Atlanta IG’s new board holds first meeting, receives active cases amid uncertainty

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG)’s newly reconstituted governing board met for the first time Thursday evening — fully nine months after Atlanta Inspector General Shannon Manigault resigned to protest Mayor Andre Dickens’ and the Atlanta City Council’s overhaul of the independent watchdog’s powers.

The board received binders containing dozens of open investigations into waste, fraud, and abuse that had been launched under Manigault and then Interim Inspector General LaDawn Blackett, whom Dickens appointed Feb. 28.

Under controversial new city council legislation to curtail the Office of the Inspector General (OIG)’s investigative authority, it’s now the seven-member governing board, not the inspector general, that has the power to close investigations, then signs off on the outcomes — and whether to make them public. The city council also imposed a two-year limit for resolving cases before they are automatically closed.

Blackett’s staff handed thick binders containing 45 active cases and 29 that Blackett has administratively closed to the four board members appointed so far by local civic groups. (Three seats have not yet been filled, but four is enough for a quorum.) “I am going to distribute to you at this time the long-awaited […] homework,” Blackett told them.

Of the 45 active cases, Blackett told the board, there are 10 with substantiated allegations, and 35 with unsubstantiated allegations. Her office administratively closed another 29 cases. Some of those cases contain investigative findings, Blackett said, adding that it’s up to the board to determine what, if any information, to release to the public. 

Five OIG staff publicly issued a whistleblower letter in March that outlined several pending investigations that they said had risen to criminal status, after the Atlanta City Council voted 14–1 in February for the OIG board overhaul initiated by Dickens. 

In the March 3 letter to state and federal prosecutors, the mayor, and city council, the OIG staffers summarized at least eight pending investigations alleging wrongdoing across multiple city departments, such as improperly using city equipment. Those cases dated back to 2023. Blackett told the board that several of those investigations remain active. “Those are very sensitive matters still not open to the public yet, as many of those cases are still currently under investigation,” she said. 

New OIG board

The Atlanta City Council in February dissolved the joint oversight board for the OIG and the city’s Ethics Office and replaced it with separate boards for each. Manigault resigned on the steps of City Hall just hours before the vote.

For the new OIG board, the four seated members are: Christopher Burris, appointed by the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Timothy Foster (Association of Certified Fraud Examiners), Todd Gray (Atlanta Business League), and Kenneth Mitchell Jr. (Gate City Bar Association).

The board unanimously selected Mitchell as chair and Gray as vice chair. It awaits three remaining appointments from the Atlanta-Fulton County League of Women Voters, the Atlanta Bar Association, and the Atlanta Planning and Advisory Board. 

Transparency tensions

At the meeting, Atlanta City Attorney Patrise Perkins-Hooker advised the OIG board not to make public the details from cases over two years old, saying they were time-barred. “They should not have ever been dealt with,” she said.

Perkins-Hooker also advised the board that the OIG does not conduct criminal investigations. “This is not the Gestapo,” she said. “This is an organization that investigates allegations that are raised to it to make certain that the city is running in its best, transparent way.”

Whether or not the OIG should have the authority to open criminal investigations for possible referral to local or federal prosecutors was one of the most contentious issues during Dickens’ and the city council’s overhaul of the OIG’s powers earlier this year.

By contrast, Blackett told the board the OIG has “a duty to investigate all complaints made to our office of waste, fraud, corruption and abuse, as well as potential violations of the city code, state law and federal law.”

Perkins-Hooker also urged the board to cancel the public comment period at OIG board meetings, which are open to the public. She added that her office has already drafted bylaws for the board to adopt to that effect. “This is not the city council,” the city attorney said. ”Generally, public comment is not a part of the obligation of a [board].”

But Blackett told Atlanta Civic Circle after the meeting that she favors more transparency. “I would rather have more transparency than less, even when it’s not officially required,” she said. Blackett noted that bylaws decisions rest with the OIG board.

It’s up to the new OIG board to choose a permanent Inspector General. Blackett said in March, when she accepted the interim role, that she didn’t intend to serve as Inspector General for more than a year. But she told Atlanta Civic Circle on Thursday that she plans to throw her hat in the ring for the permanent post.

“I’ve had a chance to build a team. I’ve had a chance to dig into the work, and it has made my brain work in a way that I’ve not been able to use it, as a lawyer, for the last several years,” Blackett said. “It’s going to ultimately be up to the board, but I do intend on putting myself up as a nominee.”

The OIG board’s next meeting is scheduled for Dec. 18.