No decision on further appeals by Chance

CUMMING - The attorney for former Forsyth County Planning Director Jeff Chance says his client has not decided whether to appeal a civil service board denial of his petition to get his job back.

Chance was fired last August after sexually and racially charged e-mails were found on his office computer and a county investigation determined he had violated numerous other policies. The board denied his appeal in a decision released Tuesday.

Eric Chofnas, Chance's attorney, argued that at least one other county employee who was found to have some of the offensive e-mails was only suspended for three days without pay.

The three-member board ruled Chance's firing was appropriate because his violations of county policies exceeded in scope and number the violations committed by other county employees.

(AccessNorthGa.com's Ken Stanford contributed to this story.)

Chance's attorney, Eric Chofnas, said he and his client were was "surprised" by the board's no decision. Chofnas tells the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he thought Chance would get his job back "with a reprimand."