City Commissioner Katrena Felder will appear in Waycross Municipal Court for prosecution on alleged ethics violations after action last week by her commission colleagues.
In a 3-1 vote, commissioners accepted the recommendation of the Citizen Board of Ethics impaneled to judge the complaint of citizen Clayton Nelson against the District 3 representative. The vote during the commission’s bimonthly meeting Tuesday, January 7 came only after an attempt to cause Felder’s resignation.
A motion seeking her resignation was approved by a 3-1 vote, but was withdrawn when Interim City Attorney Huey Spearman informed commissioners the City Charter doesn’t specify exactly how a resignation would be brought about.
Felder, who by rule didn’t take part in the votes, had no comment on the actions. She is in her first term on the commission.
Nelson’s complaint, filed September 2, charged Felder with misusing her city-issued credit card and attending a partisan event while on a city business trip.
After investigating the charges, the five-member board voted 3-2 violations had occurred.
The board adopted the recommendation — one of six options available to the panel — for court action December 13 by the same 3-2 split.
Shawn Taylor, chairman of the ethics board, delivered the recommendation to commissioners at their planning and information session, December 16.
Attorney Spearman presented the options before the commission. It could either accept the recommendation, choose a penalty less severe or return the case to the board for further study.
Felder
Spearman told the board the second option included: no admonishment, no action; public reprimand; formal reprimand; or public censure. resignation or recall. Those were the same alternatives the ethics board had in addition to the one it chose.
Commissioner Alvin Nelson asked if the commission were to reverse the decision it would allow “us to do what?” Spearman said a decision of a less severe nature, which was any of the other five alternatives, including termination (resignation/recall).
Nelson then offered a motion to reverse the panel’s recommendation of termination. It received a second from Commissioner Sheinita Bennett.
District 4 Commissioner Diane Hopkins sought to make another motion, but Mayor Michael-Angelo James said action on the one the floor must be handled first.
During the call for discussion on Nelson’s motion, Spearman presented the charter’s caveat.
“I don’t know if the (commission) has the ultimate authority to terminate,” Spearman said. “Enforcing that particular option may be somewhat of a challenge.”
After hearing that, Nelson pulled his motion and Bennett her second in favor of prosecution.
“We don’t need any more confrontation or misunderstanding,” the District 5 representative said. “We could go down a rabbit hole for a long period of time.”
With that, Nelson moved to accept the board’s recommendation for prosecution with the addition that the court and Waycross Police Chief Tommy Cox notify the GBI to examine the evidence including all credit card transactions (by Felder) in the last three years to validate and determine if any criminal actions have occurred.
Hopkins again asked if she could make a motion. Spearman said if the vote on the current motion disposed of the matter there was nothing else to vote on.
When Mayor James called for a roll call vote, District 1 Commissioner Shawn Roberts joined Nelson and Bennett in the affirmative while Hopkins voted no.
During the meeting’s last call for commissioner comments, Hopkins expressed her displeasure with the decision.
“I think the Katrena Felder situation should be returned with innocence,” she said. “She’s done no more than any other commissioners and that’s the way that should go.”
After the meeting, Spearman said he would prepare an order from the commission’s vote and forward it to Solicitor Joseph Johnson and Judge Douglas Gibson with the Municipal Court.
