An unexpected and unorthodox appearance by the city’s top watchdog during Monday’s Atlanta City Council meeting has ignited a feud among city officials and spurred speculation about corruption at City Hall.
When Atlanta Inspector General Shannon Manigault stepped up to the podium during public comment time — traditionally reserved for Atlantans to air their grievances with municipal officials — she put the city’s elected officials on notice: “The reason I’m here today is because the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is facing an emergency,” Manigault said. “That’s not hyperbole.”
While probing dozens of allegations of misconduct across Atlanta’s many agencies, Manigault said, the OIG discovered on Friday “a concerted effort to interfere in the work of the Office of the Inspector General.”
“This office has faced deteriorating levels of access, cooperation, responsiveness, and, candidly, basic civility” from other city offices, she said.
Last month, the OIG published two investigative reports, one detailing findings of nepotism at the city’s human resources department and another outlining a senior executive’s scheme to secure a city vendor contract for another Atlanta employee who was a friend.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg, Manigault subsequently told Atlanta Civic Circle.
At the May 20 city council meeting, Manigault asserted that unnamed city officials had instructed employees to complicate the inspector general’s work. “Hurdles have been erected to delay, impede, and disclose our confidential investigations,” she said.
Officials have internally shared confidential details about certain OIG investigations within their offices, Manigault told city councilmembers and the dozens of Atlantans assembled in the council chambers (mostly to voice their support or opposition for the controversial Public Safety Training Center project).
“So not only does OIG know that there’s widespread knowledge of the existence of confidential OIG investigations, but now we have grounds to understand that individuals are also sharing details of the specific content of confidential OIG interviews,” Manigualt said.
“This, of course, exposes our investigations to more people, which increases the likelihood of tainted witness testimony,” she said. “The destruction and withholding of evidence obviously significantly slows our investigations.”
Councilmember pushback
Two city councilmembers quickly seized on Manigualt’s claims, admonishing her for taking up public comment time to call foul on municipal affairs and saying they were blindsided by her impromptu presentation.
Marci Collier Overstreet, southwest Atlanta’s District 11 councilperson, chastised Manigault for circumventing “proper channels” and using an “inappropriate” time and venue to raise her concerns. “I wasn’t contacted about there being an emergency of any kind,” Overstreet said.
Andrea Boone, who represents the Westside’s District 10, suggested Manigault might be blowing the whistle so publically to put herself in the spotlight. “My hope is that we are not being egotistical and we aren’t playing with people’s lives in the media,” she said.
Boone claimed she’d heard Manigault’s office had accosted numerous city employees at their homes, inspected their CashApp transactions, and confiscated their phones and other devices while conducting investigations.
“There’s something called the FBI,” Boone continued. “If you think that people are doing illegal activity, we need to do a work session on this. This is very serious. This is very serious for employees to feel like they need legal advice [for an OIG examination], because the FBI can handle all of it.”
“I definitely implore this body to do a thorough, deep dive of your office,” Boone added.
District 12 City Councilmember Antonio Lewis, on the other hand, was more receptive to Manigault’s concerns, commending her for the “courage that it took” to speak out.
Bigger than a couple of cases
In a Tuesday interview with Atlanta Civic Circle, Manigault said her office is now handling roughly 85 cases of alleged fraud, waste, abuse, or corruption within the city of Atlanta — a number that’s ticked up, she said, each year since the OIG’s inception.
The Atlanta City Council created the inspector general’s office in 2020, in the wake of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into corruption at City Hall that occurred during former Mayor Kasim Reed’s administration. The probe saw multiple high-ranking officials fired, indicted, and even jailed, and frustrated Reed’s 2021 bid for a third term as mayor. (The DOJ ultimately absolved Reed of any culpability in the bribery scandal. Andre Dickens won the last mayoral race against Reed and former Council President Felicia Moore.)
Lately, Manigault said, “there have been processes and procedures put in place that have made it harder for us to do our jobs, harder for us to get access to necessary records.” She declined to share information about any city officials or departments that may have created roadblocks to stifle the OIG’s investigative efforts.
“City departments have been given an instruction — and we have multiple cases that can speak to this — where they were told to treat the Office of Inspector General requests like open records requests,” Manigault said. “We have sufficient information to believe that was a widespread directive.”
Requiring the OIG to file public records requests — like any resident or journalist might — allows municipal offices to take their time to compile documents and, in some cases, redact information they believe should remain private. It also exposes OIG inquiries to anyone else who might file open records requests regarding specific cases.
“This creates a circumstance wherein the very subjects of our investigation then know early on that they are indeed the subjects of our investigation,” Manigault said. “And that introduces a number of potential harms in terms of the potential destruction of evidence and tainted witness testimony.”
A spokesperson for Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens’ office said in a statement that the administration wants to learn more about Manigault’s “serious allegations.”
“From day one, the mayor has been crystal clear on the need for an ethical and efficient government and has always made himself available to the OIG at her request,” the statement read. “We would love to know the names of the individuals who are being accused in order to address the issues being raised.”
Manigault maintains she went public because her office is seeking to maintain the integrity of its investigations. But Boone believes the inspector general’s speech in the council chambers — and her interviews with reporters, including one with local talk radio host Rashad Richey — is little more than an attention grab and a reckless attempt to exaggerate the gravity of misconduct allegations at Atlanta City Hall.
“Playing this out in the media has astonished me,” Boone told Atlanta Civic Circle in an interview. “I understand she’s a Harvard graduate, and I understand people try to make a name for themselves. But don’t try to build yourself up by tearing others down.”
Boone pointed to one of the OIG’s investigative reports released earlier this month. It found that in 2022, Atlanta’s human resources commissioner, Tarlesha Smith, “abused her authority in creating a [city] position for her daughter,” then “sought to have her daughter’s supervisor terminated.”
Smith was placed on administrative leave following the report’s recent publication, pending further investigation, the mayor’s office said in a May 21 statement.
“I’m all for justice and for what’s right, but I don’t believe in trying people’s lives in the media, because she’s basically already [been] found guilty,” Boone said.
For the inspector general’s office to do what it was created to do, Manigault emphasized, it must act without any outside interference. On Monday, she lobbied the city council to pass legislation amending municipal policies “to ensure that no one can impede the charter-based work of the inspector general.”
This story was updated on May 22, 2024 at 5:11 p.m. to include a statement from Mayor Andre Dickens’ office.
Councilmember Boone doth protest too much, methinks
Thank you for this coverage of a very troubling situation. I trust the Mayor’s Office to see to an appropriate resolution. CM Lewis was a voice of reason. We need more of that.
As someone who was personally impacted by these issues, I can attest to the importance of the OIG’s work.
I was one of the employees the HR commissioner attempted to have replaced due to her friendship with Darryl Anderson, who sought my termination because he believed I did not support his response to an RFP. Furthermore, her management of his sister, Kim Finley, only added to the complexity of the situation.
Given my experience, I fully support the OIG office and its mission to uphold integrity and transparency within our city’s administration. It is vital that the OIG operates without any interference to ensure fairness and accountability across all city agencies.
The support of the OIG is imperative to bring transparency and accountability to the City of Atlanta’s leaders. The pending OIG report on the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is speculated to shed light on the fraud, waste, and abuse that led to the abrupt resignation of Chief Commercial Officer Jaimeka “Jai” Ferrell. Although she was skilled in painting an online narrative that depicted her departure as voluntary, it’s no secret that her immature leadership, reckless spending, and lack of aviation knowledge led to her departure. Additionally, she’s allegedly responsible for instructing employers to ostracize certain vendors to prevent their selection during the RFP process. Ferrell’s ability to speak for and manipulate former General Manager Balram Beodhari led to his early “retirement.” Girl Scouts of Atlanta must examine the unfair hiring practices that led to her selection. She does not embody the integrity, compassion, or courage needed to run the organization.
The Atlanta OIG, must get their self together first before going after others in city government. The OIG , have set on a complaint that I filed for nearly 6 months. I get the run a round each time I call investigator J. Speights. The investigation pertains to Atlanta Watershed, of trying to charge me approximately $94,000 for an Open Records Request, of 7 sheets of documents and 3 photos regarding a faulty water meter. After I filed a complaint to Georgia Attorney General’s Office; Atlanta Water, backed off and released the information I, requested with no fees! Atlanta OIG, only have to investigate weather It was a mistake or intentional to request such a large amount of money from me. The way the scam works: A large amount of money is requested but is considered a mistake and then a much smaller amount is requested but it is still an overcharge making the citizens believe it is correct and rip them off. Atlanta Water have a high turn over of Commissioners, with one heading to jail. Atlanta, OIG , is setting on an open investigation and allowing the Atlanta Watershed Department, to get away with this one. I filed the complaint about the middle of January, 2024 now its June 28, 2024. I have been calling for updates but the Atlanta OIG, is being passive and ignoring some of my E: mails. Most likely I will have to get the FBI, involved for the public good. Remember Fredrick Douglas mentioned” Where there is no struggle, there is no progress”. Donald Lee Hollowell, mentioned” Don’t just fight the government, fight corruption to help the government”. Thank you all and I’m in it for the long haul.
Rebuttal: To Mr. Terrence Smith
Mr. Smith,
I truly commend you in calling out the perpetrators in the Atlanta City Governmental Infrastructure and the amount of corruption, and denial that is exercised daily. Here in Atlanta, seemingly the middle and above authorities who are able to make the changes in this political landscape, often fall short miserably. It is like a revolving door, a maze that there is no exit or change. Corruption, abuse of power are simply the way of life here and the public is so naïve, or out of touch with the real issues at hand. The Mayor here is a micro -manager that lacks real insight to these troubling and counter-productive agencies that are under his leadership. My experience and issues are the abuse of power and corruption with the Atlanta Code Enforcement who are relentless in their wrongdoing and abuse of power. As well as their partner in crime Atlanta City Planning Department. Those are some of the most corrupt and incompetent government agencies in Atlanta. The Department of Justice, Federal Government (FBI), GBI, should come in and close these agencies and start a new. It is a disgrace the way that these city entities are being operated.
Mayor Dickens, if you are proud of the antics, wrong doings these departments are conducting, remember the current state of affairs is indeed on your watch.
Well said, Mr. Goldstein. Atlanta Georgia, have a long long history of corruption. I strongly feel a degree of retaliation from Atlanta City Government sometimes because of defeating them in court several times and revealing to citizens a lot of wrong doing . I speak sometimes to the full Council and with groups that media calls “Government Watch Dogs “. Most of the elected officials operating in City Hall, of Atlanta are not bonded and are illegally in office but there is no action by the State of Georgia , or enforcement to remove and or fine them . They must be bonded (Public Service Bond) , approximately 30 days after being elected . I have encouraged the citizens to careful who you vote for.