards, commissions
and authorities?” O.C.G.A. 45-
10-3 contains a Code of Ethics for
members of boards, commissions
and authorities. It has provisions
against the use of undisclosed
public information for private
gain, and against engaging in
unbecoming conduct that consti
tutes a breach of public trust.
None of its various provisions,
however, would prevent elected
or appointed officials from dis
closing what occurred in a closed
session if the official felt that it
was in the public interest to make
the disclosure.
O.C.G.A. 45-10-1 is similar in
many respects and applies to any
person involved in government
service. Some of its provisions
are that the person in government
service should put his/her loyalty
to the highest moral principles
and to country above loyalty to
persons, party or government
department, and an obligation
to uphold the Constitution, laws
and regulations of the state and
the United States and of the gov
ernmental units therein. It also
has prohibitions against using
government information for pri
vate gain.
None of its provisions would
prohibit an elected or appointed
member from disclosing what
occurred in an executive session
if the member felt it was in the
public interest to do so.
Finally, the overriding consti
tutional principle for public ser
vice in Georgia is contained in
Article I, Section II, Paragraph
I of the Georgia Constitution. It
states: “Public officers are trust
ees and servants of the people
and are at all times amenable to
them.” Thus, if the public offi
cer learns of something that oc
curs in a closed session that he
or she believes should be known
by the people to whom the pub
lic officer is a servant, there is no
prohibition in Georgia law that
would prevent such disclosure or
subject the public officer to any
measure of discipline.
The officer may create ill will
with other members of the pub
lic agency, but that is a factor
that the public officer will have
to weigh against what he or she
feels is an overriding duty to the
public that he or she serves.