Ashley Bell, the attorney for two former board members, James Cantrell and Lyman Martin, says his investigation has uncovered 660 days of work for which Emory Martin Jr. was paid $66,000 - money Bell contends he was not entitled to.
Bell, appearing on the Martha Zoller Show on WDUN NEWS TALK 550 (like AccessNorthGa.com, a division of Jacobs Media Corp.), said some of those meetings were supposed to have taken place with taxpayers on holidays.
"Well, on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, you and I also meet with taxpayers, but we call them family," Bell said.
Bell acknowledged that the board's rules were changed in 2005 to permit one member to meet without another member present - a central issue in Bell's complaint.
Bell called what happened "a blatant disregard for policy" and he called again for the size of the board to be increased to five. It now has three members. He also said the county should look at adopting a "flat fee" monthly payment for board members instead of paying for each meeting.
"That way, they can meet as many times as they wish or as few and get paid the same regardless of the number of meetings," he said.
Bell suggested that now is the time to seriously consider these changes since the Hall County Commission is about to being the annual process of putting together a new budget, adding, "we should all be appalled at what has happened."
Bell, Cantrell and Lyman Martin first detailed their complaints in February after turning them over to Hall County District Attorney Lee Darragh, who is investigating them. (See earlier story).
Ashley Bell (c) with clients at Feb. news conference.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2008/4/208667