GAINESVILLE - The state Ethics Commission has rejected the ethics complaint filed against Hall County Commissioners Tom Oliver and Billy Powell by Douglas Aiken of Murrayville.
A spokeswoman for the county, Nikki Young, says it was rejected "because the complaint is not within the agency's jurisdiction."
She says Aiken will be notified via snail mail that the complaint was rejected.
The complaint was the latest fallout from the controversy involving the City View project... a planned high-rise office/hotel development in Gainesville's midtown.
Aikens filings consisted of 36 pages, 18 on each commissioner - the majority of each package made up of commission meeting agendas and press clippings.
Oliver, Powell and former Gainesville Redevelopment Authority attorney Tred Syfan have made an offer to purchase the Regions Bank Operations Center which is adjacent to the tract where City View would be located.
Aikens' complaints alleged that Oliver and Powell violated the state Code of Ethics when they voted with commissioner Bobby Banks on March 26 to reject Commissioner Ashley Bell's motion to have the county attorney - a member of the same firm as Syfan - disclose any conflict of interest in the matter.
Oliver and Powell said they were suprised by the filing.
Oliver said they only heard about the complaint when they were contacted by the media. "You wonder (about) the purpose," said Oliver. "If you've got an ethics complaint, why not bring it to us?"
Powell said independent counsel Dana Maine advised at that meeting there was no conflict with their voting.
Powell said, "She said that there was no legal nor ethical conflict of interest, and she repeated herself three times."
Oliver noted that any dealings that he had with the City View project had always been out in the open. "We're business people. Our (commission) salaries are not full time, so we still have to make a living," said Oliver.
Monday
April 7th, 2025
8:56PM
