Atlanta Community Press Collective
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Atlanta Community Press Collective
@atlpresscollective.com
Atlanta-based accountability journalism rooted in community experience. #atlpol
The meeting is adjourned.
November 21, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Kessler notes that the City Attorney said the previous iteration of the Board was not in compliance because it did not have three attorneys.
November 21, 2025 at 12:37 AM
Kyle Kessler, policy and research director at the Center for Civic Innovation, is the only public commentator. He says that the city charter requires three attorneys "at all times." Only two current members are attorneys.
November 21, 2025 at 12:37 AM
The next OIG board meeting will be Dec. 18
November 21, 2025 at 12:36 AM
Note: The statute of limitations did not exist until the charter change in February this year. For some reason, investigations existing before that change were not grandfathered in and continue.
November 21, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Perkins-Hooker returns to the podium to say that it's not the duty of the board to adjudicate administratively closed cases.
November 21, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Timothy Foster asks about the administratively closed cases that the investigator found substantiated but had reached the statute of limitations. He wants to know whether they can be reopened. Blackett says no.
November 21, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Blackett says that when she became interim-IG, she could not understand why cases took longer than two years to complete. As time went on, she says, she began to understand.
November 21, 2025 at 12:29 AM
Blackett tells the Board she will also be making changes to the independent procurement department, which she will present at the next meeting.
November 21, 2025 at 12:28 AM
Blackett says that, moving forward, she will present every case to the Board for agreement or disagreement on substantiated and unsubstantiated findings. She says the next meeting will be lengthy, due to the backlog of cases that need to be closed.
November 21, 2025 at 12:26 AM
Blackett says that the cases she inherited may include a recommendation from the investigator on whether the investigation is substantiated or unsubstantiated. Blackett says she is now the sole decision maker on which cases will or won't be substantiated.
November 21, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Some of the administratively closed investigations were longer than two years old, which exceeded the new statute of limitations instituted by the OIG charter legislation earlier this year. Some of those cases were substantiated, but no action will be taken because of the statute of limitations.
November 21, 2025 at 12:23 AM
There are 10 "substantiated" investigations in the binder, which Blackett will present at the next meeting. There are 35 "unsubstantiated" and 29 "administratively closed matters."
November 21, 2025 at 12:23 AM
At the back of the book, Blackett says, is a report on the "Whistleblower" investigations. atlpresscollective.com/2025/03/06/w...
There is widespread corruption in Atlanta, whistleblowers allege
In a letter to prosecutors, whistleblowers in the Office of Inspector General alleged high level corruption in the City of Atlanta government.
atlpresscollective.com
November 21, 2025 at 12:23 AM
The first section of the binder contains the IG's first quarterly report, explaining what the office has done since Blackett took over.
November 21, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Blackett is distributing packed, three-inch binders to each board member. She tells them this is their homework, but they are not required to read each page.
November 21, 2025 at 12:23 AM
There isn't anything particularly unique or interesting about this ethics presentation. It's the standard presentation to any boards or commissions in the city.
November 21, 2025 at 12:14 AM
Deputy Ethics Officer Carlos Santiago is presenting city ethics rules to the Board.
November 20, 2025 at 11:57 PM
Gray was vice chair of the previous iteration of the Board and is the only returning member. Gray did not resign from the Board with the other former members; he tended to be the sole opposing voice when the old board supported the former IG.
November 20, 2025 at 11:55 PM
Todd Gray nominates himself as vice chair and is subsequently elected.
November 20, 2025 at 11:55 PM
Perkins-Hooker tells the board that they must elect an attorney as chair. Former ADA Kenneth Mitchell was elected mayor.
November 20, 2025 at 11:55 PM
Perkins-Hooker has mentioned twice that she will be leaving at the end of December, telling the Board that her deputy, Amber Robinson, will provide continuity.
November 20, 2025 at 11:52 PM
The mayor is the chief executive, and the city council approves expenditures of money, she says. Adding that the city council can't tell the mayor what to do.
November 20, 2025 at 11:49 PM
"We had a big bruhaha about that the last time," Perkins-Hooker says. "We're not doing that again."
November 20, 2025 at 11:49 PM
"Your fiduciary duties are to the city," Perkins-Hooker says. "Not to the public."
November 20, 2025 at 11:48 PM